Photo via entrepreneur.com
Hasbro sells 65% of everything it makes to buyers aged 13 and older, most of them adults, and Chris Cocks, CEO of Hasbro, told Liz Hoffman and Rohan Goswami on Semafor's Compound Interest that he still calls the company a toymaker.
The usual view of Hasbro is a children's toy business that also licenses its brands to studios. Chris described a company whose growth comes from adult players of card and role-playing games, collectors, and AI versions of its characters licensed to other businesses.
"When I meet people at cocktail parties, I'm like, I make toys. That's at the end of the day what we do."
Chris joined Hasbro in 2016, when Magic: The Gathering was a business he put at about $300 million. He expects it to pass $2 billion this year.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 52 minutes of audio, 7 minutes of reading.
Here are the 6 insights that matter.
Semafor · Oct 28, 2026 · 52m · 45m saved
With Chris Cocks, CEO of Hasbro
Key Takeaways
Most of Hasbro's sales go to buyers 13 and older, and most of those are adults
Magic: The Gathering has grown from about $300M to a projected $2B-plus since Chris joined in 2016
Trading card games are now bigger than building blocks, in his estimate
Hasbro is licensing AI versions of its characters to voice platforms, animatronics and customer-service lines
Potato Head gets an AI voice built on Don Rickles recordings from his estate
Hasbro, not the studios, made the first toy-to-movie adaptation, Clue, in 1984
About 65 film and TV projects are in development with roughly a dozen studios
Chris credits a rules-based game, not flashcards, with starting his own imagination
1. A Toymaker Selling to Adults
Chris still describes Hasbro as a toymaker rather than a holder of intellectual property rights. What counts as a toy has shifted over the last few decades, though, and most toys across the industry are now bought by households without children.
Hasbro's customers are mostly adults, concentrated in its games and collectibles
"65% of anything we sell goes to consumers who are 13 years and older, and most of them are 18 years and older." — Chris Cocks
That adult business sits in Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, board games, and Marvel and Star Wars collectibles. Chris tied it to a wider change in how people find community as trust in other institutions has fallen.
Chris sees fandom filling a need for belonging
"Fandom in general... helps to give people belonging, give people something that brings them joy in their life... it's more important than ever to find your tribe." — Chris Cocks
Marketing has moved with the customer. Hasbro now relies less on traditional ad spots and more on reading social-media chatter and feedback from influencers to shape how its products are discussed over time.
