TCG’s Are JUST GAME PIECES: Perception vs. Reality
Our Wonders of The First Research and Development Team have gathered data from a massive TCG/CCG survey and the results will be stunning to many.
Prefer to watch/listen?
We unpack this post and we cover even more data in the video below:
Let’s dive into one of the most important and shocking of the data finds.
(TCG = Trading Card Game; CCG = Collectible Card Game. We will use the term CCG for the remainder of the post but it’s used synonymously with TCG.)
CCG enthusiasts were asked the following question:
Most of us (including myself) would think that the perception of people who just care about playing would be relatively high. That portion is loud on Discord and Facebook Groups, posting very frequently about their polarizing views on how Collectors are “evil” and ruining the game.
We asked 1,007 CCG enthusiasts this question (What do they think OTHERS believe regarding the importance of CCG cards maintaining and growing market value?).
Lets see how these respondents answered the question above:
The respondents’ answers were probably expected by most of us. Folks overwhelmingly feel that a large (if not majority) portion of CCG enthusiasts don’t care about card values…these are GAME PIECES!
But hold up. Wait a minute. Not so fast!
In a much larger enterprise study our Research and Development Team has been conducting, we find the data driven reality of respondents.
(If you want to learn a little more about methodology and our research expertise, the included Youtube video might be interesting for you.)
We asked this question:
What do you think was the most answered question above? I know I got this wrong…along with 90% of the market.The data driven reality might surprise you:
Let the above responses sink in for a moment. OVERALL, almost 90% responded that card values were important to them.
The VAST majority of CCG enthusiasts care about the long-term value proposition of their collection.
Compare this to the perception of what others think to be important in the data above. Perception vs. reality.
Those that truly care about card prices going up are the majority and the driver of the CCG market. Most CCG companies base their development (and external narratives) on catering to players who want cheap cards and reprints with evil collectors secondary (if at all) in their mind.
Wonders of the First instead uses a DATA DRIVEN approach to creating and developing all aspects of our franchise. That means collectability is a main consideration of our framework along with deep and rewarding gameplay. Both are extremely important to the growth and health of a CCG and we understand this fundamentally through the data.
In the video supplement to this post we go deeper into the data and unpack these sentiments within enthusiasts of specific CCG communities including major franchises such as MTG, Pokemon, One Piece, and more.
The data is fascinating and the video is worth watching even if you don’t agree with the respondents’ answers.
Dive even deeper in the video below – Including the perception versus reality of specific communities such as MTG, Pokemon and more: