The Future: new ideas? the limit? Thoughts on past vs future

General
1

Hello, while thinking about Pokemon and its future I was wondering how many new pokemons they’ll create, how many new areas they’ll ‘‘discover’’ and so on; and so I thought about the kind of pokemon we’ll have in the future and their ‘‘appeal’’ to people in general and collectors.
While in terms of duelling with cards one might ‘‘ignore’’ the rarity and the artwork and focus on the abilities and damage/hp of the Pokemon/Card, when it comes to collecting I can’t really see what one can focus on.
Maybe because I generally prefer the WOTC era in terms of artworks and history and I ingore the recent sets (with exceptions), I was wondering what in 10years people will look for regarding the new sets that are coming out, because scarcity won’t be a probem and if Pokemon doesn’t lose in popularity maybe kids now won’t abandon the hobby and get back to it 10/15years after (like what happened with Pokemon Go).

Mine is more a stream of consciousness that I tried to put into words, ( in a language that isn’t mine), probably my thought is: people will get bored eventually with the new stuff, maybe they’ll try to acquire the old stuff, but there won’t be enough for everybody and lots of people might abandon the hobby.

Yes, the future can’t be predicted, but I was curious about your opinions, hypothesis.
In Japan they keep producing amazing promo cards, even cheap ones, do you think that they might end up being repetitive (e.g.: like always a Pika doing something with other pokemons)?

Collectors will remain, for one reason or another. I’m trying to understand the mind of the average person that ‘‘interacts’’ with Pokemon.

2

I think they will generally have to cater to adults more sooner than later, especially regarding the games. Temtem, the (for an Indy game) successful Pokemon-clone-ish game that incorporated a lot of the ideas people wanted in a Pokemon game for a long time, shows how easy it would be. Detective Pikachu was geared towards adults aswell, so I think they are already looking in the right direction, but my concern is with the games. They’re the reason I got into Pokemon and People already are getting tired with the same ol formula.

Imagine an actual 3D Pokemon RPG with actual open world elements. Basically like the wild area of Sword and Shield with better tree graphics.

The popularity of the TCG, to some extend, goes hand in hand with the popularity of the games and possibly films.

3 Likes
3

I would LOVE to see them create an MMORPG for Pokemon, although I see no indication of them doing so. I think they need to broaden their horizon to reach out to a larger pool of people with their games. They currently only reach the demographic of people who are ok with the beat it and delete it mentality, although I know you can continuously play this game if you play it competitively or shiny hunt, but that number is not significant compared to the vast population of pokemon consumers. An MMORPG would have longevity if done correctly and would reach a larger demographic as well as give them the opportunity to continue to update the game with new Pokemon. Again I doubt this will ever happen, but I can dream!

2 Likes
4

Its a great question and ones for the ages in trying to determine what the future will hold in terms of pokemon card collecting, but thats just it in general: its unpredictable. Modern cards today see quite a large production rate due to demand, and I know many collectors are turned off to them in a lot of regards, but I always think about children today who are just entering the game and who are just growing up with specific generations/cards. While today they are here and affordable, who knows if 20 years from now someone who grew up with Hidden Fates might chase a PSA 10 or Black Label Charizard GX which might raise in value, or see a higher demand which might drive a higher price tag once the sets cease printing. Or, they might even attempt to collect certain “sets” of cards of a specific pokemon, such as the hyper rare, full art, regular variants of a pokemon they truly enjoy which also would see no more prints available. While print numbers are insane with most sets, I myself cant help but think that in 20 years from now finding mint copies of certain things might not be the case, as we could potentially see less and less of them in said state leading to some going for larger price tags.

Again though, its all speculation at this point. Its easy to say that chances are they will not increase in price, and maybe they will die off with WOTC era cards seeing substantially larger price hikes, but the idea is completely up for debate. I always toy with the concept of nostalgia as for many of us, WOTC was our glory days of truly being engaged so thats what we all run to, but with pokemon being so large now, kids today will have nostalgia in a different light, where those WOTC cards might not even be desired by them. A great example was when I met a few kids who played the card game at this game store I went to for the Prerelease of Sword and Shield. Not a single kid cared about WOTC cards, and I even asked, however, everyone was still trying to chase Hidden Fates and the now soon to be released Sword and Shield. Regardless of overprinting in this sense, theres still a market and desire even though it may not reach the levels of price and rarity and scarcity of that WOTC market. Its a good and healthy thought to ponder though, being that truly anything is possible. We could speculate all day and night on these things, but until its here, the possibilities are endless regardless of where certain evidence might be driving our opinions.

For me and what I would love to see, Id personally love some limited cards (just like some Japanese promos) to hit the market that are actually limited coupled with exclusive cards that aren’t overprinted as well. The prerelease of the Sword and Shield video game in Japan came with this awesome full art Pikachu card with all the starters on it and I wish we had those sorts of things again. Sure they might have gave out a lot of them, but it makes a collector, or even a young collector/child entering the game, feel special in being one to receive such an item. Ive also really enjoyed some of the artworks with full arts and promos in recent sets, and if those too saw a limited variant, id love that as well. Also id enjoy to see more variants in the card game itself, meaning more gameplay interactions which could make more set cards playable. Thats a big complaint I have, as ive noticed that typically youll see anywhere from 3-8 deck typings compete in the top meta game, and maybe if they could throw in some new ways of playing (maybe cards that can be played during your opponets turn or even better stage 2 variants of cards that can compete with EX,GX,V cards) that would open up a heavier new section of players that could have more options and variants in deck building and gameplay. Same desires for the games though as everyone else here (more adult esq variants for the older players), but aside from that, im personally in support of what theyre doing currently as I have no major issues with anything aside from my listed wants. Its just desires, but overall, ive loved the content in recent years and im curious to see what the future holds for it all

1 Like
5

Thank you all for replying^^

So we could summarize everything atm with:
-Nintendo should invest in more ‘‘innovative’’ virtual worlds (games, etc…)

-The market should ‘‘mirror’’ the japanese market ( in terms of promos, release, etc…)

-Update game mechanincs to offer more freedom and variety in terms of playability