As we draw closer to the release of Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy set, so too do we draw closer to a bold new era for the game. No longer will internal Magic’s own intellectual property reign supreme. Instead, it will share its stage with other properties, as Universes Beyond gets its first Standard-legal set. This turn of events has some players understandably worried about the future of Magic’s own characters and worlds. At the current rate, there could well come a day when core MTG IP content is kicked off the stage entirely.
Fortunately, that day won’t be arriving any time soon. Responding to a question on the subject on Blogatog, MTG Head Designer Mark Rosewater put forward a list of reasons why core Magic IP is still important for the game. These reasons will likely be of little comfort to those who respect Magic as a creative project. That said, they do confirm the value of core Magic ideas from a business perspective. In this day and age, that’s perhaps even more reassuring.
MTG IP Still Matters
sanguine-bond: Hey Mark, Final Fantasy costs more than any other magic set, and is not out yet. Despite this, it is already the best-selling set of all time, knocking The Lord of the Rings set off of the top spot.
Obviously, both of these are UB properties. Considering WOTC is a business and profit-focused. Why would you not focus on UB over internal IP based on the sheer profitability?Mark Rosewater: For a number of reasons. Some of the bigger ones:
Via: Blogatog
1) Universes Beyond products come with some additional restrictions and inflexibilities. It’s important that we have products that we have full control over which allow us to react to changes.
2) In-Multiverse sets build up our own property which we can leverage in other places (such as with our Netfix show).
3) Licensed products come with an additional cost as we have to share profits with the licensee.
For the most part, these reasons come more from a business perspective than a game design one. As we’ll get into later, this rankled some of the players in the comments. Reason one, however, does tie into the more creative side of the game, in some interesting ways.
It’s long been public knowledge that Universes Beyond sets are tricky to design in ways that regular Magic sets simply aren’t. Back in 2023, Mark Roswater wrote an article titled ‘The Challenges of Making Universes Beyond,’ which was published during the run-up to the Doctor Who Commander deck launch. This article outlined some of the more prolific problems with designing such sets. Issues like maintaining the right color balance with a property not built around a five-color system, and not contradicting established Magic design conventions, were cited here.
These are just the actual card-level restrictions, too. Every Universes Beyond set is created in partnership with the holder of the other IP. This means lengthy contracts, which in turn means certain characters and elements have to feature in these sets. This exacerbates some of the design issues above. Wizards may prefer not to include a character for mechanical reasons, but be contractually compelled to do so anyway.
Specific details of these restrictions are, unsurprisingly, not public knowledge. When Rosewater refers to the restrictions of making Universes Beyond in his first reason, however, they undoubtedly factor in.
Business, Not Pleasure
Rosewater’s other two reasons for keeping MTG’s own IP around are all business, all the way. Number two specifically refers to developing a Magic IP in order to leverage it elsewhere, the example given being the MTG Netflix show. While interesting, some in the comments were unimpressed with this one.
“‘We need In-Multiverse sets for our Netflix show’ is not exactly filling me with confidence.”
llanowarminotaur, via Blogatog
If you take reason two purely at face value, llanowarminotaur makes a good point here. The MTG Netflix series has almost become a running joke at this point, given how many times it’s been cancelled and then revived without ever amounting to an actual release.
That said, reason two isn’t all about the Netflix show. Having an established IP also fuels other Magic ventures, like non-card collectibles, clothing, plush toys, etc. Come September, it’ll even be fueling a brand-new MTG graphic novel series. There’s plenty of merit to this reason from a business perspective, as it lets Magic expand into new spaces and draw in new players from outwith its traditional audience.
Reason three is the simplest, and most businesslike, of the set. Simply put, Universes Beyond sets are more expensive for Wizards to make than regular sets. Licensing fees and profit sharing eat up a lot of what each UB set brings in from sales. This means they have a much higher bar to clear to be considered successes.
So far, this hasn’t been much of a problem. Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth was the best-selling MTG set of all time, and Final Fantasy is on track to take that crown. If things carry on this way Wizards is golden, but it’s worth noting that each new Universes Beyond set carries a substantial financial risk.
A Bittersweet Message
Those were the three reasons Rosewater cited, though his post also notes that they’re just “some of the bigger ones.” For many players, hearing that there’s a long list of reasons for Wizards to keep Magic’s own IP around will be reassuring. For others, they hit on a different axis to the one they expected.
“Small disappointment that any version of ‘A segment of players prefer original worlds’ or ‘Our designers have a certain amount of pride in honoring the game as an original creation’”’ fall behind these financial reasons. Though I understand why and am still happy if internal IP continues to carry importance in future design.”
kh111308, via Blogatog
This perspective does make a lot of sense for established Magic players. For a while now there’s been a sense that the game’s identity is being eroded. This is largely through silly, overly-referential mainline sets. That the preservation of this identity, which carried the game for over 30 years, isn’t one of Rosewater’s reasons does leave something of a bad taste in the mouth.
“tbh this fills me with more confidence than a standard generic ‘nooo we love telling stories with our original IPs because we believe in the power of fiction yadda yadda yadda’. ‘it will make us more money’ is very honest and draws from the same motivation that lead WOTC to do UB sets in the first place.”
sexhaver, via Blogatog
On the other hand, many are viewing the reasons as refreshingly honest. Rosewater has been criticized regularly for a perceived lack of transparency in his posts. Today’s post, while not what everyone wants to hear, is certainly honest and transparent. It justifies Magic IP from a business perspective, which is ultimately more useful as an indicator of whether it’ll stick around or not.
Not everyone will come away from Rosewater’s reasons reassured, but I personally did. As much fun as Final Fantasy preview season has been, I’m not quite ready for Magic to fully forsake its own IP just yet. As long as these reasons remain valid, the day when that happens should stay far, far in the future.
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