User blog comment:Nerø32/Product Stream Reveals/@comment-11372432-20200122101931/@comment-11372432-20200122214032

Yeah, I gave them the benefit of the doubt before. I mean, plenty of TCGs do perfectly well without a show. But the thing is, is that they at least, you know, had marketing! They didn’t do anything except a few social media campaigns that only those already playing the game cared about! And I honestly doubt it caused them to buy more product.

Right now, this isn’t anyone’s first choice in a TCG because there’s almost no places to play on a regular basis. As a result, the game can’t justify the prices on its cards. Time Dragons have multiple staple cards above $15 a copy, causing a good version of the deck to be over $400 and that isn’t even the most expensive a deck has gotten in the last year! Don’t forget that Lost Deck!

Why should any new player bother with this game when its price tag is higher than many games while having a smaller base? I can play Vanguard way more often and pay less than $100 on a deck to do so! And this is just assuming the player even heard of the game! Only people into Bushi card games have heard of it, really.

These issues aren’t a thing in Japan, where collabs and a larger player base help get BF into a nice spot in the top 10 TCGs there. It’s why I say Bushi doesn’t care about the market outside of Japan. It also doesn’t hurt that they get access to the manga on a steady basis while people have to actively hunt for it in English.

They need to put in some real effort this year, I swear.