From kids collecting monster cards, such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh, to pro gamers competing for $500,000 (~£360,154) at the Hearthstone World Championship 2021, collectible card games (CCGs) have grown a lot.
With the increasing popularity of digital CCGs -both casually and within esports – the sector’s market size is expected to hit $572m (~£412m) by the end of 2021. Though this is only a small proportion of the global online gaming revenue, it seems like giants such as Blizzard Entertainment (Hearthstone) and Riot Games (Legends of Runeterra) have monopolised the CCG market.
Nevertheless, titles such as Gwent and Thronebreaker (CD Project) and Loop Hero (FourQuarters), which come from significantly smaller developers, have managed to rise to fame.