Upper Deck's recently released Marvel CCG will be availably only through the hobby channel (game, comic, card, and hobby stores) until June of this year.   Upper Deck's David Hewitt, Product Manager for Marvel, explained why.  'The tournament program that we plan to build for this game will be rooted in hobby game stores,' he said.  'While we do expect that this game will enjoy a great deal of success in the mass market, we believe that the support of the hobby industry is vital, and we want to give them every opportunity to succeed with the product....We intend to focus a great deal of our efforts for Marvel toward building a successful hobby brand.'

 

Upper Deck is supporting the Marvel CCG with a $1 million pro circuit, as well as full support for regional and local tournaments.  Organized play was also considered when the game was designed; it was balanced to support sealed-pack and booster draft formats. 

 

Hewitt said that the game has been overcoming initial retailer reluctance.  'We've been told by a lot of people that they were initially skeptical, but that they are happy that someone has finally 'gotten it right' with a comic-based game,' he said.