Catan Went 40% Off. Magic Had a $545 Million Quarter.

Catan is a game about trading wool for brick. In October, Amazon was trading it to you at about 40% off. Meanwhile, Magic: The Gathering was having a $545 million quarter. Same hobby, very different shelves.

To be fair, those numbers come from different calendars. The sale ran through October 7, and Magic’s quarter ended June 28. But when we lined up the sale prices next to the industry data, the two stories turned out to be the same story. Here is what we found, and what we couldn’t.

The price tags

Wargamer’s roundup had Catan, Azul and Splendor at about 40% off, Harmonies at 38%, and Spirit Island at 31%. GamesRadar’s live tracker added the dollar amounts:

• Harmonies: $24.99, against a $39.99 list price. Flagged as a record low.
• Cozy Stickerville: $32.49. Also a record low.
• Catan: $29.99, against a usual price near $40.
• Dixit: $27.99, against about $37.
• 7 Wonders: $41.49, against about $51.
• Splendor: $23.99, the best price in 180 days.

None of these are obscure games. They are the ones your friend owns, the ones every shop stocks, and the ones that have been teaching people the hobby for years. Seeing them marked down this far is a little like finding the house brand of cereal at half price. It’s welcome, and it makes you wonder about the warehouse.

Meanwhile, in the card aisle

ICv2 estimates the U.S. hobby games market at $3.66 billion in 2025, up 40%. Trading card games made up roughly two-thirds of those dollars. That leaves the board games, role-playing games and miniatures sharing the last third, and ICv2 says those categories were flat or grew modestly. Its white paper deck, whose figures are marked preliminary, is blunter: board games declined while card games grew, and Magic was up more than 50%.

The company reports agree. Hasbro said Magic revenue was $545.3 million in the quarter ended June 28, up 32%, and the Wizards of the Coast segment rose 27% to $663.8 million. Circana reported games and puzzles up 39%, driven by Pokémon, though its post doesn’t say which period that figure covers.

So why is Catan on sale?

Our best read is that the market is split in two. Cards are selling at full price and collectors are buying sealed product. Board games, especially the evergreen ones, are the ones going on the clearance rack. That is our reading, not a conclusion any of these sources states, and a sale proves little on its own. Retailers discount Catan every year, and we don’t have last year’s numbers to compare.

Tariffs may be part of the answer. ICv2 says higher import taxes from April 2025 slowed shipments of board games and miniatures. Publishers warned in March 2025 to expect fewer releases and higher prices, and a Huntsville shop owner told WAFF in June that he absorbed tariff costs for months before passing them on. We can’t tell from the public numbers whether board games are selling less, shipping late, or both.

What’s actually trending

If you read the sale roundups for patterns, three show up. Cozy, nature-themed games had a good week: Harmonies, Cozy Stickerville and Everdell all made the lists. Tile-laying and engine-building games (Azul, Splendor) were everywhere. And short trick-taking games got attention too. ICv2’s deck adds that mass retail is moving toward small-box games, with Amazon gaining share and Target losing it.

The price tracker CamelCamelCamel’s popular list on October 14 showed Magic sealed boxes and Pokémon accessories sitting between the LEGO sets. Those lists show what people are watching for price drops, not what they bought, so treat them as a mood, not a sales chart.

What we can’t tell you

Amazon doesn’t publish unit sales, so we looked at discounts and tracker interest, not what sold. ICv2’s figures are estimates built from industry interviews and public data, and its totals leave out crowdfunding. That is why this is a read on the market and not a verdict on it.

For the people at the table, the practical takeaway is small and pleasant. If your shelf has a gap where Catan should be, October was a good month to fill it. Whether those prices are good news for the studios making the games is a harder question, and the numbers so far don’t answer it.

Shop this: Magic: The Gathering Foundations Starter Collection

Featured image: “settlers-of-catan-board-game” by Cheryl Marland, licensed BY (via Openverse). Source.