During a Hasbro investor’s call, the American toy and game company revealed that Baldur’s Gate 3 has earned it $90 million since the RPG’s official release last year, thanks to a licensing deal.
According to Hasbro’s Q4 2023 earnings call, Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast’s revenue increased 7% following the release of Larian Studios’ 2024 Game of the Year award-winning D&D role-playing game alongside Monopoly Go! Baldur’s Gate 3 released for PC in August 2023, followed by PS5 in September and Xbox in December.
“Our refreshed leadership team is bringing innovative new products to our fans,” Hasbro chief executive officer Chris Cocks said during the investor’s call. “At the same time, we are taking the necessary actions to transform Hasbro and deliver long-term profitable growth starting with driving significant profit growth across our segments in 2024 and building momentum in our innovation pipeline between now and 2025.”
During the earnings call, Hasbro acknowledged that Wizard’s revenue would likely taper down by roughly 3%-5% in 2024 as a result of the “strong growth” the company experienced with the release of Baldur’s Gate 3 and MAGIC: The Gathering’s Lord of the Rings set.
Although Hasbro is taking a bit of a victory lap touting its high earnings from Baldur’s Gate 3, the toymaker doesn’t appear to be in great shape overall. According to Habro’s financial reports from the earnings call, the company experienced a revenue decline of 15% and operated at a loss of $1.5 billion in 2023. Hasbro also laid off around 6,500 workers last year in an attempt to save up to $300 million annually by 2025.
Nevertheless, Cocks says the company’s strategy of “Fewer, Bigger, Better” helped the conglomerate usher in some important wins for the company in 2023 and is optimistic about that momentum continuing in 2024.
“Turn arounds take time and for our toy business we are still in the early innings,” Cocks said. “While we are likely to face some near-term industry headwinds in 2024 and we are comping a better than planned 2023 for Wizards, the work we have done under the hood to strengthen our balance sheet, upgrade our planning and right size our inventory are a strong foundation to build from.”
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.
