The gap between rival toymakers is widening Hasbro and matel – thanks in part to a 30-year-old trading card game.
Toy giants have shifted their dominance in the space for decades, competing for the most coveted master licenses to put new fan favorites (Disney princesses and “Star Wars” characters, among them) on store shelves. But as the industry recovers from a period of declining sales, Hasbro is the one beating Wall Street.
For fiscal 2025, Hasbro reported revenue gains of 14%, reaching $4.7 billion, while Mattel saw its net sales fall 1% to $5.3 billion.
Although Mattel's revenue is higher than Hasbro's, its growth has stagnated, according to Eric Handler, managing director and senior research analyst at Roth Capital Partners.
“[Mattel’s] “Revenue has been in a very tight range for five years and 2026, organically, will be the same,” he told CNBC.
Mattel shares are down more than 20% in the last 12 months, trading at around $17. Meanwhile, Hasbro stock is up about 46% over the same period, and the stock is trading at around $100.
Of course, Hasbro's post-pandemic journey hasn't been without its obstacles. The company's revenue took a hit when it divested its film and television business, eOne. Additionally, its entertainment segment, which includes film and television licenses, was deeply affected by the double Hollywood labor strike in 2023.
“Despite market volatility and a changing consumer environment, we were able to return this company to significant growth,” Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks told investors during an earnings call earlier this month.
Throughout these changes, a key piece of Hasbro's business has been growing steadily: Wizards of the Coast.
A pinch of magic
Hasbro's division includes Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering and the company's video game and digital portfolio.
In 2025, Wizards' revenue grew 45% to $2.1 billion, driven by sales of Magic's Universe Beyond tie-in sets and smaller limited-edition Secret Lair packs, some of which sell for close to $200.
While the segment accounts for less than half of the company's revenue, it accounts for 88% of its adjusted profits.
Magic: The Gathering playing cards form a lamp at Wizards of the Coast headquarters in Renton, Washington, on Sept. 11, 2025. With sales of traditional toys and games lagging, Hasbro has found a growth engine in role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering and a growing portfolio of digital and video games.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | fake images
The strategic trading card game Magic, created in 1993, typically features two players going head-to-head using custom decks of trading cards to cast spells, unleash creatures, or use artifacts to defeat their opponent.
Over the past five years, Hasbro has expanded beyond the initial game tradition to release card games based on third-party intellectual property, including “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” Marvel's “Spider-Man” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
Not only are these sets popular among long-time Magic fans, but they also act as a gateway to the world of Magic for consumers from other fan bases. In mid-2025, Hasbro released a “Final Fantasy” set that became the best-selling expansion pack in Magic: The Gathering history, generating $200 million in sales in a single day.
“They've done a fantastic job expanding the funnel over the last couple of years and it's become a multi-generational type of product,” Handler said. “The player base is growing. It's a sticky player base that is excited about new products and new ways to play.”
According to Cocks, until the end of 2025, more than 1 million unique players participated in organized games, that is, sanctioned tournaments. That's a 22% year-over-year increase, he said.
Additionally, the number of game stores hosting events, called the Wizards Play Network, has grown to more than 10,000, a 20% increase from 2024.
“Taken together, this reinforces our confidence in Magic's long-term growth,” Cocks said on the company's earnings conference call. “We are building a gaming system with multiple entry points, product types and paths to engagement, and that system is positioned to continue driving growth through 2026 and beyond.”
In 2026, Hasbro plans to release new Magic sets based on “The Hobbit,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Star Trek.”
The company has forecast mid-single-digit growth for its Wizards business in 2026, but Keegan Cox, associate vice president and research analyst at DA Davidson, in a research note published shortly after the company's earnings, called that estimate “conservative.”
The digital frontier
Hasbro's Wizards unit also includes the digital and licensed gaming space, which saw revenue rise 6% in 2025, boosted by the success of “Monopoly Go!”
Cocks has previously noted that modern consumers and gaming are increasingly moving to online forums, and the company has launched new games and an in-person gaming studio in Montreal to boost gaming.
While Hasbro's digital games division is growing, Mattel is just getting its own digital unit off the ground.
Earlier this month, Mattel announced that it would buy partner NetEase its 50% stake in its joint venture Mattel163, assuming full ownership of the business. Mattel163 develops digital games based on the toy company's brands and since 2018 has released four digital games: Uno, Uno Wonder, Phase 10 and Skip-Bo.
“In our opinion, [Mattel] is in the early stages of an investment similar to Hasbro's investment in games over 7 years ago,” wrote DA Davidson's Cox. “While we don't believe [Mattel] We will be looking to compete with Hasbro…we believe [Mattel] “They can create successful mobile games tied to their intellectual property and should increase profit margins over time.”
An industry in constant change
Mattel's push into digital comes at a time when two of its flagship brands are struggling to generate sales.
“Barbie has seen a significant decline, as has Fisher-Price,” Handler said. “That's kind of negated a lot of the good news that's been happening with Hot Wheels.”
The vehicle division saw gross sales increase by 11% in 2025, while the doll segment fell 7% and the baby, toddler and preschool space fell 17%.
That segment of younger consumers has been in decline for more than a decade, a result of slowing population growth and the fact that children are introduced to electronics at an earlier stage in their development. Changes in play habits have meant that toy manufacturers have to adapt, and quickly.
But there is hope for Mattel and the toy industry as a whole. In 2025, total annual dollar sales increased 6% in the US, according to data from Circana. And, perhaps most importantly, the number of units sold increased 3%, quelling fears that price-conscious consumers are withdrawing their toy purchases.
“I think unit sales growth is the most important metric we can look at,” said James Zahn, senior editor at The Toy Insider and The Toy Book. “If unit sales are down, that's when you know people are actually buying less, and that didn't happen.”
Mattel and Hasbro, along with other toy companies, are also expected to get a boost from a strong theatrical schedule this year.
Mattel has two of its own brands represented at the box office: “Masters of the Universe” in June and “Matchbox” in October. While Mattel won't see a major increase in ticket sales, its toy sales could get a boost. After all, the release of “Barbie” in 2023 helped fuel a 16% increase in the doll's gross receipts in the quarter after it arrived in theaters.
Mattel also owns the master toy licenses for “Toy Story” and the Disney princesses, meaning it will handle most of the product for “Toy Story 5” and the live-action “Moana” movie.
Hasbro will have toy lines for “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “Avengers: Doomsday.”
Together, Mattel and Hasbro have also collaborated on the long-awaited line of products for Netflix hit animated movie “KPop Demon Hunters,” promising dolls, foam role-playing items, games, and plush items.
“'KPop Demon Hunters' will be a big deal for both Hasbro and Mattel,” Zahn said.
