Also, I don't know a single person that actually enjoys playing the game. There are no popular online pokemon card games (like MTG or Board Game Arena).
Pokemon company did a terrible job designing and evolving the game itself..
Pokemon company did a terrible job designing and evolving the game itself..
Then there is the official online simulator which is not monetized at all and not used for competitive events so there is no reason for them to market it as a product like its mobile game sister.
What TPC is doing good is, that they have a special kids format with an age-barrier, so kids wont get outpriced that bad and have a fun interaction with a peer group of the same age. I love how my MTG Store has special Tournament Hours only for the Kids Qualifier groups, so that there are no Neckbeards around trying to take advantage of kids and their understanding for money, the game or god knows what ive experienced in my early YGO days playing against people that were 20 years older than me.
Sure some parents have deeper pockets than others, but you can manage to play the game with a tight budget, depending on the format.
In person, the competitive scene in western countries is larger than MTG right now, and on the same scale as Riftbound. In Japan it's always been the biggest by an order of magnitude. The two big western open entry tournaments, EUIC / NAIC, sell out ~4,000 player tickets in a matter of seconds. Regionals tournaments that happen almost twice a month throughout the year sell out ~2K-3K player tickets in a matter of minutes.