MTG Arena Could Be Getting A Multiplayer, Commander-like Format

thegamer.com:

Hasbro just issued its fourth-quarter results for its 2022 financial year, and the outlook isn't particularly great. Revenue slid 17 percent compared to the same time last year, and it's projecting weaker sales in 2023 thanks to rising inflation and the pandemic-era surge finally petering out.

But all is not doom and gloom. Hasbro has a potential Hollywood blockbuster on the way, the D&D furor is over after Wizards of the Coast rescinded planned changes to its Open Gaming License, and Magic: The Gathering is still printing money in card form. Hasbro has plans to expand Magic’s digital presence courtesy of Magic Arena’s upcoming release on Steam, and it might also include a digital version of Commander.

Related: Magic: The Gathering's Secret Lair Winter Superdrop 2023 Includes Snakes, Phyrexians, And '90s School Stationary

Speaking to investors, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks confirmed a Q3 release of Magic Arena on Steam after the development team figures out a new onboarding process that will appeal to non-Magic players. He expects Magic Arena to hit Xbox and PlayStation sometime in 2024, but in the meantime, Cocks said that Magic Arena is exploring other opportunities for revenue growth.

"If you think about the success of Magic over the last five years, the success really has been driving this--what we call a segmentation strategy--where we're offering bespoke products to new segments of consumers that either we were under-serving before or not serving at all before," he said. "There's formats like Commander, a four-player version of the game that's highly social. I'm enthused … in figuring out how we can get a true multiplayer experience beyond two players for Magic digitally.

Commander has long been a staple of in-person