Psychoflood
New Member
I’d like everyone to take a moment to honestly consider what I am about to say. My hope is that this is not passively dismissed, as I feel it might be, but instead discussed as the important topic that it is.
We’ve yet to receive any info about Regs, Spring BRs, Nats, or Worlds. We haven’t even received any info about the prizes for States. Really, how many of us have started preparing for States, without any idea at all of what we’re playing for? In the past, POP told us about rating invites a week before Cities, so at least at this point we knew that we had something to play for long term. This complete lack of information has led me to believe, that the Pokemon Organized Play is dying.
The retail focus of this game has never been the organized play aspect of it. The prizes have consistently been reduced each year since 2003-04 when the POP program was introduced. Back then, we used to get a box for winning prereleases, and every worlds invite came with a trip. Each year since then, the prizes have been cut, in one way or another. The retail focus has always been about children having their parents buying cards. It has been this way since 98, when the game was first introduced. Why even continue the OP program, if it isn’t profitable?
In any other game, it would be painfully obvious that the game is dying. I’ve played a number of games that have died, and this is how it happens. You stop hearing new info about upcoming event, and events stop being scheduled. The prizes are cut back, and eventually stop. People try to contact people in management in the game, and are brushed aside, or told that no info can be disclosed at the time. A couple months later, there’s a press release confirming what some have surmised. That’s how games die. It happens, and right now, it feels like its happening to this game.
If players in any other game were put in this position, they would conclude (usually correctly) that the game is dying, and that its time to get out, or find another game. I think this is the conclusion that I am forced to come to for this game.
I heard from someone, who heard from someone (someone who would have this knowledge), that the POP budget had been cut for this year. IMO the OP program will be scaled back considerably, and will cease to exist next year. It seems like they might just cancel Nats this year. It would help them make ends meet for the year. It would explain the lack of Nats info. It would even explain the lack of States prize info (as it usually refers to Nats). I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility, and it would seem like a move toward eliminating the unprofitable and obsolete POP program.
I doubt this is something that has not been considered by those making decisions at TPCi. The release of amazing promos like Claydol and Uxie, seems to be their way of ending the league program with a bang. The movement of Mike Leseik to the video game department could be another effect of the imminent death of the game. There just seems to be too much evidence suggesting that the game is coming to an end.
That said, I’d like to be the first to thank those who have worked so hard for this game over this past 11+ years. I’d also like to wish everyone involved in the Pokémon TCG the best of luck in whatever they do in the future without OP.
We’ve yet to receive any info about Regs, Spring BRs, Nats, or Worlds. We haven’t even received any info about the prizes for States. Really, how many of us have started preparing for States, without any idea at all of what we’re playing for? In the past, POP told us about rating invites a week before Cities, so at least at this point we knew that we had something to play for long term. This complete lack of information has led me to believe, that the Pokemon Organized Play is dying.
The retail focus of this game has never been the organized play aspect of it. The prizes have consistently been reduced each year since 2003-04 when the POP program was introduced. Back then, we used to get a box for winning prereleases, and every worlds invite came with a trip. Each year since then, the prizes have been cut, in one way or another. The retail focus has always been about children having their parents buying cards. It has been this way since 98, when the game was first introduced. Why even continue the OP program, if it isn’t profitable?
In any other game, it would be painfully obvious that the game is dying. I’ve played a number of games that have died, and this is how it happens. You stop hearing new info about upcoming event, and events stop being scheduled. The prizes are cut back, and eventually stop. People try to contact people in management in the game, and are brushed aside, or told that no info can be disclosed at the time. A couple months later, there’s a press release confirming what some have surmised. That’s how games die. It happens, and right now, it feels like its happening to this game.
If players in any other game were put in this position, they would conclude (usually correctly) that the game is dying, and that its time to get out, or find another game. I think this is the conclusion that I am forced to come to for this game.
I heard from someone, who heard from someone (someone who would have this knowledge), that the POP budget had been cut for this year. IMO the OP program will be scaled back considerably, and will cease to exist next year. It seems like they might just cancel Nats this year. It would help them make ends meet for the year. It would explain the lack of Nats info. It would even explain the lack of States prize info (as it usually refers to Nats). I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility, and it would seem like a move toward eliminating the unprofitable and obsolete POP program.
I doubt this is something that has not been considered by those making decisions at TPCi. The release of amazing promos like Claydol and Uxie, seems to be their way of ending the league program with a bang. The movement of Mike Leseik to the video game department could be another effect of the imminent death of the game. There just seems to be too much evidence suggesting that the game is coming to an end.
That said, I’d like to be the first to thank those who have worked so hard for this game over this past 11+ years. I’d also like to wish everyone involved in the Pokémon TCG the best of luck in whatever they do in the future without OP.
