A month after Bank of America downgraded Hasbro stock over fears it was “killing its golden goose.” oversaturation of the market With Magic the Gathering Cards, the toy maker says this isn’t the case. “There’s no evidence of that magic is over-pressurized,” Cynthia Williams, president of Wizards of the Coast, told investors during a recent “fireside chat” on the company’s strategy.
Magic the Gathering is currently in the third edition of the latest Warhammer 40K crossover set For some fans, it’s an exciting time for the decades-old card game about dueling wizards amid a spate of new releases and spin-offs. Others are growing weary as they accuse publisher Wizards of the Coast and parent company Hasbro of flooding the market with too many cards. Executives at these companies argue that this is nonsense.
“Overall there is no evidence of this magic is overprinted, and the feeling of ‘Magic has to cut print runs to prop up prices’ — that’s a misunderstanding of our business and our customers,” Williams said when asked about the criticism during Thursday’s presentation (via igamesnews). She added that average sales for new releases have not changed year over year and that the company simply prints on demand to meet the needs of current players. “We have no evidence of that [have] no broad negative changes in interest in trading or selling after purchase magic Products.”
A particular focus of some players’ frustration over the direction of the game’s expansions was recently announced 30th Anniversary Edition box set. It printed rare cards from the earliest days of magic, giving players the option to purchase them for $1,000 per set of four booster packs. On the one hand, it was an overpriced loot box, but on the other, it had the potential to devalue longtime fans’ collections. Williams said Wizards of the Coast heard feedback from fans and collectors and changed course to produce fewer packs as a result.
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But the real problem lies in the growing pains the game is going through as Hasbro and Wizards try to attract new players and make more money from it. While the game used to cater primarily to hardcore competitive players, it now tries to do so to cultivate other “casual players”. also through aggressive partnerships with other major media companies –transformers, Lord of the rings, final fantasy– to reach other fans.
Williams blamed some of the players who felt overwhelmed again magic Releases in 2022 on scheduling issues that caused some expansions to happen back-to-back. 2023 is expected to return to normal with six “Tentpole” sets spread evenly throughout the year. But some fans believe the real problem is that Wizards and Hasbro are trying to squeeze even more revenue from a single game.
“I think the current trend in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is very similar. At first, one movie a year was cool and exciting,” wrote one gamer on the MTG reddit. “Now it’s tired. Three movies in three months, TV shows of different genres, and they all connect, OR NOT, and sure, someone probably likes MODAK and Loki, but how does that affect She-Hulk?
Another fan compared it to cookies instead. “Most Oreo purchases are made by casual Oreo consumers,” you say Twitter thread parody started. Assassin’s Creed and Doctor Who-with taste MTG Maps are expected to ship in 2023.
