[News] Hasbro 3Q earnings; Magic revenues down

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Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc (More info?)

Found this at Businesswire.com; I'd link it, but you need a free
registration to get in. The Magic-related stuff is pretty short:

....
Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS) today reported third quarter results. Worldwide
net revenues for the quarter were $947.3 million compared to $971.1
million a year ago ...

Revenues in the Games segment were $236.5 million for the quarter
compared to $250.2 million a year ago, primarily reflecting a decline in
trading card games, including one less release this year of MAGIC: THE
GATHERING. The segment experienced growth in the electronic, adult game
and pre-school categories. The Games segment reported operating profit
of $46.4 million compared to an operating profit of $58.3 million last
year, reflecting lower sales and a decline in gross margin.
....

The "one less release" must refer to the fact that by this time in 2003
WotC had released 8th edition. However, when you factor in this falls
"Unhinged" release WotC will end the year with the same *number* of
releases. Granted, odds are pretty poor that Unhinged will sell the same
number of booster packs in two months that 8th Edition did in the last
four-plus months of 2003, so the revenue for WotC will be down this year.


--
(Posted from an account used as a SPAM dump. If you really want to get
in touch with me, dump the 'jboes' and substitute 'mur'.)
________
Jeffery Boes <>< jboes@qtm.net

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc (More info?)

Jeff Boes <jboes@qtm.net> wrote:
>The "one less release" must refer to the fact that by this time in 2003
>WotC had released 8th edition. However, when you factor in this falls
>"Unhinged" release WotC will end the year with the same *number* of
>releases. Granted, odds are pretty poor that Unhinged will sell the same
>number of booster packs in two months that 8th Edition did in the last
>four-plus months of 2003, so the revenue for WotC will be down this year.

Well, Unhinged has a factor that 8E didn't. While both are supposed to have
one basic land per pack, and while we still don't know what Unhinged's will
actually look like as far as I know (though we know, 4/5/04, that they'll be
black-bordered and qith a unique layout), odds are they'll be at least as
cool as the Unglued lands. I personally expect a lot of Unhinged sales _just_
to get the basic lands, and for no other reason. Whereas main sets don't
usually sell all that well among expert or longtime players - many of them
already have most of the cards in the set...

So I wouldn't say the odds are -that- poor, essentially.

Dave
--
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It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc (More info?)

dbd@gatekeeper.vic.com (David DeLaney) wrote in message news:<slrncnbdbg.f7n.dbd@gatekeeper.vic.com>...
> Jeff Boes <jboes@qtm.net> wrote:
> >The "one less release" must refer to the fact that by this time in 2003
> >WotC had released 8th edition. However, when you factor in this falls
> >"Unhinged" release WotC will end the year with the same *number* of
> >releases. Granted, odds are pretty poor that Unhinged will sell the same
> >number of booster packs in two months that 8th Edition did in the last
> >four-plus months of 2003, so the revenue for WotC will be down this year.
>
> Well, Unhinged has a factor that 8E didn't. While both are supposed to have
> one basic land per pack, and while we still don't know what Unhinged's will
> actually look like as far as I know (though we know, 4/5/04, that they'll be
> black-bordered and qith a unique layout), odds are they'll be at least as
> cool as the Unglued lands. I personally expect a lot of Unhinged sales _just_
> to get the basic lands, and for no other reason. Whereas main sets don't
> usually sell all that well among expert or longtime players - many of them
> already have most of the cards in the set...
>
> So I wouldn't say the odds are -that- poor, essentially.
>
> Dave

Also, I don't think base set sales spike with a rotation the way
expansions do. After all, seventh editition was on sale all 2003. Why
would people rush out to buy 8th packs with largely the same cards?
Doesn't make sense. Sure, there would be some increase as people draft
with the new packs, but I don't see the same sort of surge that an
entirely new set like Unhinged will generate.