Video Game Genres Codexery

Digital collectible card game

Digital collectible card games (DCCGs) evolved from the ability for CCG players to challenge each other online and to play against computerized opponents.[1] Sanctum and Chron X, both released in 1997, are recognized as the earliest online CCGs.[2] The rules of most DCCGs mirror those of physical CCGs, with gameplay occurring in a digital environment.[3]

Quick Facts

Field
Digital collectible card games

Facts from the source article.

Making and release

Wizards of the Coast built Magic: The Gathering Online (MTGO), an online multiplayer client for Magic first released in 2002.[4] Blizzard Entertainment released Hearthstone in 2014, loosely based on the World of Warcraft CCG.[5] Rage of Bahamut became one of the top-grossing mobile games of 2012.[6][7] Wizards of the Coast launched the first tabletop CCG, Magic: The Gathering, in 1993.[1]

This launch sparked a surge in CCG popularity starting in 1994.[1] To accelerate gameplay and enable cross-device play, Hearthstone was built so that the opposing player cannot react during a turn.[5] Monthly revenue for Hearthstone was estimated at $20 million in 2015.[5] Rage of Bahamut, created by Cygames, proved that DCCGs could be a major force in the mobile game market.[6]

Artifact, a game from Valve, replaces the standard single board with three separate "lanes".[8] Immutable's Gods Unchained employs blockchain-based NFTs to give each digital card a unique, individual ownership record.[8]

What the cited sources add

A 2013 Gamasutra interview noted that Rage of Bahamut developer Cygames was not surprised by the game's success because a market for card games already existed overseas.[7] Gree's Eiji Araki explained that the genre plays into the player's desire to gather the ultimate set of cards.[7] Araki also stated that social engagement elements like trading cards and PVP battles keep players coming back.[7] The Sanctum Redux site notes that Sanctum was originally developed by Digital Addiction in 1997 and later maintained by NIOGA for 10 years.[9]

NIOGA shut down the game in 2010 for financial reasons, but fans revived it from old bits and pieces.[9] A 2016 Gamasutra blog post by Bycer stated that CCG-based games are some of the trickiest games to balance and fine-tune.[10]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Digital collectible card game" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: David-Marshall, "Trading Card Game Industry - From the T to the C to the G", SuperData Research, 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Digital collectible card game" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sanctum Redux - Come play the game of Sanctum again" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Digital collectible card game" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shae, "Creating Hearthstone's new 'Discover' mechanic", IGN, January 19, 2016 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Digital collectible card game" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moher, "Magic: The Gathering's digital history, from first build to end step", Venture Beat, June 28, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Digital collectible card game" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Goldfarb, "Gamescom: The Origin and Future of Blizzard's Hearthstone", IGN, August 24, 2013; Pereira, "Hearthstone Now Earns About $20 Million Every Month - Report", GameSpot, August 11, 2015; Frank, "Hearthstone now has 50 million players", Polygon, April 26, 2016; Minotti, "SuperData: Hearthstone trumps all comers in card market that will hit $1.4 billion in 2017", Venture Beat, January 28, 2017; Moher, "Magic: The Gathering's digital history, from first build to end step", Venture Beat, June 28, 2020; Kohlar, "Could we en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Digital collectible card game" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Rise of the Mobile Collectible Card Game", Gamasutra, 14 February 2013 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "The Rise of the Mobile Collectible Card Game", Gamasutra, 14 February 2013. facts only, no text reused. gamedeveloper.com
  8. Wikipedia, "Digital collectible card game" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bailey, "Artifact has 280 cards and three lanes of play", PCGamesN; Marks, "Artifact: Everything We Know About Valve's Next Game", IGN, 9 March 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. "Sanctum Redux - Come play the game of Sanctum again". facts only, no text reused. playsanctum.net
  10. Bycer, "The Pros and Cons of CCG-based Game Design", Gamasutra, April 22, 2016. facts only, no text reused. gamedeveloper.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Digital collectible card game (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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