Fans ofMagic: The Gathering Arenahave been tethered to their computers since the game was released in 2018, but it looks like that’s about to change. Today, Hasbro announced that it is releasingMagic: The Gathering Arenaon mobile sometime in 2020.
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 Arenahas 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 ofHearthstone, the incredibly popular online card game published by Blizzard. Hearthstone is playable on mobile, andhas over 70 million players. Those kinds of numbers have to be tantalizing to any game studio.
Thecompetition 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 releasingArenaon the Epic Games Store. Clearly, Wizards is trying to expand its player base, and push back against the popularity ofHearthstone.
This is part of a bigger push by Hasbro to expandMagic The Gathering’sonline presence. Hasbro has been heavily investing inArena, and there have been many improvements to the game since release. Wizards has added new game modes and cards, and there will be aton of fun Magic Events this February.
However, there is still a long way to go with the game.Arenastill has a lot of glitches, like whenland 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 ofArena, and they are invested in building a stable online platform forMagic: The Gathering.
