24 Jul
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, CCGs, Electronic Games, Modern Board Games, Other, RPGs
For Hasbro, games performed well, though overall results were disappointing. The games category showed a third consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth, up 19 percent versus 2012. Highlights were Magic: The Gathering and Monopoly. Other games that also did well were Twister, Jenga, and the Elefun & Friends collection.
Also on the positive side were the girls and preschool categories, up 43 percent and 4 percent, respectively. Down 35 percent (or $135 million), though, was the boys category because of “challenging comparisons” to the strong sales of both Marvel and Beyblade in 2012. Total net revenues for Hasbro fell 6 percent from the second quarter of last year and operating profit was down 11 percent (not including restructuring charges).
Looking forward, Hasbro is optimistic on the performance of its newest games this fall, including Monopoly Empire, Twister Dance Rave, and Cheeky Monkey. Telepods, a mobile app-integrated product that’s launching with Angry Birds Star Wars II, will be expanding to other brands. Beywarriors will add to the Beyblades line. And Hasbro’s value game initiative will see the release of classic games at lower price points.
For Mattel, games performed about the same as last year. The company’s big movers were Barbie, down 12 percent, other girl’s (mostly Monster High), up 23 percent, and wheels (Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and Tyco R/C), down 6 percent.
For JAKKS Pacific, poor sales of Monsuno was one of the factors contributing to a second quarter loss of $46.9 million.