At Gencon, we had an interesting conversation with Upper Deck Director of Brand and New Product Development Cory Jones about the state of the trading card game market and Upper Deck's place in it.  We followed up recently with this interview in two parts.  In Part 2, we talked about retailer exclusives, the competitive landscape, and the challenging future of the category.  In Part 1, we discussed the 'fragile' TCG market, the role of community in supporting the market, and the steps Upper Deck is taking to support that community. 

 

Upper Deck has launched two new TCGs this year through exclusive relationships with retail chains.  How would you evaluate the success of those launches?

There are two answers to this question that share some common ground but are tied to the specific products. Shaman King was a misstep.  With that said, the decision to offer a 2-week Blockbuster exclusive was tied to a couple of factors.  One, we solicited the product to the hobby channel for months before making the exclusive release decision, and if we had received ANY interest from hobby we would have skipped the exclusive, unfortunately we received almost zero response.  Two, Blockbuster was willing to invest in marketing the Shaman King brand and not just the TCG, we felt this was critical to insuring the success of the IP overall (clearly too little to late).  The second product was WINX, which was a Toys R Us exclusive and a huge success.  Toys R Us believed in the product and aggressively promoted it, and they were rewarded with the most successful girls' TCG in the stores history.

 

How does a retailer exclusive launch strategy fit into Upper Deck's initiative for better stewardship of the TCG category, and the hobby channel's role in that strategy?

There will be ZERO mass market exclusives that exclude hobby retailers, with the exception of products that the hobby channel shows no interest in or products that are inappropriate for their channel (Shaman King/Winx).  We may give an exclusive to one mass market chain over the other, but that product will always also be available in the hobby channel.  On the other side of the strategy, we are actively discussing how to create hobby channel specific offerings for more of our products.

 

There continue to be large numbers of new TCG introductions each year, from existing companies and new entrants, even in a declining category.  What are the risks of the number of new product introductions for the category as a whole?

Consumers play 1.5 TCG's on average, with dozens of the new games entering the market every month and competing for that slot and a half of consumer attention, the odds of finding someone playing 'your' game gets slimmer and slimmer.  And as I have stated earlier, without someone to play with, you're not having much of a TCG experience.  This is part of the reason we will continue to lose consumers to video games.  That single player video game experience offers a very low barrier to entry and becomes very attractive to gamers not entrenched with an active gaming community.

 

How does selection of new properties for TCG's fit into Upper Deck's over-all approach to the TCG category?

We will continue to align ourselves with licenses that reflect the 10 out of 10 quality level we incorporate into the products we create.  From original card art featuring top name artist to million dollar tournament circuits, Upper Deck is the gold standard in the TCG category.  I think our partnership with Blizzard (9 consecutive #1 PC launches) is a good example of finding an entertainment organization that shares our passion for quality and desire to create the best games in the industry.  Next year when we launch the World of Warcraft TCG, consumers are going to be blown away.  Our game designers have outdone themselves with the most amazing multiplayer TCG experience I have ever seen, and when we roll that incredible innovation into an equally innovative tournament plan, well, gamers have something very cool to look forward to.

 

In Japan, there have been a couple of major hits since Yu-Gi-Oh!, but they don't seem to be getting the same results here.  Why hasn't there been a Yu-Gi-Oh!-scale hit game in the U.S. as Yu-Gi-Oh! sales have slipped?

Yu-Gi-Oh is still a phenomenon in the US and dominates the available play time for the majority of cartoon based TCG consumers.  Also, there hasn't been a cartoon program out in Japan since Yu-Gi-Oh! that offered the specific entertainment experience necessary for Yu-Gi-Oh!'s level of TCG success.  With the amazing success of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX in Japan I wouldn't be surprised if the 'next' big thing out of Japan is Yu-Gi-Oh! again!

 

Given the over-all market conditions for trading card games, what are your predictions for the category going forward?

There will almost certainly be contractions in the hobby market as publishers realize the challenges of creating a successful TCG franchise and abandon the effort.  Additionally, I suspect the large TCG publishers will continue to refine the complex process of creating TCG success, from slicker marketing and more aggressive OP to better management of the sales channel.  Upper Deck in particular will continue to develop innovative programs that evolve casual gamers into hardcore TCG fans, an elusive but necessary goal for the long term health of the category.  We have made a lifetime commitment to the category at Upper Deck, so this fixation on category strength and longevity is absolutely necessary.