What if all this could change?

My background in traditional board games stretches back almost two decades. The board game industry is experiencing a significant resurgence in recent years. One of the things driving this resurgence is the adaptation of some of the best board games to digital platforms. Digital board gaming allows players to find opponents regardless of location or time-zone. If properly designed it also decreases much of the fuss required by games such as adding up scores, clarity of rules, sequential events caused by and action, etc. This trend of moving to digital versions of a game is particularly true of Collectible Card Games (CCG’s). However, there is a snag…

A SuperData Research paper published in 2015 showed that about 2/3 of all CCG players choose to play online. This demonstrates the dramatic movement of players to digital platforms.  However, while most play is conducted online, 3/4 of all investment is in physical cards. Why would this be?  The answer is obvious to anyone who has ever been involved in a CCG. Paper cards are not just game items, they are investments.

The term investment is significant because it means that instead of accounting the purchase as a loss to your total net worth, you only convert it into a different form of value instrument. If and when you tire of the game, you can take your paper cards down to a card shop (or post a sale on the internet) and exchange value for the card. The value of the card may have appreciated or depreciated since you purchased it, but based on supply and demand it will have some value.

This is not the case, however, for digital cards. Game platforms have full control of the digital cards.  Players own their digital cards in name only, they have no real control over how the cards are used or stored. Additionally, there is no current third party platform where digital cards can be traded and therefore price discovery is impossible. This is a major reason why players choose to spend their money on physical paper cards instead of the digital counterpart.

But what if this could change?

It seems that digital cards could quickly catch and exceed the sales of paper cards. And that is something that grabs the attention of traditional game publisher’s. I had the chance to speak with several publishers during a recent board game convention I attended. The response was fantastic. For some, they had tons of questions and really wanted to get into the nitty-gritty of how the blockchain worked, etc. But almost everyone I talked to was genuinely excited and interested in the opportunities the blockchain and tokens could provide. We are currently in talks with several companies that I connected with at the convention. We hope to announce new partnerships soon!

For all the traditional board gamers out there, FreeMyVunk is reaching out to you too. Tell your friends about the movement and demand that your digital assets be tradable just like your physical ones.