If another game were to come along that was as good as pokemon I think it is highly likely that the international market will colapse completely
What do you mean with 'good' NoPoke ? Fun to play, well distributed and supported, widely promoted, ... ?
Some find LotR a fantastic game, and many love MtG while these games are not interesting for others.
I've run a YGO tournament in Mechelen (Belgium) last Saturday at the GamesWorld games fair, the most important one in Belgium.
In the exhibition hall, I've seen my friends of WotC with Simpsons and Magic, stands and tournaments of Lord of the Rings, L5R, Magic, board games, ...
Pokemon ? It was possible to play R&S on the GBA. But many people came to me and asked why Pokemon is dead. People who have played Pokemon tournaments with me in the past and who all think that the game is not played anymore.
No tournament, no info, nobody representing Nintendo, only 3 sellers who tried to sell what they called 'old boosters that nobody want' from the R&S set ! That was Pokemon at GamesWorld.
I thought we had new sets with 100 new Pokemon, new game mechanics, new GBA games, I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to promote the TCG, I was wrong.
Someone told me : 'I don't go on the web, and the only thing I see in the shops is YGO, and of course Magic. It seems that Pokemon is not sold anymore'. And believe me, that person lives in a civilized part of the country and frequently goes to the second large city of Belgium.
My UK friends are fighting so hard for such a long time to keep the game and leagues alive in the UK. Now they're asking for 'international assistance' because nobody gives them the material to do what they do.
Ben, Ian, and all the others, who cares about Pokemon ? Except you and the small amount of kids who are still playing thanks to you, who cares about the game in the UK ? And which 'official' cares about helping the only people who try to promote and support it ?
You're right NoPoke, in Belgium, in France and probably in other countries, a new game is on the market, a game supported (even if it's the beginning, we feel in the French part of Belgium that the French distributors is really making efforts for us), distributed, promoted, a game that (sorry to have to say that) many Pokemon players are now playing, a game that will see a third European set in a couple of days, a game that becomes more and more interesting and fun to play. Like it or not, it's YGO.
Where are the Belgian and French Pokemon markets ? Good question, and shop owners I've talked to these last weeks give the answer : we don't buy (many) Pokemon boosters anymore because we don't sell them.
There was Magic and Pokemon, two leaders of the market ... now it is Magic and YGO. Guess which boosters are on sale in the shops ?
And I think I've read somewhere that MtG and YGO were the two leaders on the US market too
We are involved, one way or another, in OP, in all the Pokemon business modifications. But most of the players play a game played by other people, by their friends. If they have fun and can play with their friends, Pokemon or not, they don't care and they play a new game.
In addition to that, many of them love to find new cards, new characters, new game mechanics, ... and new players.
It's hard be climb the hill and arrive at the top, but when you've been there and you're back at the starting point, it's really harder to climb it back.