• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Pokémon Trading Card Game has 82% market share in Strategic Trading Card Game market in Europe

Serebii

Serebii

Serebii.net Webmaster
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
13,124
Just got a PR through with TPCi touting their record breaking 2017

The Pokémon Company International announced today that Pokémon has followed up its record-breaking sales performance in 2016 with continued growth in Europe throughout 2017 for its Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) and toys.


According to figures recorded by the NPD Group Toys retail tracking service, Pokémon is the number one Strategic Trading Card Game property in Europe, with total sales exceeding €100 million. Total sales for such games in Europe in 2017 were over €122 million, giving Pokémon a phenomenal 82% share of the market.


Pokémon TCG sales continued to rise in key territories, with growth of 42% in the United Kingdom, 56% in Spain and an incredible 644% in Italy. Pokémon toys also saw a significant rise in sales in 2017, with an increase of 54% in the UK, 14% in Germany and 146% in Italy.


Pokémon gained additional recognition at the UK Toy Fair in London by winning two separate awards. The Pokémon Trading Card Game collected Pocket Money Toy of the Year at the Toy Industry Awards, organised by the British Toy & Hobby Association and Toy Retailers Association. Additionally, the new line of Pokémon toys made by Wicked Cool Toys and distributed by Character Options was crowned the winner of the Toy Fair 2018 Editor's Choice Award, which was voted on by media visiting the show.


Simon Benton, VP of Pokémon TCG Sales Europe, said: "2017 was another exceptional year for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. We are the number one Strategic Card Game in Europe, and the UK toy industry voted the Pokémon Trading Card Game the top Pocket Money Toy of the Year. The continued success is testament to the fantastic support of all our retailers and the Pokémon TCG's huge appeal, and with further expansions and promotions planned, we expect another strong performance in 2018."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...


Insane numbers for sure.
 

Deleted member 1378

User requested account closure
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,741
i'm not shocked

magic actively turns new players away from it thanks to the community and expensive as fuck decks

yu-gi-oh's support from konami can be absolutely abysmal despite being a fun game

pokemon appeals to kids and adults, and can be as deep or as shallow as you want\

even i've been tempted to pick up those retro packs before but decided against it
 
Bonejack

Bonejack

Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,654
Huh, didn't know the TGC is still that big. Although i really should've been able to figure this out, given that there's regular TV ads for it during the kid's program on quite a few channels here in Germany.
 
OP
OP
Serebii

Serebii

Serebii.net Webmaster
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
13,124
Enter the Dragon Punch said:
i'm not shocked

magic actively turns new players away from it thanks to the community and expensive as fuck decks

yu-gi-oh's support from konami can be absolutely abysmal despite being a fun game

pokemon appeals to kids and adults, and can be as deep or as shallow as you want\

even i've been tempted to pick up those retro packs before but decided against it
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I fell back into the TCG trap with Evolutions, now I'm stuck in it forever haha
 
Raijinto

Raijinto

self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
10,091
Despite being potentially too into Pokemon (maybe over exaggerating there) throughout all my life I've never really cared for the TCG, though I can attest to it being big in the UK. Didn't expect this level of dominance though...

Great card designs but the actual game is not for me.
 
OP
OP
Serebii

Serebii

Serebii.net Webmaster
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
13,124
Another note from it
Pokémon has since grown into one of the most popular entertainment properties in the world. It is one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, with more than 300 million video games sold worldwide. In addition, 23.6 billion TCG cards have been shipped to 74 countries in 11 languages, and over 450,000 players take part in Pokémon events every year. There are also more than 900 episodes of the animated TV series, soon starting its 21st season.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 

Deleted member 2254

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,467
I honestly had no idea. I still see Pokémon cards around, but for at least a decade I seem to see stuff like Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh with a heavier presense on shelves. In Italy, anyway. No doubt Pokémon is more appealing to younger kids, but holy shit I did not expect such dominance. I legit thought that Magic alone would at least have 20-30%, not that together with ALL other non-Pokémon cards would not reach 20%. Shows how much I'm out of the loop. By the way I still have some of those cards from about 20 years ago somewhere, wonder if they're worth something...
 

Nuclear Muffin

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
4,721
Serebii said:
Another note from it
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'm gonna assume that includes people who take part in the online events in the 3DS games and on Pokemon Go, so it's not as insane as it first appears.

Anyway, I'm surprised that the TCG is still as big as it is! Congrats to TPC!

The game is still fun, but it's far too inaccessible for someone like me now. How I pine for another TCG RPG like on the GBC, with an up to date card set (no, that awful TCG online thing does not count)...
 

Deleted member 37233

Banned
Jan 2, 2018
10,699
I did not expect that.

I play MTG, played Yu-Gi-Oh in my youth, but the Pokémon TCG I always found pretty boring to play.
On the other hand I should not be suprised how things can sell if only the word "Pokémon" is involved somehow.
 
OP
OP
Serebii

Serebii

Serebii.net Webmaster
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
13,124
Nuclear Muffin said:
I'm gonna assume that includes people who take part in the online events in the 3DS games and on Pokemon Go, so it's not as insane as it first appears.

Anyway, I'm surprised that the TCG is still as big as it is! Congrats to TPC!

The game is still fun, but it's far too inaccessible for someone like me now. How I pine for another TCG RPG like on the GBC, with an up to date card set (no, that awful TCG online thing does not count)...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It doesn't factor in GO at all. 3DS events I imagine it does because, from my calculations of official event standings, there was only like 20-30,000 entrants
Raijinto said:
I don't really get the bolded. Does that include only TPC events, only video games events or what? Does it include my cousin's Pokemon themed birthday party lol.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Officially sanctioned events
 
Daedardus

Daedardus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
928
Magic is a $400 million total brand (of which only 10% or less is digital and the side related stuff is not that big), I don't really get how they can only have a (significantly) less than €22 million revenue in all of Europe. That's like 10% of your total served market for a region as big as your other major ones.
 
InkyVulture

InkyVulture

Member
Oct 26, 2017
672
My town must be an outlier then, we have two Magic communities with weekly events, while the Pokémon TCG exists in the form of a very dead Facebook group.
 
Fubuki

Fubuki

Member
Jan 1, 2018
544
Pokemon TCG is too entry-level compare to Magic gameplay. I don't think I will get into it anytime soon.
 
Madrugador

Madrugador

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,327
I played a lot of Pokemon TCG last year with my friends.

We already stopped, but I would love to see a new game on Switch like the one we got on GB. That game was amazing.
 
Mameshiba

Mameshiba

Member
Oct 28, 2017
192
The numbers look far too low for me, but I couldn't find many revenue figures online. The only one I found was an estimate for 2017 by Superdata, which puts the physical ccg market worldwide at $4.33 billion. The same report shows that Europe has the second biggest monthly active users for physical ccgs at 6.4 million, below the 9.1 million in North America. Those 6.4 million monthly active European players represent ~25% of the global monthly active players. (https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/digital-card-games/)

So either the average spend per mau in Europe is atleast a magnitude below the average spend globally, the PR only talks about a specific subset of ccgs (which excludes the biggest competitors like Magic, Yu-gi-oh etc.) or atleast one of either the PR or the superdata estimate is completely off. I would guess it is the second option.

Edit: Oh and I would also like a Pokemon Card game on the switch if it is a proper full price game without any micro transactions. Or localise Pokemon TCG 2!
 
InkyVulture

InkyVulture

Member
Oct 26, 2017
672
Glio said:
There are probably children who play and you do not even know them
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Good point, one of the Magic communities has strong ties to the higher education instituations so I really didn't consider a younger demographic. That was a bit short sighted of me, but also doesn't bode well if I were to try getting into it.
 
Glio

Glio

Member
Oct 27, 2017
24,518
Spain
InkyVulture said:
Good point, one of the Magic communities has strong ties to the higher education instituations so I really didn't consider a younger demographic. That was a bit short sighted of me, but also doesn't bode well if I were to try getting into it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

In Spain at least in the children's channels there are many ads of the TCG
 

Deleted member 8001

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
7,440
Serebii said:
Pokémon Trading Card Game Online is great. You should check it out, especially if you buy the trading cards
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The issue with that is it's locked to tablets or PC, and well, requiring real money which leads into RNG. Like it's a decent experience, but I personally would like to see something similar to Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist or the TCG Game Boy games where you can do story and unlock all the cards for just purchasing the game itself on the Nintendo Switch.
 
Serpens007

Serpens007

Well, Tosca isn't for everyone
Moderator
Oct 31, 2017
8,129
Chile
I still play TCG. Since two years ago, my friends and I went bananas buying cards, but stopped buying. We still play it though, because we love it.

In regards to events, I only play VGC and follow it closely. It's a lot of people, but many more play TCG events
 
Tiber

Tiber

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,114
Very interesting Serebii (love your site by the way) I admit that I haven't bought a Pokemon card since I was a young teenager, but I have recently looked at a few packs in stores and thought it might be fun to start collecting them again.

If I was ever going to buy any physical card game, it would certainly be Pokemon. I have looked at the online version a few times, but if I was going to spending money on Pokemon cards I would rather have a physical card to keep.

When I did buy cards I just collected them, knew loads of people who collected them back in the day, but nobody ever seemed bothered about battling. I have played the online version a few times, but the most actual battling I have done was via the Game boy version of the card game, that was great!
 
OP
OP
Serebii

Serebii

Serebii.net Webmaster
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
13,124
Kokonoe said:
The issue with that is it's locked to tablets or PC, and well, requiring real money which leads into RNG. Like it's a decent experience, but I personally would like to see something similar to Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist or the TCG Game Boy games where you can do story and unlock all the cards for just purchasing the game itself on the Nintendo Switch.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It doesn't though. You can earn coins to buy booster packs in the game itself without having to spend a single bit of cash.

It's a F2P game. These business practices aren't unusual
 
Almaz_Hiro

Almaz_Hiro

Member
Jan 20, 2018
88
Not surprised, I got back into it as well during the Fates Collide sets, and kept going till the Guardians Rising sets. But the cost of keeping up is a bit too much for me. New sets get released every 3 months in addition to many collection boxes and an extra sets such as Generations or Shining Legends.
 
N.Domixis

N.Domixis

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
9,208
Just wish the new cards where made with the same love, holo foil, and quality. Today's holofoil is terrible, bring back the star cluster one. Also they feel flimsier and I find the corneres aren't perfecly round a lot of times.
 

Deleted member 8001

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
7,440
Serebii said:
It doesn't though. You can earn coins to buy booster packs in the game itself without having to spend a single bit of cash.

It's a F2P game. These business practices aren't unusual
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's not unusual, I play a lot of F2P games, but I would rather have a standalone pay once kind of thing. Farming those coins takes a lot of time as the game progresses and it being F2P means dumping hours for little or paying $ over and over to get what you want. I mean, I've been playing the TCG ever since 1998, and although the rates are better in-game than they are IRL, It's not what I'm looking for.
 

Deleted member 8001

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
7,440
OfficerRaichu15 said:
I guess it's safe to say Pokémon is at its biggest in popularity in 20 years?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Probably not at it's absolute peak, but it's pretty high right now and it makes sense being as long as it's been out it's managed to make fans of several generations of kids. The 20th anniversary invoking nostalgia + Pokemon GO did absolute wonders for the franchise.
 

DJKippling

Member
Nov 1, 2017
923
I imagine they are strictly speaking for sales only as the store near me and the others close by literally have zero Pokemon players and a tonne of magic players (UK by the way). Kids are more likely to buy packs than more mature magic players who buy single cards. That's my theory anyway lol.

Pokemon is more for collecting and Magic is for people that play it seems.

I also wouldn't call any TCG pocket money friendly.
 
Last edited:
Thargas

Thargas

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
65
Serebii said:
It doesn't though. You can earn coins to buy booster packs in the game itself without having to spend a single bit of cash.

It's a F2P game. These business practices aren't unusual
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So, I've been thinking about getting into the Pokemon TCG Online.
Is it possible to play and be competitive in the online TCG without ever buying physical booster packs and just earning and spending in-game cash, or is it like Hearthstone where you almost have to spend a huge amount of real money to get to the higher ranks?
 
zoukka

zoukka

Game Developer
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
2,361
Thargas said:
So, I've been thinking about getting into the Pokemon TCG Online.
Is it possible to play and be competitive in the online TCG without ever buying physical booster packs and just earning and spending in-game cash, or is it like Hearthstone where you almost have to spend a huge amount of real money to get to the higher ranks?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Just like in HS you can search for the most cheap/highest rated deck and aim to build that one for relatively cheap. If you want to play whatever you want, then yes you need to pay real money.
 

Deleted member 8001

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
7,440
Thargas said:
So, I've been thinking about getting into the Pokemon TCG Online.
Is it possible to play and be competitive in the online TCG without ever buying physical booster packs and just earning and spending in-game cash, or is it like Hearthstone where you almost have to spend a huge amount of real money to get to the higher ranks?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's patience VS impatience. The game is far more forgiving than Hearthstone and there are more options to obtain cards. You can very well play it for free, but keep in mind, you have to be patient, this is a F2P game after all.
 
Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,711
United States
My passion for Pokémon cards is no secret, but I've been good at not getting sucked back into contemporary collection. I still follow all the new releases and check out all the art though. If I ever had too much money (which will never happen because I live a life of humble destitution) I would need a separate room in my hovel just to house my Pokémon cards.

The only thing I don't like about modern cards is how they number the sets. I don't like that they're sorted by color-type now. So when you sort by number, every page is the same color. I like the older sets where there's lots of colors on the same page. That's how it always was in Japan, but elsewhere, cards were sorted by rarity and then alphabetically, making really diverse binder pages.

Other than that, I think the card quality and collectability has stayed really good. I might get into a digital version of the game someday... But also probably shouldn't.
 
BGBW

BGBW

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,280
I'll be honest, I still do a bit of a double take when I still see them on sale.
 
Sealtest

Sealtest

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
281
I love playing pokemon TCG. It's just a shame I know no one locally who plays it.

I wish there was some way it could be played in a multiplayer way similar to EDH for mtg.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.