The Impact of Pokémon TCG on the Gaming Industry
Posted by Magic Madhouse on 4th Jul 2023
That’s the simple answer, but we aren’t content with that. We are going to take a deep dive into the different types of cards available, why there are so many and what makes them so special. In fact, if we are talking about the number of cards printed in total, then it exceeds 43 BILLION, with 9 billion of those being printed between March 2021 and March 2022. Just let those numbers sink in for a second!
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The Rise of Trading Cards
Trading cards are everywhere. I’m sure if you ask anyone if they have played or collected some form of trading card game over the years, most would say yes, whether that’s Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh to name a few.
Magic: The Gathering is always credited as being the first Trading Card Game and its initial release was in August 1993, almost 30 years ago. Magic was, and still is, produced by Wizards of The Coast, the legendary publisher which was responsible for the English release of the Pokemon TCG Base Set some years later.
Pokemon was released in Japan in 1997 and made its way to Europe and the USA in 1999, thanks to Wizards of the Coast, who were the printers and distributors. The game was an immediate hit. In fact, it sold so well that Wizards were forced to discontinue some sports cards production in order to devote more resources to printing Pokemon! Wizards continued printing Pokemon until 2003 when The Pokemon Company took over and they still continue printing to this day. Since it first began, billions of Pokemon cards have been printed and its impact on the gaming industry, and the world in general, has been huge.
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Pokemon TCG
As we know, Pokemon began in English in 1999 and was a far simpler game than the one it has developed into now, although the fundamentals are still similar. Players require a 60 card deck, have to power up their Pokemon’s attacks with the use of Energy cards and have to take 6 prizes in order to win the game (usually).
It is played worldwide, with several tournaments all across the globe, culminating in the World Championships, often in August/September. Different regions have their own tournament scene, including North America, Latin America, Oceania, Europe and Japan. The best players battle it out all year to try and win enough points to secure their qualification at the World Championships.
Pokemon is not just played competitively. There is a huge fanbase of collectors, who sometimes don’t even play the game. Some of the older cards and certain newer ones can be extremely valuable due to their rarity and this makes them highly collectible. There are also collectors that enjoy collecting sealed items, including packs, booster boxes and elite trainer boxes. Some people like to display them and enjoy them while others store them away securely, hoping that they will continue to rise in value like some older sets have done and they will be able to sell them in the future for a nice profit.
It is this diversity in the trading card game that has helped it grow and thrive over the last 25+ years. Perhaps players and collectors have different views on the game and they don’t always agree, but it is undeniable that both have grown the game into the juggernaut it is today.
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Impact on the Gaming Industry
As the Pokemon Trading Card Game has continued to grow, its impact on the gaming industry has become immeasurable. Pokemon may be best known for where it began, the trading cards, but it has since spawned numerous video games, television shows and movies and it has even embraced augmented reality thanks to Pokemon GO.
Pokemon has undoubtedly inspired many trading card and board game creators and will have helped shape the industry into what it is today. Even the way Pokemon has grown into a global phenomenon has been attempted to be replicated by business across the world. Since the release of Pokemon GO, plenty of other big franchises have attempted similar things, including Harry Potter (I’m still waiting for a Lord of the Rings one though!).
Pokemon has shown other games how you can appeal to lots of different people and give lots of styles of playing the game, which only makes it more popular. The Pokemon Company understands its fanbase as well. They know which Pokemon and characters are most popular and know that if they print them in a set, that set will sell well across both collectors and players. Now, do they overprint some Pokemon? Well, that’s an ongoing debate but they certainly know how to market and sell products!
The competitive Pokemon scene has continued to grow year on year and regional tournaments during 2023 have consistently broken records for largest numbers of competitors. The European International Championships in London in April 2023 saw over 1500 TCG masters players alone, not including juniors and seniors or any of the Pokemon GO, Pokemon Unite and Pokemon VGC players. Some of the large Japanese tournaments regularly see over 2500 players and have broken over 3000 players before! These are quite extraordinary numbers that speak volumes to the popularity of the game right now.
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Continued Success and Future Outlook
The future looks very bright for the Pokemon Trading Card Game and it will continue to thrive all over the world. The announcement of the World Championships being held in Japan in August 2023 has people more hyped than any World Champs that I can remember! Trainers have the chance to travel to and compete in the place where Pokemon began all those years ago. Continued set releases keep the game invigorated and the dedicated fanbase of players and collectors means the game will continue to go from strength to strength over the years to come.
Pokemon looks to be heading in the right direction and has given itself such a strong foothold that it can only continue going upwards from here. Each new set release brings new Pokemon and new game mechanics to keep the game evolving and staying one step ahead of its rivals. With more and more emphasis on community play and grass roots tournaments, the game will continue to grow through the next generation of competitors and collectors who are just getting into the game now.
As we have seen in the past, The Pokemon Company is not afraid to introduce new innovations to keep themselves in the driving seat when it comes to trading card games. We may see more cross over sets as they have done in the past with the Detective Pikachu movie and the more recent Pokemon GO TCG set. The impact of Pokemon on many people’s lives, let alone just the gaming industry, has been huge and it will continue to play a role for millions of people regardless of what the future holds for Pokemon.