As Company Recovers from Post-Covid Issues
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TABLETOP GAMES, INCLUDING 'MAGIC,' UP AT HASBRO
As Company Recovers from Post-Covid Issues
Posted by Milton Griepp on April 24, 2024 @ 2:15 pm CT
Hasbro’s total gaming sales, including
Magic: The Gathering, were up for Q1 2024, as the overall company began to recover from post-Covid issues.
Hasbro total gaming sales, which include
Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, and the game products in the company’s consumer products segment (i.e.,
Monopoly et. al.), were up 6%, from $386.5 million in Q1 2023 to $408.0 million in Q1 this year.
Magic: The Gathering sales (including digital) grew 4% to $237.9 million from $229.1 million in the year ago quarter.
Sales in the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment were up 7%, from $295.2 million to $316.3 million, behind the segment’s blockbuster licensed games,
Baldur’s Gate 3 and
Monopoly Go!, and the growth in
Magic: The Gathering.
Wizards of the Coast tabletop game sales (i.e.,
Magic: The Gathering plus
Dungeons & Dragons) were up 5%, from $217.9 million to $228.2 million. The timing of
Outlaws of Thunder Junction sales, some of which hit Q1 revenues, and the success of the
Fallout set were cited as factors.
In the conference call, CEO Chris Cocks said that
Magic: The Gathering tabletop sales were up about 4%, and since the overall tabletop sales in the segment were up 5%, there’s some indication that sales of
Dungeons & Dragons on the tabletop were recovering from Q1 2023, when the OGL controversy was turning off long-term customers. We estimated that year over year sales of D&D were down substantially in 2023, due in part to the OGL issue (see “
Hasbro Loses $1.06B in Q4”).
Magic: The Gathering “engagement,” which we interpret as largely referring to organized play participation, is back at pre-pandemic levels, Cocks said in the conference call.
Digital and licensed game sales in the WotC and Digital Gaming segment were up 14% in Q1, from $77.3 million in 2023 to $88.1 million in Q1 2024.
Operating profit in the segment exploded, up 60% to $122.8 million from $76.8 million in Q1 2023, behind the growth in digital licensing revenue and “cost management” (translation: layoffs, see “
Cocks on Layoffs”). Operating profit margins in the WotC and Digital Gaming segment were 38.8% of sales for the quarter.
Hasbro’s overall revenues were down 24% for the quarter, from $1.0 billion in Q1 2023 to $757.3 million this year. Some of the decline was due to the fact that Hasbro included eOne revenues in Q1 2023, but did not in Q1 2024 (see “
Lionsgate Closes on Hasbro’s eOne”). Without that change, company-wide sales declined 9%.
Sales in the consumer products segment (toys, mass games, etc.) were down 21%, due to declines in the category and lower closeout sales compared to Q1 2023, when the company was dumping excess inventory at higher rates.
Hasbro’s net earnings were $59.1 million in Q1 2024, compared to a $21.7 million loss in Q1 2023.
Hasbro declined to move its guidance for the year (which includes a predicted 3-5% decline in sales in the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment) despite a relatively good quarter, indicating that its cautious predictions for the year have not changed, yet.
