Localizing the TCG

Within these past couple of days, I've come upon fascinating news about Pokémon. As I've noted in some past posts, particularly one involving a revisit, I'm also somewhat enthusiastic about the Pokémon TCG. That piece of news concerns the TCG: it will be distributed and localized for Indonesia (the place where I currently reside), for play by the locals, certainly. It's an intriguing prospect with some quirks of its own.

Like many prospects, it has its own story. It has been said that the local TCG scene is on a declining trend because of high costs and minimal support, which could be considered a shame for some of its earlier successes. To ameliorate the condition, the cards will be printed in the local language (Indonesian) and then distributed nationally. This is something that was tested for Thailand, and now it's being done here. That's pretty much the long and short of it.

The local distributor for the cards is a well-known conglomerate, not so much for Pokémon-related matters, but for general commerce, due to the ownership of a local chain of convenience stores. That said, this might seem to bode well for them: the cards can be sold (relatively) cheaply in the stores, and they will be everywhere, which means people will play them. They'll still be available through game shops, if anything. The conglomerate, however, also owns a few companies related to food, some of which are very well-known nationally, so there has been the jest of a related "tie-in". Much still has to be seen.

Then there are the cards themselves. A few of them have been disclosed as a "sneak peek", which means they're open for review as well. They look really good, just as good as the English cards. Language-wise, they do seem to consist of a literal translation of the English cards, which is OK in some parts and a bit "stiff" in others, though that may be because some of the terminology are rather specific and not commonly grasped. They should still be playable once the players understand what goes on. As for interplay with the English cards, including the ones I already do have, that too remains to be seen.

This localizing of the TCG is at least a unique idea on the surface; from what I've seen, the parties seem to have taken to embrace the cards for local play. It may well make the cards more accessible for the players. As to how far things will go, time will tell what happens. Having personally revisited the cards, now there may be an easier way to get rolling with the locals on the path to mastery. The effort deserves to be recognized.

One year ago: Pokémon Go Event Rollup, 5/3/2018
Two years ago: Gender Mismatch Detected