Hasbro released its financial statements report for the second quarter of 2020 with things looking pretty rough overall. Hasbro revenue declined by 29% year over year with all but Hasbro Gaming reporting losses in its brand portfolio.
Magic: the Gathering declined in Q2 as well, despite Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths being on track to be the best selling Spring set of all time and continued growth in the player base of Magic Arena.
Hasbro Revenue Declines 29% in Q2
When asked about Magic: the Gathering during the conference call, the CEO of Hasbro Brian Goldner said they expect the second half of 2020 to fare better as “Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths is actually going down as the best selling spring set of all time. And we are also seeing very good early interest and very high demand and strong selling for the Core Set 2021,” Goldner said.
“Magic Arena was up in the quarter even though we had less releases in the period, and we did see over 2.5 billion games played on Arena in total, up from 2.1 billion at the end of Q1.”
The report also noted a new emphasis on eCommerce likely reduced the impact of the coronavirus on sales and that local retailers that already had an established eCommerce plan for their business performed better than their more analog counterparts.
Hasbro stated that a major focus for the last two quarters is to simplify the organization and reduce costs in areas most affected by the shutdowns.
Goldner also noted that while local game stores struggled during the first half of 2020 due to the pandemic, Wizards Play Network stores expanded by double digits in the second quarter.
Wizards is counting on big numbers coming from the sale of Double Masters as more stores begin to reopen, hoping to duplicate the success of Modern Horizons in 2019.