Tabletop gaming sales in the Wizards of the Coast segment were down 3% for the year, from $1,072.5 million in 2023 to $1039.6 million in 2024. Magic: The Gathering sales were down 1% for the year, due to the lack of a Q4 set to compare to 2023’s Lord of the Rings holiday set. Despite those declines, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks pointed to year-over-year increases in active players and MagicCon attendance and better-than-expected sales on some sets, including Foundations, as signs of overall strength for the brand.
The quarterly results show the impact of the tough comp against the second 2023 Lord of the Rings set more starkly. Sales in the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment were down 7%, due to the lap of the Lord of the Rings holiday set, to $339.0 million in Q4 2024 from $363.2 million in Q4 2023. Magic: The Gathering sales (which also include digital revenues) were down 19% for the quarter to $208.4 million from $258.3 million in Q4 2023.
Wizards of the Coast tabletop revenues, which would have included substantial sales increases for Dungeons & Dragons, were down 22%, to $207.0 million from $265.6 million in Q4 2023. Operating profits in the segment also declined, to $80.9 million in Q4 2024 from $103.2 million in Q4 2023.
Hasbro total gaming sales, which include Hasbro’s game portfolio in addition to Wizards of the Coast, declined 5% in the quarter to $542.5 million from $568.7 million in Q4 2023.
Company-wide sales were down 17%, or 7% without the divestiture of Hasbro’s eOne entertainment division, to $4.1 billion from $5.0 billion in 2023, but profitability made a big turnaround, to a $385.6 net profit vs. a loss of nearly $1.5 billion in 2023. Much of the improvement came in the Q4 results, which showed a $34.3 million profit vs. a $1.1 billion loss in Q4 2023. The foundation for the year was laid earlier, including a solid Q3 (see "Company Continues Turnaround").
For the year, sales in the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment were up 4%, behind increases in licensed and digital gaming, primarily Monopoly Go. Those increases helped offset sales declines of 12% in consumer products and 88% in entertainment (4% without the eOne divestiture).
Hasbro is forecasting a return to sales growth in 2025, including 5-7% growth in the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment, behind three Universes Beyond sets for Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy, Spider-Man, and an unannounced third set.
The Final Fantasy set could be the best-selling Magic set in the brand’s history, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said in the conference call. Cocks also revealed that the Spider-Man set will be standard-only, limiting the size of the sales.
Hasbro announced its new Playing to Win strategy for the coming years, which includes five key elements: profitable franchises with play-focused brands; aging up by increasing the appeal for older fans (60% of the Hasbro audience is already 13 or older, driven by Hasbro collector products and the WotC brands); expanding sales to girls, and in emerging markets; focusing on digital and direct-to-consumers sales, with video games, services, and e-commerce; and scaling with retail and licensing partnerships.
Hasbro also raised its cost savings target from $750 million by the end of 2025, which it said it would achieve, to $1 billion by the end of 2027.