Magic: The Gathering proves once again that the best expansions are the ones that exist outside of Magic with a Final Fantasy slam dunk.
Say what you will about the Universes Beyond initiative for Magic: the Gathering, but if the numbers prove anything, it’s that people want to tap their lands to play Tidus. Or Cloud. Or whoever your waifish boy hero of choice is. I say this because the numbers are in, and the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond expansion for Magic: The Gathering is the fastest-selling Magic set of all time. And it’s not even close.
Magic: The Gathering x Final Fantasy Makes $200 Million In One Single Day
When Magic: the Gathering announced the Final Fantasy Secret Lair drop, people sat up at attention. Quite possibly they had heard about the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV with its free trial that lets you play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for FREE with no restrictions on playtime! Quite possibly they just wanted to be able to suplex a train in Magic.
Whatever the case, the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond expansion is the fastest-selling Magic: The Gathering expansion in history. And that’s straight from Hasbro. It sold out online and in-person, to the point where it was difficult to get your hands on any of it – though lately stores are starting to have them in stock again.
But, according to Hasbro’s Q2 earnings call, Final Fantasy x Magic brought in $200 million in a single day. That is mind-boggling, especially when you consider that the Lord of the Rings expansion for Magic: The Gathering earned the same amount over the course of six months.
As Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks put it in the call:
“In terms of Final Fantasy and how it met expectations, I’ll give you a comparison between two of our biggest universe at the onsets. Lord of the Rings took six months to deliver $200 million of revenue.
Final Fantasy took one day. And we left demand on the table. So we couldn’t produce enough. I think we increased production runs on it four times pre release. It was substantially, by many, many very high double digit percentages, ahead of any other production run we’ve ever done.
AdvertisementAnd wel eft the market wanting more. Our expectation isthe re’s going to be a nice long tail of backlist for the product.”
So slot that materia into your sword and cast Fire from it, Final Fantasy is here to stay. It’s something that Hasbro hopes will keep on giving, month after month. This set is responsible in no small way for Magic’s reported 23% year-over-year growth, bringing in more new players to stores over the last two weeks than other sets have in 12.
If you’ve missed the hype train, don’t worry, Sabin hasn’t suplexed it into the ground just yet. There’s plenty more where that came from. You might just have to wait.
Sonic the Hedgehog is next, and Spider-Man is not far behind – crossovers keep making bank for Magic: the Gathering!
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