Trading cards have come a long way. If you were there, you still remember the golden old days, in the late 1960s, when you would open a set of cards and meet the faces of your favorite Baseball team players. You also witnessed when they included the faces of characters from your most cherished television series and film stills. You can still relate to the thrill and fun that accompanied these special moments.
However, the arrival of advanced technology, together with the rapidly evolving digital age, brought with them massive changes in almost all aspects of life. Trading cards, just like any other sector, also experienced and embraced the changes, causing card collection to be a thing of the past. But does it completely change the experience? What are the innovations that came with the development? We answer those questions and more in this article.
Digital Trading Cards
As technology progressed, it carried with it a revolution in operations around various sectors. Businesses were rapidly migrating online, and the operating and start-up card companies had to fasten their belts to keep up with the new trends. Among the innovations that they had to adopt was creating a thread of trading cards that either dwelt virtually exclusively or had a physical counterpart.
Topps hurled their new brand of sports cards, eTopps, in 2000 to establish themselves in the latest business arena. They sold the digital trading cards virtually via Initial Player Offering (IPO).
That same year, Tokenzone rolled out a digital collectible platform to help media firms distribute content in the form of digital trading cards. The number of sales each day relied on the number of individuals willing to purchase but under a set maximum. After purchase, the company would keep the cards in a climate-controlled warehouse until the customer requests delivery. Even then, the cards would only be transferred virtually, with no exchange of hands.
Digital Collectible Card Games
By 2013, the digital collectible card games’ market had risen to approximately $1.3billion. Several start-up companies have attempted to set foot in the space, including Deckdaq of Israel in 2011, Stampii of Spain in 2009, Fantom of Ireland in 2011, and 2Stick from Austria in 2013. However, the ground was a bit slippery for the new start-ups due to the challenge of monetizing internet content, especially in an 8- to 12-year-old topological setting.
Similarly, the high cost of acquiring a digital license to their brand’s content was also a hindrance to many new companies.
However, it was not all dark with the advent of advanced technology in the trading card industry since the internet also brought with it a rise to a handful of online communities to help members trade their collectible cards amongst them. Along with other online sources, eBay grew into the limelight as platforms for buying and selling the games’ cards.
Also, some US and Japanese games companies, including Wizards of the Coast, generated a bulk of revenue digitally, all thanks to their intellectual property and deeper gameplay.
Digital Licensing
Purchasing trading cards digitally brought confusion and controversies among several buyers since some were skeptical about spending money on products that anyone can imitate. As a result, digital licensing was introduced to the contents, and only a limited and licensed number of brands would sell their cards to the buyers.
While this restriction was a pain to most start-ups due to the high cost of licensing, it was a relief to buyers and opened the door to a booming business opportunity. During that time, B2B business, which involved licensing tech to sports franchises and sales promotion organizations in the form of digital inventory generators, was the most successful model.
Experimentation with Digital and Print Cards
While everything moved to the digital arena, the long-serving paper-based card firms weren’t trailing behind. Most of these companies decided to give the new technology a chance, through experimentation, but were keen not to cannibalise their print card markets.
Adrenalyn XL (NBA and NFL Digital Collection)
The National Basketball Association (NBA) declared Panini as the exclusive trading card partner of the 2009-10 league in January 2009. On March 13, the company acquired Donruss Playoff LP, the US trading card manufacturer, which helped them inherit the firm’s NFL and NFLPA licenses.
Panini then started their Adrenalyn XL platform, which constituted NFL and NBA trading card digital collections exclusively. In 2010, they featured up to 22 of the 32 teams that played the FIFA World Cup Champions, with each set constituting 350 cards.
Panini then released their UEFA Champions League edition, which also contained 350 cards in each set and featured up to 22 clubs in the competition. Their fourth edition, a FIFA Adrenalyn, came out in 2019, featuring top teams, players, and clubs. Every card featured defense, attack, player’s position, and overall rating in each of their releases.
The emergence of Digital Collections, Live Auctions, Multiplayer Gaming, and Mobile/Web Facebook Applications
Progression in technology has caused a lot of improvements in the life of trading cards.Several companies have developed mobile applications to ease the process for players. Some of the functionalities that came with digitization across trading card platforms include live auctions, Digital Rights Management, virtual shops, collection, card tracking, embedded content, multiplayer gaming, and web, mobile, or Facebook Applications.
For example, Winning Moves, together with Connet2Media, launched an iPhone Application that hosts a sequence of trading card collections, such as James Bond -007, Dinosaurs, European Football Stars, Gum Ball 3000, and NBA.
Similarly, mytcg Technologies formed a platform in which holders could host their content for their members. Also, Topps released a mobile application, Topps Bunt, which enables users to connect with fellow fans in a fantasy league-type game setting. In the platform, they can collect players, receive points according to their level of play, and compete with other fans.
The digital age is changing rapidly and causing disruptive technology advancement across different sectors. In that spirit, trading cards are no exception and are projected to see major changes in the coming years.
