Hasbro “Destroying” Magic by Printing Too Many Cards – Bank of America

Hasbro, parent company of Magic: The Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast (WotC), has seen its stock plummet 9% today after the Bank of America (BofA) downgraded their stock’s rating twice, from “buy” to “underperform.” A BofA analyst attributed this loss of confidence to WotC’s overprinting of cards, leading to the long-term destruction of Magic‘s value in exchange for short-term profit. According to the analyst, “Hasbro is killing its golden goose.”

Bank of America noted that it had spoken with Magic players, as well as local game store owners, collectors, and distributors. The prevailing sentiment was that of frustration towards the rapid increase in set releases over the years along with the reprinting of high-value cards.

These feelings are certainly shared by many members of Magic‘s community online, including content creators like Tolarian Community College and @CubeApril on Twitter, creator of Magic card database site Scryfall.

Notably, Magic: The Gathering became Hasbro’s first billion-dollar brand this year, and while revenues declined in the 3rd quarter of 2022 compared to last year, both WotC and its parent company have had a successful year overall.

WotC performed its best ever in the 2nd quarter of the year thanks to a pickup in tabletop gaming and 11% overall growth across paper and digital gaming. Hasbro projected that Q4 earnings would pick up thanks to products like Magic 30th Anniversary Edition.

Unfortunately, it seems as though reprint sets like this, along with the recent trend of printing more sets, has led to Magic landing in hot water with investors and collectors of the game who prefer their high-value cards to hold value in the longer term.

Jason Haas, the BofA analyst who wrote a report on Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast that released alongside the downgrade announcement, noted, “This set has devalued many high-value cards, and collectors are concerned that Wizards will reprint more.”