Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Pokemon making a comeback?

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FSULugia

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I recent started to follow Pokemon again after not really caring about it since the early 2000s and notice the game has been coming back a bit and that its starting to gain a little respect again. Does anyone else notice this?

According to ICV2, in the summer of 2012, Pokemon is currently 2nd in mass channel collectable games (behind MTG) and was 4th in hobby channel CCGs (behind MTG, YGO, Marvel/DC Heroclix). Is this because Pokemon is not played at hobby places as much as these games and is more informal (like at the league level)?

I notice the reintroduction of EX's and the addition of Full Arts and Ace Specs has also breathed life into the game. Even though EXs have overpowered a lot of various cards, they seem very popular.

What does everyone think? Is Pokemon making a comeback? If so how and in what ways?
 
Pokemon has actually dropped from 1st in mass market sales over the last year but gone up from 5th to 4th in hobby. I would say the bigger jump was the introduction of Black and White, not the EXs. Pokemon was behind YuGiOh in hobby, mass and overall in 2010, they jumped ahead of YuGiOH in 2 of those categories starting around Q2 of 2011.
 
SMP88 said:
Pokemon has actually dropped from 1st in mass market sales over the last year but gone up from 5th to 4th in hobby. I would say the bigger jump was the introduction of Black and White, not the EXs. Pokemon was behind YuGiOh in hobby, mass and overall in 2010, they jumped ahead of YuGiOH in 2 of those categories starting around Q2 of 2011.
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Wow so Pokemon was ahead of MTG last year in mass market sales at a point? Whats the rational behind a lot of this sides a few of the possible reasons I mentioned?
 
The classic argument is that Pokemon sells better than MTG because it targets not just a large competitive audience (though, obviously, not as big as MTG's...) but also a large casual audience of collectors and unwitting children who just want to get pretty cards with cute creatures on them.
 
Pokemon was actually ahead of MTG in the Mass channel for about 2 years, IIRC. MTG always dominated the Hobby channel, but it was well known that Pokemon's appeal to the onesies and twosies crowd was unparalleled. I wouldn't be surprised to see Pokemon's mass channel sales lag the stock market levels by about 2 years, but roughly match it given that lag.

As far as a "comeback"? That train kinda left the station when we had a 4-figure National Championship. Also, I don't think the franchise ever really "died", as evidenced by the remarkably stable sales of each generational video game. I just think that the TCG saw some very, very tough years due to corporate manipulation and active mismanagement. In some respects, I still feel as though we're still climbing out of that hole a decade later. But the revival has been going on since at least 2004.

Pokemon has successfully navigated the choppy waters between "FAD" and "FRANCHISE". It's by far and away the most valuable Nintendo-exclusive property, even more so than Mario. And I feel as though the overall Pokemon market has barely been tapped.
 
bullados said:
Pokemon was actually ahead of MTG in the Mass channel for about 2 years, IIRC. MTG always dominated the Hobby channel, but it was well known that Pokemon's appeal to the onesies and twosies crowd was unparalleled. I wouldn't be surprised to see Pokemon's mass channel sales lag the stock market levels by about 2 years, but roughly match it given that lag.

As far as a "comeback"? That train kinda left the station when we had a 4-figure National Championship. Also, I don't think the franchise ever really "died", as evidenced by the remarkably stable sales of each generational video game. I just think that the TCG saw some very, very tough years due to corporate manipulation and active mismanagement. In some respects, I still feel as though we're still climbing out of that hole a decade later. But the revival has been going on since at least 2004.

Pokemon has successfully navigated the choppy waters between "FAD" and "FRANCHISE". It's by far and away the most valuable Nintendo-exclusive property, even more so than Mario. And I feel as though the overall Pokemon market has barely been tapped.
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I wish they would do more with Pokemon. I would love to see a real minature game not the silly spiny game tried and failed with. Also why is there not a Pokemon on line MPOG or at least something like Skylanders but with Pokemon. So much more could be done with the franchise.
 
bullados said:
Pokemon was actually ahead of MTG in the Mass channel for about 2 years, IIRC. MTG always dominated the Hobby channel, but it was well known that Pokemon's appeal to the onesies and twosies crowd was unparalleled. I wouldn't be surprised to see Pokemon's mass channel sales lag the stock market levels by about 2 years, but roughly match it given that lag.

As far as a "comeback"? That train kinda left the station when we had a 4-figure National Championship. Also, I don't think the franchise ever really "died", as evidenced by the remarkably stable sales of each generational video game. I just think that the TCG saw some very, very tough years due to corporate manipulation and active mismanagement. In some respects, I still feel as though we're still climbing out of that hole a decade later. But the revival has been going on since at least 2004.

Pokemon has successfully navigated the choppy waters between "FAD" and "FRANCHISE". It's by far and away the most valuable Nintendo-exclusive property, even more so than Mario. And I feel as though the overall Pokemon market has barely been tapped.
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I agree with a lot of what you say here, but I'd also point out that the early fad nature of the TCG worked against its long term health.
Anytime you get heavy speculation in a collectible, that collectible crashes at some point, quite often to the point of killing it off.
Pokemon was incredibly speculated in early on, causing prices to get ridiculously high, causing a glut on the market of early print run cards (8 print runs of Base Set) so that when the market crashed, it crashed hard and vendors that were left with too much merchandise got a very bad taste in their mouth.
I think that the game has recovered from that, as well as the issues that bullados mentions, but that still leaves us with a game that was everywhere at one point and has fallen off of most people's radar, to the point that you will often get the response of "Pokemon? Is that still around?".
I think we still haven't see the market for tangential goods pick back up (your school folders, your snack food tie ins, your calendars at the mall shops, etc.) and until we start seeing those things, Pokemon is still climbing back up.
 
PokePop said:
I agree with a lot of what you say here, but I'd also point out that the early fad nature of the TCG worked against its long term health.
Anytime you get heavy speculation in a collectible, that collectible crashes at some point, quite often to the point of killing it off.
Pokemon was incredibly speculated in early on, causing prices to get ridiculously high, causing a glut on the market of early print run cards (8 print runs of Base Set) so that when the market crashed, it crashed hard and vendors that were left with too much merchandise got a very bad taste in their mouth.
I think that the game has recovered from that, as well as the issues that bullados mentions, but that still leaves us with a game that was everywhere at one point and has fallen off of most people's radar, to the point that you will often get the response of "Pokemon? Is that still around?".
I think we still haven't see the market for tangential goods pick back up (your school folders, your snack food tie ins, your calendars at the mall shops, etc.) and until we start seeing those things, Pokemon is still climbing back up.
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Actually Pokemon toys were given out at Burger King last summer and at my local grocery store they sell Pokemon calendars. I been starting to see the new trading card game commericals on tv again and lots of people I know still know the series has been going for a bit.
 
Seeing more of pokemon just means they are most likely putting more into marketing. It seems to be the same and as evidenced by some reports, is actually dying off in other countries
 
r3skyline said:
Seeing more of pokemon just means they are most likely putting more into marketing. It seems to be the same and as evidenced by some reports, is actually dying off in other countries
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Which country's are they? Parts of Africa is starting to get into the TCG.the World Champions from Portugal.I dont think the games dying off- I think its expanding.
 
r3skyline said:
Seeing more of pokemon just means they are most likely putting more into marketing. It seems to be the same and as evidenced by some reports, is actually dying off in other countries
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Yes, companies that are putting more into marketing are dying. Nice logic there.
 
PokePop said:
I think we still haven't see the market for tangential goods pick back up (your school folders, your snack food tie ins, your calendars at the mall shops, etc.) and until we start seeing those things, Pokemon is still climbing back up.
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Well I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods, but my sons have a Pokemon T-shirtd from Wal-mart, Pokemon backpackd from Target and constantly whine for the Pikachu shaped Kraft Mac-and-Cheese in my Kroeger supermarket. So I don't know what it used to be like for Pokemon merchandise in the boom years you speak of but being in the big box stores with McDonald's tie ins sounds about as established as a brand can get to me.
 
RichD said:
Well I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods, but my sons have a Pokemon T-shirtd from Wal-mart, Pokemon backpackd from Target and constantly whine for the Pikachu shaped Kraft Mac-and-Cheese in my Kroeger supermarket. So I don't know what it used to be like for Pokemon merchandise in the boom years you speak of but being in the big box stores with McDonald's tie ins sounds about as established as a brand can get to me.
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Trust me, in 1998-1999, it was even bigger than that. You couldn't walk anywhere and not see Pokemon. I could buy booster packs at a Blockbuster, any bookstore (Waldenbooks, Borders, Barnes & Nobles, Books a Million), and gaming stores like GameStop.

Now the only places you can find booster packs are hobby stores, toy stores, and big box stores (Wal Mart, Target). Maybe if you're lucky you'll find something current at a Walgreens.

The same goes with all other merchandise; it was incredibly plentiful and it was everywhere. Everyone knew about it and every kid was into it. It was like a fever that had swept across America.

Nowdays, yeah, you can find Pokemon merchandise but not nearly as widespread as it used to be. Whenever you mention Pokemon everyone's attitude is awlays 'oh is that still around?' or 'oh that thing'.
 
pokemon is dying.
you know it's dying just by looking at major tournament attendance.

who is the most populated age division? masters.
in 10-20 years pokemon will be dead, because all the masters that are in their early to mid 20's will
most likely be married, have a house of their own as well as have children of their own.
i'm going to just be generous and assume that is 50% of the population.
let's take asmall regional tournament.
220 masters
100 seniors
80 juniors
think if we cut that in half or more. almost nobody will be playing the game.
also you have to account for the poke parents that join these tournaments just to kill time
while their younger children are in the tournament as well. for every 100 masters there is usually about
10 poke parents. the games dying.
 
rileysill32 said:
pokemon is dying.
you know it's dying just by looking at major tournament attendance.

who is the most populated age division? masters.
in 10-20 years pokemon will be dead, because all the masters that are in their early to mid 20's will
most likely be married, have a house of their own as well as have children of their own.
i'm going to just be generous and assume that is 50% of the population.
let's take asmall regional tournament.
220 masters
100 seniors
80 juniors
think if we cut that in half or more. almost nobody will be playing the game.
also you have to account for the poke parents that join these tournaments just to kill time
while their younger children are in the tournament as well. for every 100 masters there is usually about
10 poke parents. the games dying.
Click to expand...

Right. I didnt know children didnt have the capability of aging and moving up into that age base and that children are just like in Zelda to where they never get old. Thanks for reminding me I completely forgot about this amazing point!
 
RichD said:
.............. the Pikachu shaped Kraft Mac-and-Cheese in my Kroeger supermarket. ............................
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Woah! When did they start that up again? I don't know why, but pokemon mac 'n' cheese just tastes so much better than the regular stuff. Might I ask what state/region this is?

All I can ever find is spongebob or princess shaped noodles. It's just not the same (I mean, I guess the disney princess ones taste alright...). I miss the good ol' days of pokemon pop-tarts too.

Every tournament I've gone to, the attendance has been rising in all age divisions. It's the friendly environment that the game provides for gamers of all sizes.
 
rileysill32 said:
pokemon is dying.
you know it's dying just by looking at major tournament attendance.

who is the most populated age division? masters.
in 10-20 years pokemon will be dead, because all the masters that are in their early to mid 20's will
most likely be married, have a house of their own as well as have children of their own.
i'm going to just be generous and assume that is 50% of the population.
let's take asmall regional tournament.
220 masters
100 seniors
80 juniors
think if we cut that in half or more. almost nobody will be playing the game.
also you have to account for the poke parents that join these tournaments just to kill time
while their younger children are in the tournament as well. for every 100 masters there is usually about
10 poke parents. the games dying.
Click to expand...

Have you seen the past nationals attendence? And thats over the whole U.S and not just a little part of it.

If the parents are playing to kill time then they are still playing. I could think of way better stuff to do then just play pokemon to kill time...

Plus just because some people get married and have a nice house doesnt mean that they will stop playing...
 
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