Last week, Hasbro reported that Magic: the Gathering surpassed $600 million in quarterly revenue for the first time. It was the headline of the more than 100-year old toy company founded by a trio of brothers in Rhode Island in late 1923, just a few years before the Great Depression.
Hasbro’s stock price impressively gained about $20 on the overall news, closing at just over $117 a share at the end of last week’s trading. Four years ago Hasbro’s stock was trading just under $60 a share and analysts were not bullish on the company’s future. To their credit, the stock price did continue to fall, reaching a low of $43.11 about a year later, in November of 2023.
But here we are, three years later, talking about a company whose stock as nearly tripled in value from it’s lowest point in the past decade to return to a near all-time high. We’re here because of Magic: the Gathering and we almost certainly wouldn’t be here without Universes Beyond. Hasbro’s earnings report calls out both The Hobbit and Universes Beyond as drivers of the strong revenue growth.
In just a few weeks the next Universes Beyond set, Star Trek, will be released. This isn’t Magic’s first foray into science fiction crossovers (Doctor Who, Warhammer 40k) or even science fiction Universes Within (Edge of Eternities, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty). However, this set, which is currently in previews, will have lofty expectations to continue the trend of recent product successes.
While there’s no reason to think Star Trek will be anything but a success, I think there is still a lot of trepidation within the community about this product. This will be the first draftable sci-fi universes beyond product, and the first one that is legal to play in the standard environment.
Warhammer 40k only included Commander decks. Transformers was inserted into another set and Secret Lairs. Doctor Who was just Commander decks and a Secret Lair. Fallout was a Commander product. And so on.
And yet, with every new horizon that Wizards of the Coast has looked towards, what reason should there be for this to go south? With Edge of Eternities still around and a new Kamigawa set coming next year, the science fiction corner of the multiverse is growing. What’s so bad about Star Trek?
Nothing. There’s no downside here. If the set had too many legendary creatures (which it doesn’t) or if the artwork was sub-par (which it isn’t) or if the mechanics were un-fun (which they probably won’t be) it still wouldn’t matter. Universes Beyond products have shown, on numerous occasions, that fans have a nearly insatiable appetite for these products.
Be honest, the venn diagram of Magic fans and Star Trek fans is going to be close to a perfect circle (obviously inside of the much larger Star Trek circle). I’m sure there’s a sliver of Magic fans who are either fantasy purists, don’t like universes beyond, or just don’t like Star Trek, but I suspect it’s an incredibly small percentage, and certainly smaller than the percentages for Warhammer 40k or Doctor Who.
Looking ahead, I think the biggest threat to the success of Star Trek is going to be economic factors outside of the control of Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro. The American economy is heading into a potentially tumultuous time with an election and holiday shopping season while the price of diesel is skyrocketing and inflation is still above the desired 2% level.
But there is almost certainly no threat from within the company to the success of the products bearing the Universes Beyond brand.
Rich Stein (He/Him) is a New York City based gaming journalist who grew up on Magic and Dungeons & Dragons and now enjoys bringing his children into his hobbies. He also enjoys numerous other tabletop games including Warhammer 40k and playing Candy Land with his kids.