Magic: The Gathering continues to be an enigma where sealed sales are concerned. The new chart revealed that Standard set sealed product sales continue to trend downward. This downtrend comes after Hasbro CFO Deb Thomas and WotC President and COO of Hasbro Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming Chris Cocks recently delivered an absolutely glowing report for the Magic brand in Hasbro's Q3 earnings report (see "'Magic' Sales Beat 2020 Numbers in Three Quarters") where they touted Adventures in the Forgotten Realms as the best-selling summer release of all time. This set replaced the annual Core Set summer release this year.
The downtrend Standard sets are experiencing in TCGplayer sealed sales can likely be attributed to how the Magic brand is changing to become more focused on digital gaming where the Standard format is concerned. MTG Arena is the cash cow driving the Standard format, as it has helped drive the WotC and Digital Gaming segment up 32% in Q3 2021 over Q3 2020, and players don't need to buy physical cards to compete on that platform. The impact of players migrating between digital and tabletop products seems to be finally emerging as lackluster sales data for Standard physical product. Cocks did state in the report that there is a "healthy crossover between users who come on board digitally, who migrate to tabletop," but the TCGplayer sealed numbers are telling a different story in Q4. The demand for Magic sealed Standard product off of the TCGplayer platform is clearly not what it used to be, even just a year ago with Zendikar Rising (see "October 2020").
