Hasbro blew past analyst expectations for the second quarter, and the star of the show was a trading-card game that has been around for more than 30 years.
Revenue from Magic: The Gathering reached $545.3 million for the three-month period, a 32% increase compared with the same period last year. The big driver this time? Marvel Super Heroes-themed cards.
Thanks to the Marvel crossover, total company revenue climbed 16% to $1.14 billion, surpassing the $1.07 billion analyst consensus. Adjusted profit came in at $330.4 million, well ahead of the $297.3 million Wall Street was looking for.
The $545.3 million quarterly revenue marks a significant milestone for the 30-year-old game, which has seen accelerating demand through themed sets like the Marvel crossover.
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The $545.3 million quarterly revenue marks a historic achievement for Magic: The Gathering, which has never before exceeded $500 million in a single quarter. The 30-year-old game has seen demand surge thanks to popular crossovers like the Marvel superhero series, and its performance now makes up nearly half of Hasbro's total quarterly revenue. This trend reflects a broader boom in collectible trading-card games, fueled by nostalgia and licensing deals.
Magic: The Gathering, first released in 1993, has reinvented itself through strategic partnerships with major entertainment franchises, drawing in both longtime collectors and newcomers. The Marvel crossover, featuring iconic superheroes and villains as playable cards, helped the game achieve its first quarter above half a billion dollars.
Not everything at Hasbro is clicking. The company is making a big change in its video game division, and CFO Gina Goetter said, "It was an investment that we made that we now are undoing."
Hasbro is cutting annual spending on video games by at least 25% and has already canceled multiple projects, taking a $56 million impairment for the cancellations. Among the canceled projects was a reported collaboration with developer Giant Skull for a Dungeons & Dragons action game, which was halted earlier this year.
Going forward, the company plans to focus on two types of games: trading-card and role-playing titles. It will work with co-publishers on future projects to share the financial risk - a move Cocks says is designed to "lower the downside risk." Instead of chasing a big portfolio, Hasbro wants to release just one or two games per year starting in 2027.
Two major titles are already lined up for that year: Exodus and Warlock. Each is expected to cost between $100 million and $250 million to make.
Hasbro raised its outlook for 2026. Hasbro also owns the rights to Monopoly, which has been a massive hit in mobile gaming. The licensed game Monopoly Go, made by Scopely Inc., has generated $8 billion in total revenue since it launched.
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