According to Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, exploring other worlds beyond Magic: The Gathering’s core multiverse has paid off for the collectible card game. During a recent investor conference, Cocks praised MTG’s financial strength and linked it, in part, to the early success of the recent Fallout Commander crossover.
“I would say Fallout has been a great set,” Cocks told investors. “I’m a bit of a fanatic, so I’ll try not to brag too much – I’ve been playing since the 90s. It’s probably our best-performing Commander set so far, whether it’s a Universes Beyond set or not.
Cocks only slightly qualified his acclaim by mentioning that Universes Beyond Commander sets, consisting of four preconstructed decks that players can place on the table right out of the box, tend to undersell MTG’s “general release sets,” like the recent Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Fallout won’t match the meteoric $200 million in sales that the Lord of the Rings-themed Tales of Middleearth achieved in six months, but Hasbro doesn’t expect each of its crossover releases to outstrip the last. At least, not yet.
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Fallout Commander Decks have arrived just in time to cash in on the pop culture frenzy surrounding the recent Amazon-produced TV series. Starring Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, and Aaron Clifton Moten, the eight-episode first season adapts Fallout’s post-apocalyptic parody of American consumerism, the military-industrial complex, and, in the middle of it all, a mad wasteland. Jonathan Nolan’s cinematic story draws from the video game franchise’s official lore, while the four 100-card MTG decks draw on characters, places, and items throughout its history. It’s more of a love letter than a contained narrative, similar to 2022’s Warhammer 40k Universes Beyond decks.
Hasbro hasn’t released any exact numbers on how the Fallout Commander decks are performing, even though they hit stores on March 8 — more than a month ago. But it does point to the company’s supposed reliance on using Universes Beyond releases to attract new players, while also monetizing expensive collector boosters and an increasing volume of alternative art treatments to existing cardboard decks.
Cocks said 2024 won’t reach last year’s levels, but the future remains bright thanks to impending crossover sets with Final Fantasy and Marvel. MTG’s growing audience in Japan — MTG’s second-largest demographic globally — is expected to devour the Final Fantasy Universes Beyond set, which will include protagonists and villains from every video game in the decades-long series. Marvel’s turn to play in the TCG sandbox will reportedly fill multiple sets, starting in 2025 and stretching through 2026. When Disney’s cultural production juggernaut parks in your front yard, you don’t make a fuss about ruined grass.