Why Metazoo Failed & Why Most TCG's Fail

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[@DoctorDoom69]

Imagine thinking a new TCG where the prime consumer literally started with 25 to 40 year olds pretending they care about anything other than the value would be successful, Pokemon didn’t start like that , mtg didn’t start like that, yugioh didn’t start like that 😂 wise up tf

[@theboringchannel2027]

kind of the story of crypto.

This is such a good point.

[@D3xterJettster]

None of them start that way, but they depend heavily on that demographic to turn a profit

[@isimanica1]

Tell me then why Star Trek CCG, Star Wars CCG or Battletech CCG all failed then?

[@joshsewell2657]

imagine bringing metazoo to school as a little kid and being made fun of

[@Slapnfish]

6 year olds have never heard of metazoo. They also had no ability to buy it let alone see it. The reason Pokémon is the biggest and best is because you had real organic interest from the younglings who grew up with it. The only people who bought metazoo were adult speculators. Sorry not sorry. Maybe in 20 years there might be a geriatric resurgence of Covid nostalgia.

[@jerrysince98]

No one has ever heard of metazoo😂😂

[@deezcollectibles4518]

They sold Metazoo at Target tho. It was available.

[@D0012D13]

Can say the same about mtg

[@electricearth1101]

woh did you just call having a show on WB kids that promotes your card game and video game and has commercials that sell your products "organic"?

[@e-tan3911]

@@electricearth1101 When your initial game was a massive success even before you started marketing it heavily, and became a worldwide phenomena after you did, I'd call that interest "organic." Also, I have no clue what your point is here. Yeah, commercials and TV shows to sell toys is part of the marketing process when you are that big of a success.

[@mrtz-ny4292]

LOL at sponsoring the merch after they shut down 😅- great point with the inevitable failures in life... even the all stars miss the net sometimes

[@taylorabrahamse8345]

Metazoo wasnt addressing any complaints ppl may have with the Pokemon TCG. Palworld is directly attacking the complaints ppl have with Pokemon PC/etc digital games... down to the dramatically lower price. If Metazoo revolutionized and improved upon the pokemon tcg that would be different. I will say I really love the artwork style of Metazoo and wish there was enough room in the market for both.

[@grailsgg]

it didn't help that, mechanically, metazoo was a mediocre game at best. basically a way worse version of MtG with a sprinkle of pokemon elements and then a bunch of goofy unnecessary 4th wall stuff. and i think most people never got past how janky its appearance was. now it'll go down as something like the FTX of the tcg world imo. I'm expecting bankruptcy proceedings and zero accountability to ever be taken by those who screwed up. amazing how many people were completely duped, when in hindsight it was so obvious

[@tnotonlythistime]

It was the Bored apes of trading cards. It was pushed by mostly investor bros, influencers, grifters and nothing else.And the art is also awful and game play is also subpar as well.

[@Peeweez0]

Thanks for your thoughts on this Scott and appreciate your empathy for us Metazoo fans that are pretty devastated by all this. It is pretty entertaining now though since sooooo much dirty laundry has come out now regarding the management of Metazoo and partners, etc. It has so much drama right now that it's better than Days of our Lives. Hoping there is a new season coming for Metazoo but more realistic the producers are going to cancel this series for good. Love the Metazoo merch too! Better late than never haha

[@monkey39128]

Wow, Days of our Lives. Now that's a blast from the past!

[@misakufx]

Pokemon was built on lore, an anime, books, and a card/video game and then took off due to influencers. - MetaZoo did the complete opposite, they tried to get famous and viral off of influencers and then look into creating books, an anime and brand lore (collabs, events etc). They essentially took Pokemon's entire story line, reversed it and build it from the top down. Which obviously failed.

[@theboringchannel2027]

were no influencer when pokemon came out and was the hottest cardboard in the world.

[@otterdonnelly9959]

What do you mean Pokèmon took off due to influencers? Are we counting irl children on the playground as influencers?

[@Mrtfarrugia]

​@otterdonnelly9959 little Jimmy in Mrs Stevenson's 4th grade class was very persuasive. 😁

[@portalmasterry6765]

@@otterdonnelly9959I influenced a lot of kids to sell me their holo cards back in the day. lol

[@cocobutterfo]

Do you have any thoughts on the new Kickstarter TCG called Wonders of the First?

[@enthused7591]

It was always obviously a joke, but what's even funnier is that after having more demand than you could EVER keep up with for your first 2 years of existence, you somehow go out of business within only 1 year of demand dying down. What on Earth did they do with all that money from 2021-2022? Not even I expected the entire company to go under in under 5 years, you'd have to be completely incompetent for that to happen.

[@monkey39128]

I'd imagine a lot of it has ended up in Wadell's back pocket. He'll declare bankruptcy and sail off into the sunset.

[@enthused7591]

@@monkey39128 Oh I'm sure that's exactly what happened. Quick $75M or so most likely, but I just don't understand shutting down operations entirely instead of scaling down and continuing to make your couple million a year until inevitably demand comes back 15-20 years down the road.

[@maverickbonato8164]

I never liked Metazoo but I have to admit, somehow I would buy that sweater lmao

[@aurasphereDavid]

smpratte: Ditto will always loose because it has to waste that turn transforming. Ditto with Imposter ability: 😏

[@Collinxd]

You get a like good sir🎉

[@dillonblake6219]

Nice to see you Scott 👍

[@Pompey_blue]

Simple answer = the shills and scammers pictured like money and made as much as they could then said adios ✈️

[@nikeswoosh7575]

I still like the look of some of the cards. Mothman and the red borders!

[@jameslikesit]

To their credit, I really liked most of the design of their products. Hated the card designs tho lol. Besides the nostalgia bait holographic, I just really thought the border and overall card details were so strange and almost random looking. It looked messy to me.

[@roberthernandez5802]

That's what it is! I've had this thing were something about the cards drew me but then also pushed me away, the card design doesn't fit the creature art! It feels like the people putting it together didn't talk to each other so the design elements pull you out of looking at the card art.

[@monkey39128]

The boxes always looked cool but the cards inside weren't great.

[@rootfish2671]

Yeah it’s almost like they didn’t know what they were doing

[@justinhuber5497]

Metazoo literally straight copies Magic cards lol.

[@kyranicole6899]

I would love to hear your opinion and thoughts on the Pokémon vintage food collecting lol

[@KetchumAllCollectibles]

This advertisement video will help save MetaZoo. 🙏

[@dagreenshiz]

[@scipioTCG]

What are your thoughts on flesh and blood?

[@darklavalizard]

F&B will be the next TCG to fail

[@dominikevans9591]

Why do you think it fails?

[@Fireballof3]

F&B is doing one thing right - focusing on events and event support. Without play, TCGs don't work.

[@monkey39128]

Significantly stronger than Metazoo but will still struggle to survive long term because of the high competition. I hope it goes the distance though, I like the artwork.

[@warp9988]

F&B is doomed

[@bradcole1996]

Mike waddell kill the game.

[@Deifendorf]

Metazoo’s own internal contradictions killed the game. I haven’t heard anything flattering about this Mike guy, but anyone in the position of keeping this thing alive was just doing palliative care.

[@cheeseburger8932]

Its about time you finally made a video on metazoo Scott. I remember your first video on Metazoo telling everyone it would not survive. This is your second metazoo video.

[@Makabull]

Metazoo live forever ! Metazoo to the moon 🌚

[@beelor5777]

Metazoo failed because it was a scam to begin with. There was no gameplay no tournament play nothing. Just people hyping it up to dump it.

[@xXG3TPWNEDXx]

40 year olds pumping and dumping each other.

[@Mr.Mini_Moto]

I actually disagree with that last statement about pokémon, we'll just say pokémon Scarlet was pretty trash. Game freak needs to step it up especially with the release of palworld

[@Mallhall85]

Lol whut?! Palworld is just horrible! 🤦‍♂️

[@aaron_bo_baron]

haha nah i think you bought all that. you were a fan secretly. Investors are investors.

[@Lucky-tt2yq]

Hilarious to show their product after they flopped.

[@haxax]

They tried too hard to become collector thing. All these 1st editions, kickstarter editions, kickstarter 1st editions, sample cards and I don't even know. Intentionally making these 'rare' variants. +Not very appealing art and weird gameplay.

[@H2King812]

i still think metazoo is pretty cool i wouldnt call it a complete failure yet its still relatively new you never know down the line what will happen n i dont regtret any of the cards i have cause i like the artwork. Them shutting down or w.e could actually make the cards more valuable in the long term no one really knows but I never bought a metazoo card to get rich lmao 😅 😆

[@hieinh]

Ditto doesn't take a turn to transform and with quick powder it's great

[@-Down-D-Stairs-]

Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! for life for me 💪🏻

[@mattv2099]

Skyrim wasnt a new thing. Oblivion came before and was better.

[@Jok3rsFaVor]

An incredible shame with the genuine/physical Artwork and old school card layout.. Not to mention the vivid but classic holofoil... Difficult to find a TCG that isn't just about 'value' etc... Hoping something Artistic eventually comes along with this massive hole MetaZoo has now left.. Unfortunately it's probably going to be a bit detrimental for other indie TCGs with 'scam' in the back of everyones heads for the next half-decade.. 🥀🃏🥀

[@copium5050]

MetaZoo was ugly, sorry

[@MrPelavacas]

Lol damn Pratte!now you wear it

[@shanefletcher9228]

Who is the guy second from the left in the thumbnail?

[@Peeweez0]

From left to right: Rudy of Alpha Investments, Gary King Pokemon/Metazoo, Michael Waddell (creator of Metazoo) and Steve Aoki (DJ and card investor guy)

[@thawhiteazn]

Hol up on Ditto, if you get a Ditto with Imposter they can transform automatically at the start of the round and you don’t have to waste a turn. C’mon son!

[@residentgrey]

Can they still release the IP so someone can make it work? Could it just take another leader, and one that appreciates cryptids and TCG and RPG?

[@no_alternative9071]

Love the ditto, bungie, and melee references. Thanks for the video s m prat

[@TrailBlazer5280]

yes you're absolutely right they were banking on the existing nostalgia of other card games. As much as I love japanese crap and cute or bad ass art work, I likely would never seriously get into a card game on its own. Not only did we play pokemon as kids we watched the show and played the gameboy games and then all the other games. Theres an entire culture around it, and dare I say that culture not only drove the fandom it overpowered the sometimes low quality content in pokemon. We kept consuming because we already like it. As an adult I don't play it anymore so to create a new game will rely on either collectors who for some reason genuinely like it, or getting generations of kids to play it growing up and build that nostalgia.

[@arderp]

Nice Christmas sweater Scott.

[@herbgaming7852]

Ditto doesn't need to waste a turn to transform if it has the ability "Imposter" 😅 Can also be a really good reverse sweeper....Ditto doesn't always lose, is what I'm trying to say. Love your work dude 🤙🏿

[@hieinh]

This guy gets it

[@mayocorp14]

Is Altered TCG going to be the next Pokemon or the next Metazoo?

[@D3xterJettster]

MetaZoo

[@isaacargesmith8217]

ironcially ditto's not actually bad nowadays and i think was a meta pokemon at times in gen 8 in fact, since its ability imposter lets it get around that one turn set up issue. The metaphor makes sense tho

[@mhd6435]

Do you think lorcana will go the same way?

[@machomeech]

The Disney IP helps the game a ton. It'll last longer than MetaZoo but not much.

[@drew8235]

Lorcana will last a lot longer riding on its IP, despite actually being a pretty poor game, but I think the real issue it will face is that if it doesn't make a zillion dollars Disney will pull the plug.

[@hihellothere100]

Right now No. It's in the Top 3 TCGS sales right now. 1. Magic 2.Pokemon 3.Lorcana

[@battyboio]

I only just got into metazoo so its kinda sad to see its gone. I doubt itll come back but one can hope Maybe im bias cuz i LOVE cryptids & folklore, but i quiet enjoy the concept and world of metazoo. Maybe for another day tho 😔

[@Spamthulhu]

It has to be fun to play

[@whatevername6553]

"without that he's just a pink blob" Kirby nibbus: am i a joke to you?

[@steveenczi8967]

Will pokemon games step it up after palworld?

[@Lucky-tt2yq]

They must, also the next gen will be Generation 10 - they need it to be a success.

[@theremix54]

pal world already lost 65% of their max players since launch. same as all these fotm games. pokemon dont gotta do shit

[@monkey39128]

Have they brought back the Battle Frontier yet? That was my favourite bit back in the day.

[@PokiChloe]

The jumper suits you

[@PokemonTrainerDavid93]

Metazoo got me with those hello kitty cards though lol but the engagement felt forced. Palworld probably next imo.

[@skrkttrqzq9984]

Simple, it was made to be collectible, like what did you expect when they literaly had Psa promo card

[@iorimontana]

After the video, i still dont know why Metazoo fail

[@hawkteflon]

I never knew the M in SMPratte meant "MetaZoo"

[@3hirdtimesacharm]

I think the Ditto reference is great. That sums up not just MetaZoo but imitation in general sometimes. You ain't gonna win! EDIT: Don't get me wrong, all great things have some level of inspiration from previous fundamentals. But, there is a clear difference between influence and copying 1 for 1. I believe any great chef, musician, TCG, business, group of people, etc. whatever it is out there ultimately 99% of the time takes influence from other sources. Nothing wrong with it but rarely do we see pure products. Hell, even Pokémon could be argued to have had "inspiration" from Dragon Quest. Regardless of how you feel on that as well, ultimately, Pokémon made a way to stand out still and their merchandise, game, anime, all helped keep the train going for them as the top collectible card game to this day I'd argue. Thanks for posting 🙂

[@codyfeasts7196]

Ditto no longer has to waste that turn

[@ObstagoonGuy]

"Ditto's always gonna lose because it's gotta waste that turn transforming" Bro has never heard of hidden abilities before

[@flvbbernvggets]

I'm just waiting for a Borobu TCG - we need Slugodactyl.

[@jaredpierson]

Never say never.

[@Mr.Mini_Moto]

😅 I found myself laughing by the thought of being asked by a friend that's important question: let's go play Meta zoo at our local library 😂😂😂

[@rootfish2671]

Only play it in public if you want people to think you’re a furry

[@lovisakevatdottir8909]

Accurate video. I really enjoyed the card game. I enjoyed the video you made though, very cool.

[@jeffporter5393]

interesting. I just went to Target and was shocked to see Metazoo on the shelf. I have never seen it for sale at Target before.

[@HeyJoshyJosh]

A TCG need collectors and players. No one was playing Metazoo, in fact the weird real life effects on the cards made the game pretty much impossible to play.

[@lovisakevatdottir8909]

Cool video

[@daurgo2001]

You really didn’t touch on the fact that management basically ran it into the ground, not only financially, but also seemed to be terrible with customer service, and spent too much time trying to do side projects instead of just making the game (and putting out sets)

[@Ily_XD]

Am an indie dev currently making a TCG ( i'm sick of the current ones ) , its designed from the start to not have any power creep ( 0 ), its truly a shame that these companies are just using us to buy there bad products

[@jimmyvieraart]

You love to see it

[@BT-su1yf]

Love the video. You’re quite behind on your Smash Bros reference though, we’re on Smash Ultimate (fifth installment) and it’s arguably the best Smash game ever made. Brawl was many years ago. You’re right, Melee is tight though.

[@EpicTubeHD]

There's a lot of misnomers as to why Metazoo failed. But the fact adults jumped into this world to make TCGs a source of income starting in 2021, is the main culprit behind so much that has gone wrong in the TCG hobby, and this includes Pokemon, Magic, and even YuGioh, but especially in the Sports Card World. But I'd also lay much of the SCW on Gary Vee for pushing it so hard as a form of stock trading than anything else. My .2 cents anyways

[@rfbftp123]

Metazoo cant be related to other tcg... Metazoo was absolutely horrible and a major cash grab. They sold pretty much everything else other than trading cards. Greedy chubby owner.

[@mgschwartz]

Honestly anyone who thought metazoo had a remote chance of being a big thing was either hoping to grift off it, or flat out brain dead dumb. As a game metazoo is a nothing, no one plays it, no one wants to play it, it’s a garbage design, there’s just zero demand on a game level because there’s nothing to it. Everything metazoo was based on was pure collectibility due to false scarcity. Obviously the scarcity is just manufactured because nothing would stop them from printing more. And the inherent collectibility is just nonexistent, nobody cares about cryptids. Like it was the most obvious junk product the day it was announced. Anyone who lost money on it deserves what they got for being that big of an idiot and for being into a TCG for entirely all the wrong reasons. Like do people learn nothing from history? Look at the 2 biggest TCG markets, magic and Pokémon. Magic the entire market is basically based around that it’s a great card game and there is demand for strong/playable cards within the game. Yeah there are collector pieces and rarities for sure, but the bulk of the market is gameplay driven (it’s why grading magic cards isn’t really a thing). You look at Pokémon and it’s a mega popular IP with the games, manga, anime, etc. The card game is a thing, but it’s really poorly designed and not heavily played for how huge Pokémon is. And the market for Pokémon cards reflects that, it is entirely collector driven (which is why grading is EVERYTHING). Metazoo is literally none of those things.

[@user-pp3dl8id7r]

Spot on.

[@magusofthebargain]

Compare MetaZoo to Sorcery: Contested Realm. What can Sorcery learn from MetaZoo's failure?

[@papafrankgod5930]

That sweater

[@kennydarmawan13]

The moment MetaZoo promotes things like the Reserved List, NFTs, and crossover promotional merch, they bloated themselves too much. They simply wanted to focus on starting a franchise over actually making products people want. If MetaZoo was simply an affordable, cheap card game any kid can buy, then it could've lasted for a long time. Flesh and Blood didn't fall to that fault, and they're still going well today. Remember: People play card games to play, not to invest.

[@flowerdeliveryservice5157]

Metazoo pissed me off from when I first saw it since I love cryptids, but they so clearly had no interest in developing a fun game and the crypto connection turned me off. I think there could be space for games that aren’t magic/yugioh/Pokémon level popular but still played, I like the digimon card game for one but I’d love for smaller tcgs to have success. But they can’t cost as much to make as the big ones obvi and they aren’t gonna be collectors items to the same level no matter what. Metazoo went after collectors beyond everything, it was so obviously such a cynical product and i’m glad it’s dead

[@dirtsquids9854]

Just an fyi, ditto doesn’t have to waste a turn transforming anymore, it’s baked into its ability and ditto often can win

[@IHazMagics]

NFT TCGs you say? Gone day one you say? No way, no one would rug pull an NFT TCG!

[@boxingkanga1281]

but did they fail?

[@Stand.Your.Ground.]

Metazoo messed up going to Topps immediately.

[@grantkearney6354]

What is Metazoo

[@drew8235]

I've yet to see anyone actually playing MetaZoo, and I've never once seen it being advertised as an actual game. They dropped the ball big time on that, at least. The Pokemon TCG, despite being very much focused on collecting, is still a widely played game. If you search for like 'how is MetaZoo, is it a good game?', you just get endless videos on collecting and value. A TCG can't exist purely on collecting. And to be quite honest, it is a very messy looking product. It needed more "Pokemon" and less "Yugioh".

[@manithecomiccollector6361]

Metazoo tried very hard to be a TC instead of trying to become a TCG🤔🥴

[@willywonka6487]

pokemon is far vaster than just the tcg which is really just a sideshow to the main events of the games, the anime, the online community

[@africanveteran7728]

another reason it failed is the company's terrible and incompetent management

[@bunnyman1136]

Metazoo failed because of the Management, you clearly didn't do the research.

[@purpleraikou]

when I heard the big chase card was "moth man", I knew it never stood a chance

[@coryparker2716]

Cuz their not fleah and blood😅

[@imnugget8085]

Fact Bubgie 343 and Bungie making a game from nothing and a few people then can not replace or fix Halo or replace halo Today with thousands of workers and millions of dollars each cant do what orginal halo did

[@glinomarauder2995]

MTG most competitive and engaging... Tell me you are not a tcg player without telling me you are not a tcg player...

[@xXG3TPWNEDXx]

When I first heard about MetaZoo I thought it was cheesy and a knock off of Pokemon. I knew it was dead before it ever took off. At best it was going to have a cult following of low IQ Timmy's hoping to make a quick buck, but not smart enough to realize they were bamboozled and their pockets were emptied... oh wait... too real. 💀

[@enthused7591]

The same people who knew it was always ten thousand times more overhyped than the inherent idea behind the TCG also understand that the MAIN reason it actually died so quickly is because we're going into the worst recession in history. This will make 2008 look mild. Everyone's bills for the first time in modern world economic history have gone up 50+% in 3 years on TOP of new all-time 2020 highs at the peak of a 10-year economic cycle while their incomes are up only 12% on average. The correction in real estate and stocks and spike in unemployment is going to make 2008-2010 look like a walk in the park on a nice Sunday morning.

[@thawhiteazn]

Weird since all of the economic projections I’ve seen have us looking at a “soft landing” where the worst is already behind us.

[@xXG3TPWNEDXx]

Sucking back that copium.

[@DarkLadyMarie]

you know Melee and Brawl were made by the same person & team right? Brawl wasn't "bad" because it was overhyped or lacked passion. they just wanted something different and famously disliked the competitive scene

[@ivanrojas5354]

I don't understand why you bought so many booster boxes of metazoo if you understood the 1 in a trillion chance for the game to be successful

[@rootfish2671]

He fell for the FOMO and is now changing his tune claiming he always knew it would fail. He’s fake AF he can’t even stand by his own words

[@starnorth931]

So many people weighing in on this have no clue what really happened. MetaZoo would be well and thriving right now if it wasn't for one thing, greed. Mike and Andy f'ed this all up. Not saying it would be the biggest thing ever, but it had a solid following and people willing to buy and play contrary to what many think. If it stayed somewhat underground, things would be fine. Also, there is more to this story...

[@G0ATMANJAR0]

HALO 2 FOREVER

[@jessiesaenz-valdez8840]

If metazoo is failed why is cards still selling like hotcakes ya goofy it’s not dying and it’s not a fail trust

[@liluglymane5676]

How many hundreds did you threw at rhe game lol

[@garyis2000]

Why in the world is my picture in the thumbnail lol. I never sold a card and certainly was never invested in MZ. Love collecting all TCG’s though.

[@FranklyCollecting]

I was hyped at the beginning too, Gary. All best for the future.

[@garyis2000]

@@FranklyCollectingTo you too brother:)

[@garyis2000]

It’s kinda like putting me in a thumbnail with the Beatles just because I was a fan with their album and I saw them at the Hollywood Bowl when I was 10yo lol.

[@tysnow9524]

Hey gery why did you lie on nicks live stream are you just clueless? Full of shit maybe both it seems.

[@tysnow9524]

Or that time you said you were going to Vietnam with your wife and mike to hand out metazoo shirts to kids 😂

[@arthurfleck4320]

Metazoo failed because it was never a TCG. It was a social experiment to see if investors alone could sustain a trading card brand. And clearly, the answer was "no". Perhaps Rudy and his flock of neurotypical get rich quick scheming sheeple should think twice when they harass the people who actually play MTG with their toxic "GAME PIECES" meme. Those players that they constantly bully are the only reasons that their investments haven't gone the way of Metazoo.

[@FlyingWalnut]

I wasted $80 on this shit.

[@rootfish2671]

Good god why? The art looks ugly AF

[@glinomarauder2995]

Why not address the whole Gary poke king manipulating everything for years now lol...

[@sirlionheart4614]

Thank the fucking lord. Metazoo finally died.