Are Card Games Doomed?

I miss Gwent before homecoming. That was the best era for me. Now I'm really excited for shadowverse worlds beyond this year. Never actually played shadowverse before until now because I thought it is just an anime hearthstone clone but I couldnt be more wrong. It's actually a great card game and probably the only digital card game that gets me excited as much as gwent did when it first came out.

the best card games i have played are shadowverse and runeterra. No other game came close to them sadly one (runeterra fell off a cliff) and Shadowverse is releasing a new version of the game so there isnt really a drive to go back to the old one

The only thing killing card games is bad monetization. Game devs need to realize that when every game you plays asks you to log online every day and play a match to earn your daily rewards, you're going to pick and choose what games you play since you just don't have the mental space to be invested in more than 1-3. A card game that bucks this cycle WILL see success!

the greatest problem is they don't end, the endless design for more leads to greed and scum design pushing players away and to make money with a smaller base they monetize more til its dead
the idea of the games just ... ending is alien to them



even if it continued in a sequel game, let the first game be a complete package still playable than what we have now
lots of classic card games (digital) back then are still playable in that form but these mobile ones are dead and gone once they burn out and that kills any chance of it holding a crowd especially when the last version of it was terrible unlike those older games

Why have you never tried Yugioh?

This monetization dooming for snap is kinda ridiculous. They are actively improving it and have a major rework coming. I spent less than 50 bucks on snap and had acess to almost ever archetype, i guess people are greedy and think they should have every single card and own a full collection if thats what you want of course its going to cost some money.

When a game is rigged you can feel it. Marvel snap in particular is disgusting. If I could just play the game it would be fine.

Logically, I should like SNAP more than Pocket, and I do, but Pocket is the only one I'm playing atm. The first thing I missed was the snap actually, which is crazy because it used to stress me out when I started SNAP, but now without it that's a tool that made epic matches more epic, and one sided defeats less punishing. Speaking of, in Pokemon, there is a sheer lack of creativity because the premade decks are so strong. SNAP would let players find unique and fun ways of building decks, then support what is popular, but with Pokemon, the advertising for the next pack is also for the next meta.

All these card games are stupid. Real card games are like Magic and Yu-gi-oh. The ones you mention are just digital games that will be forgotten as soon as the hype dies out.

No, no they're not.

Thanks for attending my TED Talk

I left pokemon after the first week. The deck building was very restrictive especially with the types of energy that generates randomly, i dont get the point of that. Also the fun in pokemon is the cool abilities each one have, and the game is doing a poor job of displaying them, every attack has the same visual and sound effect. I just wasnt excited about anything other then collecting cards, and thats just not eanough for me to invest in

HearthStone Battle Ground I guess.

Would be really cool to see Spyro return to Gwent for a bit even if it's just a one off, especially with a few other big names like Specimen jumping back in recently. The game is obviously nowhere near as competitive anymore, but that does mean a lot more decks are viable at higher mmr. Feels like you see new decks all the time now for this reason as well as the community voted changes.

I played HS. When i saw that i cannot get enough cards to have at least 2 or 3 viable decks and that for the time i got those decks there were new set incoming, i stopped playing.
I played Gwent. I saw that the game rewards my time with enough cards so i decided to support it financialy. Sadly, due to a lot of reasons- bugs, changes of focus, etc, etc- thigns went bad there too. I am still loging and playing few games here and there.
I played Snap. I enjoyed it. I love the art and some of the Variants are crazy good. BUT the monetization and how hard is to get new cards and some balance decisions is what make me to stop playing it.
The issue is that, when most of us, sees several failures in card games we will go to play other games. Thus, even if you have good idea/popular franchise, you'll fail. Beacuse we dont want to invest more money and time in something that will get destroy by the greed and terrible balance changes. (for example- Dc and WH40k card games)

No. They aren't. Snap is amazing. Gwent is great. Pocket is a cash grab with rudimentary gameplay

Content in Snap is constant. There is a new card every week.

Spyro have you tried Warpforge? It's a card game set in the Warhammer 40k universe and it's pretty fun!

Honestly, just play yugioh, hate ypur life, repeat

Loved Gwent since closed Beta, that game was incredible. You're correct digital card games are struggling at the moment but there is one physical card game you might love. Flesh and Blood. Biggest tournament scene in the world with really thoughtful gameplay and developers that just love their game to death. Just had it's 5th anniversary and is still growing and getting more popular with each new set. I draft it every week and new faces keep showing up to my LGS. Truly a fabulous time. :)

There’s an issue with online card games, they turned a collector’s hobby into either an enormous money sink or time sink. As a gamer, games are expensive as they are, I’m not going to spend 50€ for few card packs, I also don’t have time or will to grind another live service with battle passes, dailies and so on.

Artifact had good idea, but as usual the greed prevailed and the whole thing ended up being overpriced to all hell.

Give me that Queen's Blood standalone pvp game.

well there is a ladder on PTCG Live

Card games are meant to be played in person. Digital card games are doomed, because people need to be social in real life.

gwent died for me when they took out the seige row :(

Try chess :)

Time to lock in and go back to Gwent Spyrooo!

If you're looking for the future of competitive card games I would strongly recommend ChronoCCG. It's releasing this year and it's meant to fill the competitive scene that Legends of Runeterra left behind.

If I may offer a perspective. Of those you mentioned, PTCGP is closest to a proper TCG. It's a simplified version for beginners and casuals. There's a separate full version called PTCG online, I believe, for those interested. I never got into Gwent due to life. Snap is a disappointment. Shame.

For reference, I came from the MTG, LotR, VS System, 90s era TCGs.

PS. Seems to me you need "competition" in PTCGP. Join online tournaments? There's 1 every week, minimum.

? WHERE DID Y0U C0MED FR0M , C0T0NEYE-J0E ?

Gwent beta was goated

I think you have very big misundestanding of card games in general, especially paper ones.

First off, ranked isnt necessary. If you want to try hard, there are daily tournaments.
There will be a ranked mode at one point, but if you are a competitive player, ranked doesn't mean anything, Limitless ranking does.

Secondly, this idea that you solved the meta in 2 weeks is hilarious and only has been claimed in recent tcg like One Piece, Lorcana, or Pocket, but reality is very different. First month, Pika was dominant, but M2 found tech to dominate, the Zard + Arcanine appeared, then Mythical island dropped, Celebi was popular, then Gyarados is currently the best but many decks tech for it so its not as dominant, and Celebi is coming back, as well as Pika.

Game is evolving constantly, while having limiting cards.

Skill ceiling is low, but that's not the point of Pocket. It's to get people to play the actual TCG, where skill ceiling is higher. This is why the focus of Pocket is casuals.

You come from a spot of competitor to say that Pocket doesn't appeal to you when it doesn't want to. Instead of understanding what Pocket is aiming for, you try to find ways to have pocket catter to you, and those exist with communities, until Pokemon themselves put it in official circuit, which will come because Pocket made hundred of millions in 2 months.

Also, are we just ignoring pokemon tcg, lorcana, and One Piece having multiple thousand tournaments every month with active players online? Riot games releasing new tcg?
Paper tcg is fine and growing because online tcg's are feeding into them. Thats what Pocket should be doing.

You want mobile tcg's to be future of TCG, but people just dont spend the same money for paper tcg, which is why pokemon tcg makes way more than pocket monthly, and no ladder will change that.

pokemon pocket gameplay is so simple/boring, i just open it to unpack card simulator

As a Gwent player and currently a Marvel Snap player, I agree with most of your points. But among other things can I ask you in confidence why you have a bloody hand?

I think the problem with card games is that you cant do 360 headshots in it.

Pokémon pocket has the competitive events in place of ladder I know it’s not the same but you should have mentioned it…it definitely takes skill to win 5 in a row in a rng game like pocket

Man do some fact checking about Pokemon Pocket revenue before making statements about dying CCGs. It's the most profitable card game ever after two months after release. Making more money than all other cards games combined. And still - it's the most F2P and casual friendly I've played for a lonf time. No rush, no money grab. Snap is a highway robbery and huge powercreep. I quit after almost two years of struggling and doing missions over and over again.

Pokemon pocket is severely lacking in things that the tcg has and there are 2 other clients and 1 is a mobile app but i guess they werent making enough money off of it.

"It's fun on day 1"
It's fun past day one if you don't just play the number 1 and number 2 decks I think it's a combination of lack of creativity and getting every card the day they come out

The problem of card games, is that powercreep is the feature that drives updates. There are no updates if there is no powercreep, and i dont think there is a solution to that. For me at least the future of digital card games is pve content (i guess phisical card games could implement a cooperative mode that is like a boardgame-style game to play with many players, but other than that, i feel physical card games are just doomed)

I'm still sad that elder scrolls Legends died out. Was the perfect alternative to magic and hearthstone

Soon 😎

I know this will never happen but I'm giving you my best hopes for what the best Gwent sequel would be.

The Witcher IV - You've just eliminated a nest of pesky Kikimore Warriors in the woods. You head back to the tavern after sunset to turn in your bounty and collect your reward. The tavern is somewhat busy with patrons, some enjoying their drinks, some enjoying their attractive servers 😏, but you notice one side is much busier than the rest of the tavern. A small crowd of maybe a dozen or more has formed around a few of the tables. They're spectating a game.... it's Gwent! And that's when you realize...... the players... The players are two Witchers! You peer over the shoulder of the Witcher with the Vypper medallion..... he seems to be playing mill (not to your surprise). The other Witcher, out of playable cards, ale and even more so out of patience, gets up and leaves. You see behind him the other game tables, each with a long list of names on the wall behind them.

"* LOCAL MATCHES * - * ONLINE MATCHMAKING * - * TWO VS TWO MATCHES * - * AUCTION TABLE *"

You read the "ONLINE MATCHMAKING" page and see the description.

"Growing weary of playing Gwent with the same old patrons? Sign up now and play against others from lands afar!"

The next flyer sounds even more interesting.

"Alliances are forming! Combine forces with a friend and sign up for our new 2v2 Ranked matchups!"

The last one seems to be offering card sales to the highest bidder.

"Searching for Legendary Cards of Olde? Hunting down never-before-seen archetypes? Place your bids now!"


MY ideal sequel would be to integrate everything you need right into the main game without having to make a new standalone title, all with new and evolved PERMANENT game modes instead of LTMs including a 2v2 ranked system alongside the classic 1v1 ranked ladder. Most of everything would be the same as far as resources are concerned - Ore, Scraps, Meteorite Powder, Reward books, Cosmetics etc... The rules would all be the same other than having to adapt to accommodate a 2v2 setting. The friends list HUD and everything around it would be there as well as having your already added friends carry over to the new game but with a fresh start on inventory.

You sit down at one of the tables to begin the matchmaking process. This is basically your launcher for Gwent now. From there it would look a lot like the Gwent main menu we already have. I can be in a chat with my friend, both of us ready to launch a 2v2 match against worthy opponents. We both (as Ciri in our own respective games) would just see a random NPC taking the place of our friend at the table seeing as how we know this is a single-player story. Right now I have more Ore and Scraps that I can ever spend on Gwent. It should've been allowed since the game is on life-support anyway that leftovers could be sent to another player as a gift. But I think it would be healthier for the game as long as there are measures to prevent farming for exploits if we could have a trading system since we'll inevitably be left with nothing to spend resources on.

Integrating everything into the main game is not only consolidating the player base into one area instead of fracturing them into dying platforms that will inevitably be shelved we also give the player that true tavern experience we already get from playing the original Gwent in The Witcher III. That way, so long as people are playing the main game we don't have to worry about another Gwent getting put into maintenance mode. It's a shame we had to have a "balance council" when all it did was give large coalitions the power to REDUCE balance in their favor however they see fit, with the most mundane and rudimentary tools to even work with. It honestly felt like a slap in the face. The new game needs to bring back Gwent, but in a way that we don't see any potential for being abandoned and left to be abused. My hopes may be high, but, if I don't get a Gwent that's even anything remotely close to what I'm dreaming of then I just won't have anything to do with it. They made me love something and tore it to shreds right before my eyes. No other card game even comes close to being the right one for me the way Gwent was. You don't get to make me love something as much as Gwent and abandon it without consequence, even if it may be the most minimal of losses. I literally can't even enjoy another card game now....... Gwent is it.....

Physical card games > Digital card games.

Someone put it well re Pokémon not becoming an all consuming and expensive grind. I do enjoy that aspect of it, It has lowers lows but it also has lower highs. Like it’s lacking that little bit of magic.

I’d love to see a beautiful game that challenges me mentally and has me looking forward to playing the next game (vs being relieved I don’t need to play another game to get “my
Cubes” or whatever.). One that lets players remain competitive based on a reasonable annual cost and lets them “catch up” after a break. When I stopped snapping it had to be “for good” b/c you cannot catch up — hard to respect a business model like that.

You are playing the wrong card games 😂

Just try Hearthstone then... Constant changes is what was bad for me. Every year your collection turns into trash, go farm new one (I am free to play person). I was shocked when ladder divided into standard and wild. Quit the game in a year after that change. Than I easily returned in 2023 summer, because there are cool options for returning players. I even took a legend rank, so I dob't think HS has big problem to start.

I check in on this channel from time to time and the "opinion videos" never disappoint.

I'm also currently on a hiatus from card games. Quit snap at the start of November to play the bazaar, but that hasnt turned out that great so far (maybe yet?). Theres nothing on the market right now that interests me. It feels super weird as a long time card game player. Im keeping an eye on Shadowverse worlds beyond, but that is a couple months out still and also, if thats a bust then the future is looking pretty bleak...

Come over to MTG Arena.

Pokemon pocket is trash just play the full version its awesome way more fun to play

The beta version of gwent was so much better