Wizards of the Coast confirmed today that a mobile version of Magic: the Gathering Arena is still “planned” for 2020.
“Just so we’re clear—this is a big one, and it’s going to take a lot of work to get us there,” Wizards said. “There won’t be many updates on this until late fall, but what we can tell you right now is” that “[i]t’s planned for 2020” and will “have cross-platform support.”
Wizards also stated that “all your cards, decks, play modes, etc” will be accessible in the mobile version of MTG Arena.
Hasbro Chairman and CEO Brian Goldner first revealed the plans to bring MTG Arena to mobile devices earlier this year during Hasbro’s 2019 earning call. “Magic Arena will move to mobile in 2020,” Goldner said on the call, and it’s “incredibly exciting as we give more people access to Magic Arena.”
Today is the first time that Wizards has shed light on how MTG Arena on mobile will work. Many were concerned that the game would be missing key features and play modes in order to fit Magic, a notoriously complex game, into a screen size as small as a mobile device. However, even after today’s announcement, we still do not know what devices—phones, tablets, or both?—will actually be supported.
Wizards also said today that eight-player draft pods are coming to the game with Ikoria and that it is planning to release MTG Arena on MacOS “by the end of summer”