Digital collectible card game

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Hearthstone
, one of the leading games of the genre

A digital collectible card game (DCCG) or online collectible card game (OCCG) is a

icons, dice and avatars. Originally, DCCGs started out as replications of a CCG's physical counterpart, but many DCCGs have foregone a physical version and exclusively release as a video game, such as with Hearthstone
.

Gameplay

These games manage all the rules of a CCG, such as tracking the avatar's health, removing damaged creatures from the board, and shuffling decks when necessary. The games are managed on servers to maintain the player's library and any purchases of booster packs and additional cards through either in-game or real-world money. Some games, like Chaotic, Bella Sara, and MapleStory allow online players to enter a unique alpha-numeric code found on each physical card as to redeem the card in the online version or access other features. In other cases, primarily single player games based on the existing physical property have also been made, such as the Game Boy Color version of the Pokémon Trading Card Game and Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers.

Most DCCGs follow rules that exist for real-world implementations of CCGs, simply played out in the virtual space. However, some games like Hearthstone have gameplay elements that would be impractical or impossible to perform in a real-world game but is easily done within the digital game. For example, Hearthstone has a "Discover" keyword that lets players temporarily obtain cards from across the entire Hearthstone library for the duration of a match, even if they do not own that card yet.[1]

History

1980s–1990s: Origins

Prior to DCCGs, video games had used both

Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu (1992), based on the Dragon Ball Carddass
series, is considered an early precursor to the DCCG, as it allowed the player to collect, buy and sell cards within the game for use in card battles.

Tabletop-based CCGs came about in 1993 with Magic: The Gathering by Wizards of the Coast which became a phenomenon that year in the traditional game market. The CCG craze grew in 1994 onward as a result. This was also approximately the same time that widespread availability of the Internet was beginning. DCCGs evolved out of the ability for CCG players to challenge each other online rather than in person, as well as to provide computerized opponents so that players could play these CCGs by themselves.[2]

The first DCCG games eventually appeared in the late 1990s. Early examples of DCCG games include

disputed ] Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon Trading Card Game were based on their physical CCG counterparts, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters was based on the fictional CCG from the manga Yu-Gi-Oh!
(1996), and Chron X and Sanctum were original DCCG games with no physical CCG counterpart.

There have been CCGs developed solely for computer play and not based on any physical product. The first online CCGs were Sanctum and Chron X, both developed in 1997. Sanctum was taken offline in 2010, but has since returned due to fan intervention;[3] Chron X still exists, producing new expansions over a decade later. Chron X was developed by Genetic Anomalies, Inc, which later developed other DCCG-like games based on licensed content.

2000s: Growth

DCCG games first gained mainstream success in Japan, where online card battle games are a common genre of

Tetra Master (2002) which debuted as a minigame in Final Fantasy IX (2000) before becoming an online multiplayer game for the PlayOnline service, and Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge (2003). Within the United States, Wizards of the Coast had seen the success of games like Chron X and Sanctum, and initially with the help of a small development firm Leaping Lizard, built out Magic: The Gathering Online (MTGO), an online multiplayer client for Magic first released in 2002 which players could spend money and win games to build out card collections. MTGO had a number of growing pains over the years, but remains an active service that is used as one point for entry for several of the main live Magic: The Gathering tournaments.[5]

In Japan, CCGs that are played on

(2008).

Related, many video games have adopted CCG-type mechanics as part of a larger

role-playing game where the combat mechanic was based on attacks pulled from a deck of cards constructed outside of the combat rounds.[7] Similarly, Phantom Dust (2004) was a third-person shooter, but where the player's attack and defense abilities were randomly selected from a customized "arsenal" of powers that they collected through the course of the game.[8] Other examples of CCG-hybrid games include Forced: Showdown, Hand of Fate, and Card Hunter.[9]

The success of

mobile gaming, leading to a number of DCCG games being developed for mobile devices. It was also the first DCCG game to become a major success in the Western world, becoming one of the top-grossing mobile games of 2012.[4] DCCG games with significant populations of players include The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls, Kantai Collection and Million Arthur. In late 2012, Cinderella Girls was earning over one billion yen in revenue monthly,[10] whilst Kantai Collection has grown to more than one million players throughout Japan.[11]

Unofficial ways to play some digital versions of CCGs also exist, such as brand specific programs like Magic Workstation.[5] The bulk of DCCG programs however are not specific to any brand, such as LackeyCCG and Gccg or general game simulators like Tabletop Simulator, though the legality of these systems relative to the CCG's copyright is dubious. Such systems are often used to play copyrighted games whose manufacturers are no longer publishing the game, most notably Decipher's Star Wars Customizable Card Game[12] and Precedence’s Babylon 5 Collectible Card Game. Most of these systems do not have the CCG's ruleset programmed into the game, and instead require players to perform the necessary actions as required by the physical game's rules.

2014–present: Hearthstone vs. MTG Arena

Blizzard Entertainment released

Hearthstone in 2014. Loosely based on the World of Warcraft CCG, Hearthstone features one-on-one match between players with custom made decks, built from a player's collection of digital cards. The game was designed to eliminate reactions by the opposing player during your turn to speed up the game and allow it to be played across a variety of devices.[13] By 2015, Hearthstone had an estimated $20 million in revenues per month,[14] and by April 2016, had more than 50 million unique players.[15] Hearthstone's success led to a number of similar digital-only CCGs in the following years.[16] Wizards of the Coast announced in early 2017 that they plan to create a new studio to adapt the Magic: The Gathering game into a digital format similar to Hearthstone.[5][17] Titled Magic: The Gathering Arena, it entered closed beta testing in early 2018, and over time is expected to replace MTGO as the main online game for Magic tournament play.[5][18]

The digital card game market was expected to be as large as $1.4 billion in 2017, according to market analysis firm SuperData.[16] Hearthstone encouraged the release of the digital CCGs Gwent: The Witcher Card Game and The Elder Scrolls: Legends.[16] Shadowverse has also been compared favorably with Hearthstone.[19]

In some cases, new elements are added to the digital CCG to improve the experience that cannot be recreated physically. The online card games Sanctum and

Star Chamber include, e.g.: game boards, animations and sound effects for some of their cards. The NOKs, on the other hand, offer talking figures and action-arcade game play. In a different case, The Eye of Judgment, a CCG that has been combined with a PlayStation 3 game, bringing innovation with the CyberCode matrix technology. It allows real cards bought in stores to be scanned with the PlayStation Eye and brought into the game with 3D creatures, animations, spell animations, etc. as representations. Hearthstone uses mechanics that would be difficult or impossible to recreate in a physical setting, such as cards that allow players to draw a random card from the entire card library currently supported by the game.[13]

Developers have also looked for other revenue models for offering digital CCGs to players.

NFTs). While these cards cannot be updated, players can use blockchain transactions to buy, sell, and trade the cards with other players while online and enabling their use offline.[22]

In October 2022 Marvel Snap was released. Marvel Snap is a mobile and PC-playable collectible card game that allows players to build a deck with 12 cards each representing a Marvel villain or superhero—and each with their own unique abilities—and compete against other players in short, three-minute face-offs.

Monetization issues

Digital collectible card games are general free-to-play but monetized through

ESRB had originally compared loot boxes and digital booster packs to physical CCGs as to defend their practice in 2017,[26] but later adopted new advisory labels for video games to notify consumers of the use of booster packs in games by 2020.[27]

A 2022 report by the Norwegian Consumer Council called loot boxes (including booster packs) as "predatory" and can "foster addiction" in players. The report was backed by government consumer groups in 16 other European counties, urging regulations in upcoming European Union regulations to address the matter.[28]

Impact

With the growth of mobile gaming and streaming viewerships, digital card games are a significant part of the video game market. SuperData estimated that digital card games will bring over US$1.5 billion in 2018, with a quarter of that from Hearthstone, and the potential to grow to US$2 billion by 2020.[29]

Forbes reported that the global Trading Card Game market size in 2022 was valued at $2.99 billion and it is expected to reach $4.2 billion by 2028.[30]

See also

References

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  2. SuperData Research
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  3. ^ "Sanctum Redux - Come play the game of Sanctum again". Retrieved 2013-11-07.
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    Gamasutra
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  6. ^ "A Look into the Crazy Thriving Japanese Arcade Scene - Your Guide to the Game Room". Archived from the original on 2012-05-05. Retrieved 2017-10-04.
  7. ^ Ricardo Torres (2004-08-30). "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Updated Hands-On". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  8. ^ Good, Owen (June 13, 2016). "Phantom Dust is back on for Xbox, arrives in 2017". Polygon. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
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  10. ^ "Idolmaster Mobile Game Earns 1 Billion Yen a Month". Anime News Network. September 27, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2013.
  11. ^ 2013-10-10, 提督100万人突破、そして島田フミカネ氏による航空母艦も実装決定! ─ 『艦これ』秋のイベントも実施準備中, インサイド
  12. ^ DECIPHER.com : Star Wars CCG Archived February 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ a b Goldfarb, Andrew (August 24, 2013). "Gamescom: The Origin and Future of Blizzard's Hearthstone". IGN. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  14. ^ Pereira, Chris (August 11, 2015). "Hearthstone Now Earns About $20 Million Every Month - Report". GameSpot. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  15. ^ Frank, Allegra (April 26, 2016). "Hearthstone now has 50 million players". Polygon. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
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  17. ^ Kohlar, Phillip (January 13, 2017). "Could we finally get a real Hearthstone competitor from Magic: The Gathering?". Polygon. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  18. ^ Orsini, Lauren (March 20, 2018). "With 100,000 New Invites, 'Magic: The Gathering Arena' Opens The Floodgates". Forbes. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  19. ^ Cam Shea (2016-07-20). "The Japanese Collectible Card Game That May Just Surprise You". IGN. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
  20. ^ Bailey, Dustin. "Artifact has 280 cards and three lanes of play". PCGamesN. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  21. ^ Marks, Tom (9 March 2018). "Artifact: Everything We Know About Valve's Next Game". IGN. Archived from the original on March 9, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  22. ^ Orcutt, Mike (July 11, 2019). "This blockchain-based card game shows us the future of ownership". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  23. ^ Lawrence, Nathan (April 23, 2017). "The Troubling Psychology of Pay-to-Loot Systems". IGN. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
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  26. ^ Schreier, Jason (October 11, 2017). "ESRB Says It Doesn't See 'Loot Boxes' As Gambling". Kotaku. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
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  28. ^ "INSERT COIN: How the gaming industry exploits consumers using loot boxes" (PDF). forbrukerradet.no. Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC). May 31, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
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  30. ^ Whitfill Roeloffs, Mary (1 September 2023). ["'Marvel Snap' becomes top-grossing digital trading card game — beating 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' and 'Magic: The Gathering Arena'". Forbes. Retrieved 16 January 2024. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)