Pokemon TCG: Surging Sparks Booster Box once again topped on the TCGplayer Top 25 Sealed Products chart for December 2024 (see "November 2024"). The new chart reflected what trends were occurring as 2024 ended and revealed a few possible directions for trends in the TCG market for 2025.

Well, 2024 finally wrapped up with the December 2024 chart. In a nutshell, the TCG market was fairly stable at the top in 2024 and a little turbulent towards in the middle. In the top tier of products, Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, and One Piece CG produced rock solid booster sets that sold well most of the year. Pokemon TCG had a rough 2024, but at the very end of the year, it went parabolic and started selling like mad thanks to the popularity of Surging Sparks (see "'Scarlet & Violet - Surging Sparks'").    

Disney Lorcana was having a great year up until the fall, where it ran into trouble. This general weakening of Disney Lorcana can mostly be attributed to the "new TCG smell" wearing off (see "Big Five Head Out of 2024 Strong") and TCG flippers heading out for different waters to seek profit. Rounding out the top tier, Star Wars Unlimited continued to gain traction throughout its first year and is looking to gain momentum going into 2025.

The middle tier of TCGs was a little more turbulent as TCG fans mix-and-matched through games. A lot of the sales data for the middle tier of TCGs is regional (some TCGs are hotter in some regions, but not in others), so this TCGplayer chart isn't a great radar system for these companies. For example, it's been reported that Legend Story Studios' Flesh and Blood TCG had a pretty good year in 2024, and the prices of their singles on TCGplayer from more recent sets and event turnouts back up the premise that there is demand for the game. However, they only seem to crack the TCGplayer Charts a couple of times a year, so it's tough to provide analysis as to what is exactly going on there. This is also the case with many middle-tier TCGs.

However, one clear trend that started in 2024 and is ongoing in the middle tier of the TCG market is that a battle over anime/Japanese IP TCG supremacy in the North American markets is shaping up between Bandai, UVS Games, and Bushiroad. UVS Games came on strong in 2024 with Godzilla and Attack on Titan sets and is looking to have a monster 2025 with more Attack on Titan, Solo Leveling, and Guilty Gear sets on their way (see "2025 'UniVersus' Lineup"). Bandai, the big company in this battle, dropped the multi-IP Union Arena TCG in 2024, which had some success at mass, and announced Gundam TCG (see "'Gundam Card Game' Booster Set"). While UVS and Bandai were on the charge, Bushiroad continued on releasing Weiss Schwarz sets, including Macross Delta, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and more.

Each of these companies seems to be holding its own in the NA market. The only company in this group that holds a possible advantage over the others in this competition is Bandai, and only due to the depth of its anime IP stable and the smash success of the One Piece CG driving its TCG revenue. The battle between these companies for the NA market presents some level of opportunity for retailers because they can pick and choose between IP products the companies are offering to tailor their inventory to the interests of their customer base.

Ironically, this may be one of the few times everyone involved in the competition may come out a winner because each IP has its own audience of collectors and the sales are mostly dependent on the size of each IP's fan base. There seems to be plently of room in the growing TCG market for all these games to exist and thrive, even if the market seems to be settling a bit as a whole (see "TCG Market Settling Down").