The announcement came by way of Hasbro Chairman and CEO Brian Goldner. Goldner made the announcement in today’s 2019 earnings call with investors. He said that more information would be available soon, and that the full rollout for mobile platforms would be announced at this year’s New York Toy Fair, an industry trade show.
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Magic: The Gathering Arena has been PC-only since it was first released as a closed Beta in 2018. Despite demand, there is still no Mac version of the game. Perhaps the expansion into mobile is inspired by the success of Hearthstone, the incredibly popular online card game published by Blizzard. Hearthstone is playable on mobile, and has over 70 million players. Those kinds of numbers have to be tantalizing to any game studio.
The competition between Magic and Hearthstone is already fierce, and this recent news is sure to only add fuel to the flames. Hasbro has also announced this year that it’s going to be releasing Arena on the Epic Games Store. Clearly, Wizards is trying to expand its player base, and push back against the popularity of Hearthstone.
This is part of a bigger push by Hasbro to expand Magic The Gathering’s online presence. Hasbro has been heavily investing in Arena, and there have been many improvements to the game since release. Wizards has added new game modes and cards, and there will be a ton of fun Magic Events this February.
However, there is still a long way to go with the game. Arena still has a lot of glitches, like when land cards cause the game to crash. Hopefully, the increased focus on the mobile platform won’t come at the expense of the PC game. This is a good opportunity for Wizards to show fans that they are serious about the long term health of Arena, and they are invested in building a stable online platform for Magic: The Gathering.
Magic: The Gathering Arena is available now on PC.
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