Disclaimer: I am not a financial expert and this is not intended as any kind of financial analysis. I’m also not concerned with Hasbro as a whole and will only be listing interesting notes about Magic specifically from either the presentation or the earnings call, which I have listened to in full to ensure I have as much context as possible.
Q3 2025 Presentation
Wizards posted a total revenue growth of 42% over Q3 last year, broken down as follows:
35% from Wizards Tabletop (Magic and D&D physical product)
2% Wizards Digital (Arena and D&D Beyond)
4% Digital Licensing
1% FX (This has to do with currency exchange)
The presentation noted the strength of Universes Beyond sets and ongoing investments in digital gaming.
The impact of Q4 royalty expense will be similar to Q3, as it’s related to Universes Beyond sets
Operating expenses were higher than projected, due to increases in marketing, product development, and other investments.
We also got the full, actual release dates for every set coming out in 2026.
Please note that these dates are the full release dates, but a number of important dates can be extrapolated from this information. (Some of these dates could change, or in the event of Streamer Events not happen at all, and should not be considered absolute. But they are all based on precedent, and I have confidence in them.)
Prerelease Dates will be 7 days earlier than the dates shown here.
Digital releases (Arena and MTGO) will be 3 days earlier than the dates shown here.
Arena Streamer Events will be 9 days earlier than shown here.
MTGO Streamer Events will be 8 days earlier than shown here.
The Card Image Gallery should be complete 14 days earlier than the dates shown here.
Full preview season should start 21 days earlier than the dates shown here.
There is a recent precedent for Universes Beyond sets to have an additional week of previews, so for UB sets this is the date I’m least confident in.
Earnings Call Notes
(These are the notes I took while listening to the earnings call, and I’ve tried to use as much of the same language used in the call for each of them, even for things that are not a direct quote. As such this may read a bit choppy, but I believe it keeps the accuracy to a higher standard.)
Presenting will be:
Fred Wightman, Vice President, Investor Relations
Chris Cocks, Hasbro CEO
Gina Goetter, Hasbro CFO + COO
Cocks: Magic continues to outperform expectations…This success is fueled by unprecedented new player acquisitions and standout collaborations with brands like Spider-Man and Final Fantasy. Our Universes Beyond strategy, leveraging Magic’s depths with beloved IPs, is generating extraordinary engagements. Looking ahead, we’ll build on this momentum in 2026 with original Magic IP sets and blockbuster collaborations, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Hobbit, Star Trek, and Marvel Super Heroes. Interest indicators, like event attendance and search metrics, MagicCon participations, sales in new channels like mass and convenience, and player growth, are all at record levels. We expect momentum to continue into the 4th Quarter fueled by upcoming Magic release, including The Last Airbender, and Final Fantasy’s Holiday set, alongside sustained momentum in Secret Lair and backlist offerings.
Cocks goes on to say that after a long turnaround effort, they expect Q4 to be the start of a long-term growth period by their toys business. I only bring this up because of the conversation that’s been happening lately about WotC being the only profitable arm of Hasbro.
The Q&A portion is starting now.
A question is asked about Q4 growth, and Cocks says that the “early reads” on Avatar “look terrific” and that they have “another bite at the apple” in regards to Final Fantasy with the Holiday set.
Goetter says a lot of the raising guidance for Q4 has to do with Magic’s Q3 performance. They expect the royalty cost to be about the same in Q4 as it was in Q3, so the rise in WotC is due to the revenue momentum they’ve been seeing.
A question is asked about Magic’s growth this year, with concern about Marvel’s strength in the 2nd half of this year lagging, and how that will lead into 2026, given how this business is driven by the timing of releases.
Cocks says there are going to be 7 sets next year (as opposed to 6.5 this year in terms of calendar year crossover revenue), and that the backlist business (Sets already out rather than new ones) is about 70% ahead of last year already vs the full year basis, and last year was a record.
Cocks: “Universes Beyond is just working. The whole theory of the business was it’s going to increase our distribution, increase our number of active players, it’s going to bring in new fans who were adjacent to Magic, and that has just worked. Basically, every set we’ve done in UB has set records in terms of new player engagement, in terms of search queries, in terms of number of people who are going into stores, in terms of sales in non-traditional outlets like Mass and Convenience for us. And we don’t see that slowing down. If anything, I think there’s potential to accelerate it (the growth) just based on the quality of those partners we have next year. And the early reads we’re getting on those partners. TMNT, Marvel Super Heroes, The Hobbit, Star Trek, which, for a big nerd like myself, is near and dear to my heart. I think all of those have had excellent initial reactions and bode well for continued robust sales.”
A question is asked about Magic next year. They’re asked about how big Final Fantasy is this year and how exceptional it was, are they expecting all of the UB sets next year combined in aggregate to become bigger, or do they think the Star Trek set, for example, could become bigger than Final Fantasy?
Cocks responds that Final Fantasy is the biggest set in Magic history. He says he won’t say which set they think can rival or beat Final Fantasy, but they think at least one can do that. Goetter stops Cocks from potentially saying more, which makes sense considering anything he says here could affect the perception of sets next year. He says they haven’t shared the content lined up for 2027 and beyond, but they feel pretty confident about the partners they have lined up. He goes on to say they pretty much have their pick of partners, and that if you can conceive of a collaboration they could have in terms of Magic, they’ve probably either inked a deal or had those conversations. They’re at the beginnings of what UB can do, and that there’s upside in terms of what the sets can do in the future that’s buoyed by the long backlist as well that they’ve seen played out in 2024 and definetly in 2025.
Goetter jumps in to say that their own Magic IP is also performing quite well. Cocks says people aren’t just coming in to buy Final Fantasy, they’re also buying Edge of Eternities and other sets. They’ve been setting records with what they’ve been doing with this own sets as well.
They’re asked about the KPop Demon Hunters announcement, mentioning WotC and how those two can integrate. This person goes on to ask about the margins having been expected to be down going into 2025, and how that obviously isn’t the case, so how should they think about WotC’s margins going into next year?
Cocks talks about how KPop Demon Hunters should be a pretty lucrative business, and does mention trading cards as one of the possible avenues for this.
He goes on to say that Magic has proven that it can fit a large number of IPs. One of the best selling Secret Lair products of all time was the SpongeBob Secret Lair. If they can get people excited about that as a Secret Lair, he’s pretty sure they can do it with “…one of the biggest movies of all time.”
Goetter jumps in to talk about next year’s margins, and while she won’t get into guidance for next year today, they’ve always said the margins for WotC is going to be around the high 30s to low 40s level. They know that’s their growth engine, and they operate with those levels in mind when it comes to putting investments back into the business.
A question is asked about the growth of Magic in the Mass channel, and how UB plays into that. They go on to ask about LGS store counts and growth.
Cocks says LGS growth continues pace, and while there aren’t more LGS (he calls them Hobby Stores), it’s just that more are qualifying to be part of the Wizards Play Network (WPN), and more are leaning into Magic. They tend to find that when a LGS leans into Magic, it becomes a big section of their mix, and it goes on to encourage player engagement and growth in a very positive way.
In terms of Mass (Big Box stores, etc.), it just becomes a very easy sell with Universes Beyond when you go in and say, “Hey, here’s a video game you sold millions of copies of in Final Fantasy, there’s obvious demand for it, let’s expand distribution to include Magic.” He says something similar about Spider-Man as a brand, and how it makes it easy for Magic to become part of display, promotion, and incremental placements within the store. It also opens up new doors in underserved markets such as Europe, where they haven’t had as robust of a mass offering in the past.
