This old-school hobby is helping Hasbro defy economic headwinds
Hasbro Inc. (Nasdaq: HAS), the brand responsible for iconic games like Monopoly, Jenga, and Magic: The Gathering, saw its shares tick upward over 3% in premarket trading on Wednesday. The uptick came just after the company reported its second-quarter earnings of $1.30 per share, beating the analyst expectations of $0.78 per share.
And despite a 1% year-over-year decrease, Hasbro’s adjusted revenue was posted at $980.8 million, also beating analysts’ $874.6 million projection.
While sales have been notably down for toy and gaming companies, Hasbro has managed to offset some of the volatility due to financial strains and tariffs. “While tariffs represent a headwind for the business, we are compensating for these costs through a combination of cost reductions, rebalancing our marketing spend, diversifying our supplier mix, and implementing some targeted pricing actions,” Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said on the company’s earnings call, per CNBC.
The brand is also clearly leaning in to its digital games, most notably Monopoly Go! Launched in 2023, it has quickly become the most popular digital board game, contributing $44 million in the second quarter.
But the biggest driver of Hasbro’s recent earnings has been Magic: The Gathering. That’s thanks to a recently released expansion set, Final Fantasy Universes Beyond. The set dropped in June and almost instantly shattered records, earning $200 million in one day and becoming the fastest-selling expansion in MTG history.
The Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment of Hasbro, which encompasses both MTG games and Monopoly Go!, saw overall revenue increase 16% year over year.
Last year, Cocks spoke about the popularity of digital games and what it meant for the brand. “As we look at the business of play, it’s clear that digital is here to stay and a bigger factor than ever in how successful toy and game companies will grow and strengthen their brands,” Cocks said, noting that the brand was “years ahead” of its competitors.
Still, the fact that Magic: The Gathering games remain popular shows that community is equally as important as digital entertainment.
That sense of community is something other gaming companies seem acutely aware of, too. Ray Adler, Mattel’s VP and global head of games, recently told Fast Company about the brand’s newly introduced Uno Social Club—a gaming and nightlife experience. “Gen Z already loves Uno,” Adler said. “They’ve been playing it online, at parties, everywhere. What they don’t always have are opportunities to connect in the real world. So we asked: What if game night could be a whole experience?”
Hasbro’s stock was down 1.1% in afternoon trading Wednesday, but the brand raised its full-year guidance for 2025. It now expects mid-single-digit revenue, and predicts earnings between $1.17 billion and $1.2 billion.
