Despite the excellent sales ofDungeons & Dragons’ 2024 revision manuals, Wizard of the Coast hasn’t been doing great lately. According toICV2, the company’s tabletop sales went down 3% compared to the previous year, with the last quarter falling 22% from the highs of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Magic: The Gathering, in particular, took a hit, with Q4 2024 sales 19% lower than Q4 2023.
What sets the last three months of 2023 apart for Magic: The Gathering might be the manyUniverses Beyond releases, the popular crossover sets based on intellectual properties unrelated to MTG. The last three months of 2023 saw the release of theLord of the Rings-based Tales of Middle-Earth set re-release, the new Jurassic World Collection set, 29 new Secret Lair cards, and the new Timeless format on the increasingly popularMagic: The Gathering Arena.
Compared to that, the not-very-exciting Foundations set and hefty but lonely Marvel Secret Lair crossover of Q4 2024 arequite underwhelming.
To be clear,Magic: The Gatheringisn’t going anywhere. It’s still one of, if not the most popular card game on the planet. While their sales were lower last year, the dip is only sharp when comparing an amazing three months to a quite underwhelming quarter. Wizards of the Coast has a lot of tricks to play before MTG ever comes close to becoming irrelevant.
So, how is Wizards of the Coast planning to raise the sales of its most popular tabletop IP? In the immediate term, it’s all in the hands ofFinal Fantasy.According to Chris Cocks, CEO of Wizards’ owner Hasbro, the Final Fantasy set “has the potential to be the biggest ‘Magic’ release yet”.
Hasbro has some good reason to bank onFinal Fantasyto save the day. The uncharacteristically expensive preorders of decks, booster packs, and starter kitssold out immediately. While preorders selling out is expected of those events, the popular Tales of Middle-Earth set only reached this milestone a week after being announced.Final Fantasytook about an hour.
