Hasbro’s stock price has fallen nearly 10% today after analysts said the company is mismanaging its Magic: The Gathering trading card game business.
According to CNBC, Bank of America conducted a deep dive on Hasbro’s handling of Magic: The Gathering, prompting analysts to say Hasbro has been overprinting cards and destroying Magic’s long-term value.
As of this writing, Hasbro’s stock price sits at 57.52 USD, down from 63.41 USD at Friday’s closing. According to a note from Bank of America analysts (via Financial Times), the analysts found from speaking with players, collectors, distributors and local games stores that “the primary concern is that Hasbro has been overproducing Magic cards which has propped up Hasbro’s recent results but is destroying the long-term value of the brand.”
According to the analysts, Magic saw enormous growth during the peak of the pandemic, causing secondary prices to skyrocket. Hasbro chose to keep the momentum going with more frequent set releases, which has now led to a crash on secondary market prices. More recent Magic: The Gathering sets are declining in value, and Hasbro’s continued reprinting of sets is driving the price down even further.
A famous example is the powerful Black Lotus card. This rare card sold for over $500,000 at an auction in 2021. Now, Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro have reprinted the card for the first time in over 25 years, causing panic among collectors who are worried their rare cards will lose value due to reproductions.
You can’t just run out to the store and buy a Black Lotus, though. The rare card is a part of Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro’s Last 30th Anniversary Edition set, which costs $999. The set comes out on November 28, and costs $999 for four booster packs with random cards.
While a player could get lucky and pull a Black Lotus, it’s very possible to spend nearly a thousand dollars and get nothing in return. Wizards of the Coast previously promised to never reprint the Black Lotus, and is seemingly attempting to justify the reversal by saying the 30th anniversary cards aren’t tournament legal.
The situation surrounding the 30th Anniversary Edition is causing even more frustration for players.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
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