Hasbro released its financial report for FY24. Despite the overall revenue decline, the company’s WotC and gaming business set new records driven by strong performance from its licensed business.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Financial highlights
- According to its earnings release, Hasbro reached $4.13 billion in revenue last year, down 17% year-over-year.
- Operating profit amounted to $690 million, compare to an operating loss of $1.5 billion in 2023.
- Almost all of the company’s business segments saw revenue declines: Consumer Products was down 12% year-over-year, while Entertainment was down 88% (-4% when excluding the eOne divestiture).
- Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming was the only segment to show growth, with its 2024 revenue growing 4% year-over-year to $1.52 billion.
- Tabletop Gaming fell 3% $1.039 billion, accounting for 68.7% of the total. Digital and Licensed Gaming grew 22% year-over-year to $417.7 million.
- According to Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, the Wizards of the Coast and Digital Gaming segment had “another record year,” with its operating profit margin surpassing 20%. Overall, its revenue grew for the 14th time in the last 15 years.
Hasbro’s video game business and new Playing to Win strategy
- Speaking of its 2024 results, Hasbro noted that Baldur’s Gate 3 saw solid sales, “nearly doubling our initial expectations.” It previously projected its full-year licensed revenue from the game to be $30 million, eventually increasing the forecast to $35 million.
- During an earnings call, the company praised the work of Larian Studios, saying that their games always have the long tail of sales.
Larian relies on the quality of the games and the enthusiasm of their community to drive word of mouth, and we're seeing that. We saw that with Baldur's Gate over the course of 2024 and into Q4, and I think we'll continue to see benefits from that this year in excess of what a typical AAA game would experience.
CEO of Hasbro
- Monopoly Go! generated $112 million for Hasbro in 2024, above the initial guidance of $105 million.
- The company expects its licensed game revenue to be flat year-over-year in 2025 as contributions Monopoly Go! “will offset the moderation of Baldur’s Gate 3.”
- On February 20, Hasbro announced its new strategic plan called “Playing to Win.” It is a three-year plan aimed at delivering $1 billion in gross cost savings and mid-single digit CAGR net revenue growth by 2027.
- “Our new strategy is grounded in the key insights which will drive Hasbro’s evolution into a modern play company: serving fans of all ages around the world at every price point, and meeting fans where they are playing, which is increasingly online,” Cocks said in a statement.
- CFO Gina Goetter added that Hasbro expects to emerge as “one of the most profitable toy and game companies globally.”
- As part of its Playing to Win strategy, the company will focus on expanding its core franchises, reaching new audiences (including “girls and merging markets”), producing its own video games, and building new licensing partnerships.
- Hasbro has partnered with Saber Interactive to work on a new AAA game based on one of its “tentpole IPs.” It is will be developed by the team behind Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2, utilizing the studio’s proprietary Swarm technology.
- The company continues to work on first-party video games, with Archetype Entertainment’s sci-fi RPG Exodus scheduled for 2026. It will also receive “higher incremental investments.” Its self-publishing pipeline also includes unannounced games like Atomic Arcade’s G.I. Joe project and Invoke Studios’ untitled D&D game.
- Cocks noted that Hasbro plans to launch one to two releases per year from 2026 to 2030.