A 20% increase in game sales over the same quarter last year drove growth for Hasbro in its Q2, reported Tuesday.  Among those games, Dungeons & Dragons got a special shout-out from CEO Brian Goldner in an interview with Jim Cramer on Mad Money, in which he revealed that D&D sales (including digital) were up 50% over the previous year.  Goldner also called out D&D growth in the conference call.  “Dungeons & Dragons is performing at a very high level,” he said. “I think Dungeons & Dragons is back and the team has done some very expansive marketing around that.”

Goldner also mentioned Magic:  The Gathering, Monopoly, and Operation as game properties doing well in either the conference call or the Mad Money appearance.

Hasbro’s overall revenue was up 11% over the same period last year, to $972.5 million, with more than $273 million of those sales from games.   (Hasbro splits its game sales between “Gaming” and “Franchise Brands.” “Franchise Brands” includes key house brands such as Magic:  The Gathering and Monopoly. The $273.3 million in sales and 20% growth numbers include all game sales, including franchise brands, and the digital components of those sales.) 

Goldner called out Twitch as driving interest in both D&D and Magic:  The Gathering, with one million people watching Magic:  The Gathering tournament play each month, and D&D channel views in the “millions.” 

Game sales growth accelerated over Q1, when the growth rate was 10% (see “’Magic’ Down and ‘D&D’ Up”).

Goldner promised a major announcement about the next phase of digital gaming for Magic:  The Gathering at the company's upcoming Investor Day presentation.

Earnings were up 30% from the year ago period, to $67.7 million for the quarter.

Despite the hefty sales and profit increases, the stock dropped over 9% on Thursday, a sign that expectations for Hasbro were sky-high.