The gap with rival toy manufacturers is widening hasbro and mattel — thanks in part to a 30-year-old trading card game.
Toy giants are vying for the most coveted master licenses to upend decades of dominance in the field and put new fan favorites — Disney princesses and “Star Wars” characters — on store shelves. But as the industry recovers from a sales slump, Hasbro is winning on Wall Street.
For fiscal 2025, Hasbro reported a 14% increase in revenue to $4.7 billion, while Mattel saw net sales decline 1% to $5.3 billion.
Eric Handler, managing director and senior research analyst at Roth Capital Partners, said Mattel’s revenue is larger than Hasbro’s, but its growth has stagnated.
“(Mattel’s) earnings have been in a very narrow range for the last five years, and on an organic basis, that’s going to be the case in 2026,” he told CNBC.
Mattel shares have fallen more than 20% in the past 12 months, trading around $17. Meanwhile, Hasbro’s stock price has risen about 46% over the same period, with shares trading around $100.
Of course, Hasbro’s path post-pandemic hasn’t been without headwinds. The company’s revenue was hit by the sale of its film and television business, eOne. Additionally, the entertainment sector, which includes film and television licensing, was significantly affected by the 2023 Hollywood double labor strike.
“Despite market volatility and a changing consumer environment, we have returned this company to growth in a meaningful way,” Hasbro CEO Chris Cox told investors during an earnings call earlier this month.
Through these changes, Wizards of the Coast, one of the key parts of Hasbro’s business, has steadily grown.
just a little magic
The Hasbro division includes Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and the company’s portfolio of digital and video games.
In 2025, Wizards’ revenue increased 45% to $2.1 billion. This is supported by sales of Magic Universe Beyond-related sets and smaller, limited edition secret rare packs, some of which sell for close to $200.
Although the division accounts for less than half of the company’s revenue, it accounts for 88% of adjusted profit.
Magic: The Gathering playing cards form a lighting fixture at Wizards of the Coast headquarters in Renton, Washington, September 11, 2025. As sales of traditional toys and games have slumped, Hasbro has found growth engines in role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, trading card games like Magic: The Gathering, and a growing portfolio of digital and video games.
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Magic, a strategic trading card game created in 1993, typically features two players competing against each other using custom decks of collectible cards to cast spells, unleash creatures, and use artifacts to defeat their opponents.
Over the past five years, Hasbro has expanded beyond the lore of its early games to release card sets based on third-party intellectual property, including Avatar: The Last Airbender, Marvel’s Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings.
These sets are not only popular with long-time Magic fans, but also serve as a gateway into the world of Magic for consumers from other fandoms. In mid-2025, Hasbro released the Final Fantasy set, which became the fastest-selling expansion pack in Magic: The Gathering history, selling $200 million in one day.
“They’ve done a great job of widening the funnel over the last few years, and it’s become a multi-generational type of product,” Handler said. “The player base is growing. It’s a persistent player base that is enthusiastic about new products and new ways to play.”
By the end of 2025, more than 1 million unique players participated in organized play, or sanctioned tournaments, according to Cox. This is an increase of 22% compared to the previous year.
Additionally, the number of game stores hosting an event called Wizards Play Network has grown to more than 10,000 stores, a 20% increase from 2024.
“Taken together, this strengthens our confidence in Magic’s long-term growth,” Cox said on the company’s earnings call. “We are building a system of play with multiple entry points, product types and engagement paths that is positioned to continue driving growth in 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 expects growth for the Wizards business to be in the mid-single digits in 2026, but Keegan Cox, associate vice president and research analyst at DA Davidson, called that forecast “conservative” in a research note released shortly after the company’s earnings.
digital frontier
Hasbro’s Wizards division, which also includes digital and licensed games, saw revenue increase 6% in 2025 due to the success of “Monopoly Go!”
Cox has previously noted that modern consumers and modern play are increasingly moving to online forums, and the company has launched a new game and in-person video game studio in Montreal to promote play.
While Hasbro’s digital games division is growing, Mattel has just launched its own digital division.
Earlier this month, Mattel announced it would acquire partner NetEase from a 50% stake in its joint venture, Mattel 163, giving it full ownership of the business. Mattel163 develops digital games based on toy company brands and has launched four digital games since 2018: Uno, Uno Wonder, Phase 10, and Skip-Bo.
“In our view, (Mattel) is in the early stages of making an investment similar to Hasbro’s gaming investment over seven years ago,” Davidson’s attorney Cox wrote. “While we do not believe that (Mattel) will pursue competition from Hasbro, we believe that (Mattel) can have success with mobile games tied to its IP and that margins should increase over time.”
industry in flux
Mattel’s digital efforts come as its two main brands are struggling with sales.
“Like Fisher-Price, Barbie is also experiencing a significant decline,” Handler said. “It kind of cancels out a lot of the good news that’s been happening with Hot Wheels.”
In 2025, total payments for the vehicle category increased by 11%, while the doll category decreased by 7% and the infant, toddler, and preschool space decreased by 17%.
The youngest consumer group has been in decline for more than a decade, a result of shrinking population growth and the fact that children are being exposed to electronic devices earlier in their development. Changing play habits are forcing toy manufacturers to adapt quickly.
But there is hope for Mattel and the toy industry as a whole. According to data from Circana, total annual dollar sales in the U.S. increased by 6% in 2025. And, perhaps more importantly, unit sales rose 3%, quelling fears that price-sensitive consumers were holding back on toy purchases.
“I think the number of units sold is the most important metric we can look at,” said James Zahn, senior editor of The Toy Insider and The Toy Book. “If we were selling fewer units, we would know that people were actually buying less at that point, but that hasn’t happened.”
Mattel and Hasbro, like other toy companies, are also expected to receive a boost from a strong theatrical schedule this year.
Mattel has two of its own brands in charge of the box office, with “Masters of the Universe” coming in June and “Matchbox” coming in October. Mattel probably won’t see a big jump in ticket sales, but toy sales could. After all, the 2023 release of “Barbie” helped boost total doll sales by 16% in the quarter following its theatrical release.
Mattel also holds the master toy license for Toy Story and Disney Princess, so it will be responsible for most of the products for Toy Story 5 and the live-action version of Moana.
Hasbro plans to roll out the toy lines “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” and “Avengers: Doomsday.”
Mattel and Hasbro have also collaborated on a highly anticipated product line. Netflix Hit anime movie “KPop Demon Hunters”, promising dolls, foam role play items, games, plush items.
“KPop Demon Hunters will be big business for both Hasbro and Mattel,” Zahn said.
