Legendary Saga Launch Temporarily Postponed

[HuntikChamp]

Unfortunently, the Legendary Saga set has been postponed until August. I understand what Upperdeck is trying to do, but I don't know if this was a great move.

The game isn't that big in North America, but by postponing the set might cause more harm than it does good.

1 - The third set is scheduled for release in September. How can they release Legendary Saga in August and another set in September?

2 - They could postpone the third installment another three months and release it in December for North America, but other countries would receive the set in September, which would leave us behind one set. If they postpone the third set everywhere until December, that would make the wait for the set too long, thus causing people to leave the game.

3 - If they do decide to keep North America a set behind, how would that affect any possible future World Championship tournaments?

I know I'm looking into this a little too much, but I just don't think it would benefit them to postpone Legendary Saga. This is just my view. Hopefully the game does pick up before they release Legendary Saga, because it's a great game.

[KohanimTCG]

As disappointing as it is to the current player base, I feel like the postponement was a necessary move.

It's very difficult to promote a game to new players that has more than a base set. By pushing the release date back, I think Upper Deck will be able to promote the game more effectively at Gen Con Indy. I could be way off in guessing the motives behind pushing the release date, but I thought it was too much of a coincidence for the second set to be pushed past Indy. When people see a Nationals for a game with only one set, I think they're a lot more likely to pick it up than if they see a game with an overwhelming card pool.

In North America, very few episodes of Huntik have actually aired, and as we've seen from Pokemon and Yugioh, popular TV shows make popular card games. I don't even think we've gotten to see any of the Legendary Titans yet. It wouldn't make much sense to release a set featuring them, when we don't have the TV show promoting them. I don't know if there are plans to bring those episodes to North America, so this may be a null point, but it couldn't hurt to wait.

I wouldn't worry too much about catching up to the rest of the world in set releases. We can catch up pretty fast without rapid set releases if the set releases are spaced properly. I highly doubt North America will remain a full set behind the rest of the world for long.

While there's only one set, Huntik has unlimited potential to grow. Once a second set is released, that potential begins to drop because it's more difficult to get new players into it. If a card game doesn't have a strong start, it can't survive. By extending the amount of time that only one set is available, Upper Deck has given Huntik more time to develop a player base, which is really the most important thing for every Huntik player. A card game can't survive without a strong player base. Pushing back the release date was a great move.

[JeffP@UDE]

Originally Posted by HuntikChamp

Unfortunently, the Legendary Saga set has been postponed until August. I understand what Upperdeck is trying to do, but I don't know if this was a great move.

The game isn't that big in North America, but by postponing the set might cause more harm than it does good.

1 - The third set is scheduled for release in September. How can they release Legendary Saga in August and another set in September?

2 - They could postpone the third installment another three months and release it in December for North America, but other countries would receive the set in September, which would leave us behind one set. If they postpone the third set everywhere until December, that would make the wait for the set too long, thus causing people to leave the game.

3 - If they do decide to keep North America a set behind, how would that affect any possible future World Championship tournaments?

I know I'm looking into this a little too much, but I just don't think it would benefit them to postpone Legendary Saga. This is just my view. Hopefully the game does pick up before they release Legendary Saga, because it's a great game.

These answers are to the best of my knowledge, but I could be wrong so take it for what it's worth. When set 2 comes out in August, I would imagine that set 3 would be pushed back a bit as well so as not to have two sets come out in back to back months. I would think the long-term plan is to get back on the original schedule that we were going to be on, but I'm not sure what the plan is and haven't heard anything about it. I don't know when set 3 is now due to release. I don't know if the time between set 2 and set 3 is any more than it usually would be, so I don't think you'll see people leaving the game due to a wait between sets 2 and 3.

That said, we're still planning some cool events for Gen Con Indy, and the North American Continental Championship is still one of them. That has not changed at this point in time, and I don't believe that cancelling that event is something we want to do. Regarding your question 3 about potential world championships, we really haven't talked about it. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. There isn't a world championship planned for this year, anyway, so it's not like we have to worry about it right now. Maybe by the time we do have one, we'll have caught up enough or totally in order to make your worries a non-issue.

Hope this helps.

Additional Comment:

Originally Posted by KohanimTCG

I don't know if there are plans to bring those episodes to North America, so this may be a null point, but it couldn't hurt to wait.

The second half of season 1 will still be airing here. I think it's after the first half of season 1 has completed it's "re-run" so it won't be too much longer. Stay tuned.

I highly doubt North America will remain a full set behind the rest of the world for long.

Since Set 3 was originally scheduled for September, and Set 2 is now due in August, we aren't actually "a full set behind" in the first place. The time can be made up pretty easily, I think you'll see.

While there's only one set, Huntik has unlimited potential to grow. Once a second set is released, that potential begins to drop because it's more difficult to get new players into it. If a card game doesn't have a strong start, it can't survive. By extending the amount of time that only one set is available, Upper Deck has given Huntik more time to develop a player base, which is really the most important thing for every Huntik player. A card game can't survive without a strong player base. Pushing back the release date was a great move.

It also really helps us that the show is actually pretty good. I remember watching the first season and thinking it's one of the best animated series I'd seen since Batman: The Animated Series, which to me is kind of like the benchmark to measure all animated tv shows. I think it's right up there, and that can only be a good thing for the long-term health of the entire Huntik brand.

[UDE Dan]

Michael did a good job of expanding on the essence of our press release.
Regarding the show in the USA, new episodes begin again on June 13th and will continue weekly into September. (June 6th will repeat episode thirteen so that's a good place for new viewers to start watching.) You can look forward to Huntik having a pressence at Gen Con as well, where we will be able to give many gamers their introduction to the Huntik TCG.

Booster 3, Omens and Legacies will not be coming out in September so the releases won't be crammed. But between the 2 boosters the Labyrinth of Doom deck for 1 or 2 players will release. This deck has 3 new missions and over 20 new cards. The OP program will continue to have original cards and missions as well, so there is plenty of new content for Huntik to keep the game fresh and evolving.

[HuntikChamp]

Originally Posted by KohanimTCG

As disappointing as it is to the current player base, I feel like the postponement was a necessary move.

It's very difficult to promote a game to new players that has more than a base set. By pushing the release date back, I think Upper Deck will be able to promote the game more effectively at Gen Con Indy. I could be way off in guessing the motives behind pushing the release date, but I thought it was too much of a coincidence for the second set to be pushed past Indy. When people see a Nationals for a game with only one set, I think they're a lot more likely to pick it up than if they see a game with an overwhelming card pool.

In North America, very few episodes of Huntik have actually aired, and as we've seen from Pokemon and Yugioh, popular TV shows make popular card games. I don't even think we've gotten to see any of the Legendary Titans yet. It wouldn't make much sense to release a set featuring them, when we don't have the TV show promoting them. I don't know if there are plans to bring those episodes to North America, so this may be a null point, but it couldn't hurt to wait.

I wouldn't worry too much about catching up to the rest of the world in set releases. We can catch up pretty fast without rapid set releases if the set releases are spaced properly. I highly doubt North America will remain a full set behind the rest of the world for long.

While there's only one set, Huntik has unlimited potential to grow. Once a second set is released, that potential begins to drop because it's more difficult to get new players into it. If a card game doesn't have a strong start, it can't survive. By extending the amount of time that only one set is available, Upper Deck has given Huntik more time to develop a player base, which is really the most important thing for every Huntik player. A card game can't survive without a strong player base. Pushing back the release date was a great move.

You have good points. I don't mind waiting for the set IF the game picks up. We could still get the cards anyway. (from ebay)

[freiser]

I still have my sneak yay

[HuntikChamp]

Originally Posted by freiser

I still have my sneak yay

I'll trade you for some of the new cards. I want to know the ultra rares.

[piprod01]

I didn't see this before but there is a video on youtube about how to play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0R_CfGFhoM