Potential TCG Scalper Solution
Firsty, let me acknowledge that the current TCG only benefits Pkmn Company and that there really does not seem to be any incentive for them to "fix" their production line. Sets like Shrouded Fable are selling out.
However, in my opinion this will hurt Pkmn Co in the long term. In my opinion, the property cannot thrive without kids. And where it stands today, kids are getting priced out. And with a vast array of alternative options out there I fear the core audience will diminish significantly. That couples with the fact that there isn't much option for a pkmn fix other than a show. Obviously there is no game to play right now if you're caught up (and the quality of those have taken a sip but that's a different combo). When does sets that scalpers do not want release, and they will, there may not be much of a core audience to carry the franchise. And if the game isn't keeping up with the criticism, there could be a domino effect.
So how could they "fix" this issue. I thought of all these complex solutions "just release the chase cards in a bundle", "print it to the moon", etc. Then I was going to buy upcoming sets from other properties but I couldn't find pictures of the cards. And my thought was simple "why would I preorder if I don't know what I could potentially get?" And then I realized thats perfect. If I was genuinely a fan, like I am for pkmn, I would have no issue pre ordering bc no matter what I'll get cards I like. So I believe Pkmn should make strides, like they have with the games, to globally release their sets. We in the US know what cards are going to be in the upcoming set bc they release in Japan early. And that generates influencer speculation and is what led to adults fighting other adults for the newest sets. If we didn't know what cards were going to be in the set, that would give more opportunities for genuine fans/players to get the set.
In conclusion, I believe Pkmn Company should follow their own example (like for the video games) and release their sets globally, which would kill a lot of the market speculation, and allow pre orders to come from people who actually play the game or collectors who would be happy regardless of what they pull to get the sets at all time. Sure afterwards the market will bring scalpers, but at least in the initial order process the incentive for scalpers to buyout all inventory will drop significantly bc even they would be taking a huge gamble that the newest set would have a crazy demand.
I'm new to TCG (or rather have came back after a college when I had no job) so maybe someone already suggested it. But thought it could help.
Comments
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First of all, your post is quite well written, which is always so nice to see on the internet, because a lot of people don't take the time to format and organize their thoughts when posting. Thank you!
Second of all, I think that releasing cards at the same time globally would be fantastic, and I know that a lot of other people endorse this plan as well—for a plethora of reasons. It would also be cool in the competitive circuit, because with the current system the format is mostly figured out by the time cards are released outside Japan, and if the cards were released globally, then we would all be able to discover each new meta together. People have been hoping for a while that our set releases will line up with Japan's, and there was a theory going around that it would happen for Scarlet and Violet, but that (obviously) didn't end up being the case. But hopefully someday we'll move to global releases.
That being said, I'm not sure how much releasing expansions globally would do to cut down on scalping. Some cards are still shown from each expansion before it is released, and even if they stopped doing that—which would hurt each expansion's hype—the expansion name would give something away, and even if nothing was said about each expansion—which, of course, is not going to happen—plenty of scalpers would still bank on what you were saying: if you are a true fan, there will be cards you like in every expansion (or at least most of them), and preorder a bunch of the set because they know there will be something people want. So while I love the idea of releasing cards at the same time worldwide, I'm not sure it would make a significant difference in the amount of scalping.
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