Launched on mobile over three months in 2021, from January’s beta test to March’s official release, Magic: The Gathering Arena became a rapid success for Wizards of the Coast. While it’s far from easy to find stats for the CCG, overall owner Hasbro posted a profit of $1bn later in the same year.

A single mention of MTG Arena in a 2021 earnings call revealed that the average player spent nine hours a week playing the Android and iOS app. It added 50% more fans to the Arena audience, which had been confined to PC since its September 2019 launch.

Of course, Arena isn’t the only Wizards game on mobile. The Magic: The Gathering Companion joins Magic: Puzzle Quest, a match-3 title that never stays in the hands of one developer for too long (it’s had three since 2015), and the casual Magic Spellslingers, which some might consider a misfire.

There’s evidence that Arena’s star has dimmed a little recently, if only because Marvel Snap became the strongest CCG in 2023, posting sales of $100m, but Arena only falls behind classic rivals Hearthstone and Yu-Gi-Oh on charts of top-grossing apps, card category.

Card Games

Mobile development is always a risky gambit. The rules differ to PC and the standard gameplay experience rarely carries over completely. Yet, there’s plenty of evidence that games like MTG Arena and other CCGs are perfect for the platform.

The only card games that have an easier time establishing themselves on mobile are poker, solitaire, and rummy -  again, according to the top-grossing apps chart.

Oddly enough, casino-style card games have a short iOS and Android history. Before March 2021, Google only allowed gambling apps in four countries but later expanded its rollout to fifteen more, including the United States and Canada.

With the expanding market in New Jersey, an NJ casino online app can offer games including 3-card poker, blackjack, and even experiences based on the game show format, like Dreamcatcher.

MTG Arena, as a card game, naturally had an easier time transitioning than something like Psyonix and Epic’s Rocket League, which has been struggling to find an identity for its Sideswipe mobile spin-off since its debut a few months after Arena.

Fallout

MTG Arena’s advantage arguably came from the fact that players could use cards and decks they’d amassed from playing the game's PC version, which isn’t possible with content in Psyonix’s arena battler. Transfers work in the other direction, too. In combination with the physical CCG, Magic: The Gathering contributed 52% of Hasbro’s total revenue last year, beating well-established and, arguably, better-known properties like Dungeons & Dragons and Hasbro’s many board games. The company has a plan to turn MTG into a much bigger name. A partnership with Bethesda’s Fallout marks Magic: The Gathering’s first excursion into video gaming (apart from Wizards’ titles), and will inevitably piggyback on the smash-hit Amazon Prime show, Fallout. The animated MTG Netflix show is reportedly still cooking, too - although, it might not be wise to get excited about that just yet.