Magic the Gathering and Monopoly have been Hasbro's driving force behind 2020 sales. In its gaming division, the company achieved growth of around 15 percent - a new record.
Hasbro turned over 1,7 billion US dollars with games last year. The toy giant is also benefiting, at least in this division, from the corona pandemic and the aroused desire for games among adults and children. Hasbro could with it, as well Ravensburger, Kosmos or Asmodeeto expand its presence in the field of board games. According to the company, two brands in particular stand out: the trading card game Magic the Gathering and the board game Monopoly - and both classics.
Classic games drive sales
At Hasbro, too, a similar effect can be seen in times of the Corona crisis: More games are played, and players mainly use long-established brands. Ravensburger, among others, had achieved high sales with its classics and the Kosmos publishing house also drives its business figures primarily with tried-and-tested brands. From this it can be seen, among other things, that casual and family players in particular have found access to board games in the past year.
Hasbros Annual report confirms the gaming section, which includes Magic: The Gathering, Monopoly and other popular games, as financially successful. For the final quarter of 2020 and for the full year, the company reported revenues of $ 561,2 million and $ 1,76 billion. Those numbers represent a 27 percent increase over the fourth quarter last year, in which Hasbro generated $ 442,1 million.
Magic: The Gathering will continue straight away in 2021. Image: Hasbro / Wizards of the Coast
Hasbro's success confirms the general surge in board game sales throughout 2020, with Euromonitor International reporting a value of $ 2020 billion in XNUMX for the global games and puzzles market. Hasbro was named in the report as the largest company in the market. Nevertheless, the pandemic did not leave Hasbro without a trace: Problems in production and shipping led to delays and project disruptions. So the success of Magic: The Gathering was probably more than welcome to offset less profitable segments. Releases of new core sets such as Ikoria and Zendikar Rising are likely to have proved popular, accompanied by sets such as Jumpstart and Commander Legends, which primarily strengthened the product line.
But: Other Hasbro titles, such as Dungeons & Dragons, also had a strong year in economically unstable times. What applies to the gaming segment, however, does not apply company-wide: In fact, Hasbro's overall result fell by eight percent last year. Hasbro previously announced that 2019 would be the biggest year for Dungeons & Dragons in the long 50-year history of the RPG brand. Hasbro cited continued interest in tabletop role-playing games, also achieved through streaming on YouTube and Twitch. The interest shown by fans carried over to the record sales of his starter kit in the fifth edition.
Last updated on 31.05.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX / Affiliate Links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. * = Affiliate links. Images from Amazon PA API
