This old-school hobby is helping Hasbro defy economic headwinds

Hasbro Inc (NASDAQ:HAS), the brand responsible for iconic games like Monopoly, Jenga, Magic: The Gathering, saw its shares tick upwards over 3% in pretrading on Wednesday. The uptick came just after the company reported its second quarter earnings of $1.30 per share for the second quarter, beating the analyst expectations of $0.78 per share.

And, despite a 1% year-over-year decrease, Hasbro’s adjusted revenue was posted at $980.8 million, also beating analysts’ $874.66 million projection.

While sales have been notably down for toy and gaming companies, Hasbro has managed to offset some of the volatility due to financial strains and tariffs. “While tariffs represent a headwind for the business, we are compensating for these costs through a combination of cost reductions, rebalancing our marketing spend, diversifying our supplier mix and implementing some targeted pricing actions,” Hasbro’s CEO, Chris Cocks, said on the company’s earnings call, per CNBC.

The brand is also clearly leaning into its digital games, most notably, Monopoly Go! The game, which launched in 2023, has quickly become the most popular digital board game. It contributed $44 million in the second quarter.

But the biggest driver of Hasbro’s recent earnings has been Magic:The Gathering. That’s thanks to a recently released Magic set: Final Fantasy Universes Beyond Expansion. The set dropped in June and almost instantly shattered records, earning $200 million in one day to become the fastest-selling expansion in Magic history.

The Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment of Hasbro, which encompasses both Magic games and Monopoly Go!, saw overall revenue increase 16% year-over-year.

Last year, Cocks spoke to the popularity of digital games and what it meant for the brand. “As we look at the business of play, it’s clear that digital is here to stay and a bigger factor than ever in how successful toy and game companies will grow and strengthen their brands,” Cocks said, noting that the brand was “years ahead” of its competitors. 

Still, the fact that Magic games remain popular shows that community is equally as important as digital entertainment.

That sense of community is something other gaming companies seem acutely aware of, too. Mattel’s VP and global head of games Ray Adler recently told Fast Company about the brand’s newly introduced Uno Social Club — a gaming and nightlife experience. “Gen Z already loves Uno,” Adler said. “They’ve been playing it online, at parties, everywhere. What they don’t always have are opportunities to connect in the real world. So we asked: What if game night could be a whole experience?”

Hasbro’s stock was down 1.1% in afternoon trading Wednesday, but the brand raised its full-year guidance for 2025. It now expects mid-single-digit revenue, and predicts earnings between $1.17 billion and $1.2 billion.