Magic: The Gathering has only continued to grow. Parent company Hasbro has recently released new financial information about their various properties for the third financial quarter of 2022. Some of this report does contain some insight as to the direction of the major toy and entertainment company, but the biggest one is that their Magic: The Gathering 2022 financials mark the franchise as Hasbro's first-ever brand valued at $1 billion dollars.
The Hasbro Q3 financial report
The report of Magic: The Gathering 2022 financials came from an official investors report on Hasbro's website. First, Hasbro did report revenues of $1.68 billion were down 15% year-over-year. Furthermore, the company's operating profit of $194.3 million declined by 47%, or 31% on an adjusted basis. The report attributes these losses to the rising shipping cost of consumer goods, anticipated supply chain challenges, as well as preparing the content schedule for multiple Magic: The Gathering product lines, which includes its upcoming The Brothers' War set and its 30th Anniversary Edition promotional packs, in the fourth financial quarter.
"As expected, the third quarter is our most difficult comparison and was further impacted by increasing price sensitivity for the average consumer," said Chris Cocks, Hasbro chief executive officer. "To achieve our full-year outlook, we are projecting Hasbro’s fourth-quarter revenue to be approximately flat versus last year on a constant currency basis with particular strength from our Wizards and Digital Gaming segment. Growth will be driven by what we expect to be one of the biggest fourth quarters for Magic: The Gathering as we kick off the brand’s 30th anniversary and celebrate Hasbro’s first-ever $1 billion brand."
Cocks continues with further plans for the rest of the company going forward. He states the company is committed to a three-year program of driving $250-$300 million in cost savings, as well as continuing to produce products and entertainment for Q4 going forward. This includes multiple streaming shows, several films, as well as producing merchandise for upcoming properties such as Marvel Studios' upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and the newest iteration of their beloved toy property, Transformers: Earthspark.
But the Magic: The Gathering 2022 financials aren't the only intriguing bits of information found in this Q3 report. First, it seems revenue did drop 13% for Wizards of the Coast. Part of this is attributed to licensing fees for Magic's Universes Beyond set, which is set to release cards based on Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, and Warhammer 40k, as well as amortization from the company buying the digital content platform D&D Beyond earlier this year.
Finally, there is the mission statement of the Blueprint 2.0 program. First announced on October 4, it is described as "consumer-centric approach focuses on fewer, bigger brands, expanded licensing, branded entertainment, and driving high-margin growth in games, digital and direct." What this means is that Hasbro will be leveraging more of its recognizable franchises into more licensed fare, expanding not just across tabletop gaming but possibly into videogame development in the future.
