Hasbro beat expectations and rose 77% for Q4 2009. Earnings of $165.6 million. (source) Gains mostly from Transformers toys and games, piggybacking off the film. It’s kind of sad when toys and games can only sell if there is a movie or TV series to boost them. Mattel doesn’t even pretend otherwise. Mattel was up 86%, on Barbie, Matchbox, and Mindflex. Earnings of $328.4 million. (source)

On the one hand, “Hasbro invites families to turn off electronic distractions, gather their favorite board game and reconnect with the people that matter most during a planned or spontaneous Family Game Night.” (source) On the other hand, Hasbro and EA sold over 8 million copies of electronic adaptations of Hasbro games last year. (source)

Analysts are bullish on both Hasbro and Mattel. (example)

Hasbro is raising money for shelters in Haiti through Playathons. (source)

The word for Hasbro in 2010 is “customizable” :

  • Monopoly U-Build, with a customizable track made from hexagons (Monopoly meets Settlers of Catan?)
  • Sorry! Spin, with a rotating board that can reposition all the pieces
  • Guess Who? Mix and Mash, create your own people before guessing
  • Cranium 2.0, with a collapsible or expandable game board to customize the time length of the game
  • Cranium Scribblish, a game of Telephone with alternations of drawing and describing
  • Pictureka 2nd edition and Disney edition
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