Company Profile
Precious duels
Konami enters 2022 off the back of an exceptionally strong 12-month performance for its Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. The year saw record numbers of players participate in online duel events and a slew of impressive new product releases, meaning excitement for the year ahead, and the opportunities it presents, has never been higher. Toy World spoke to Dom Galizia, senior marketing manager at Konami Digital Entertainment, and Adrian Fox, organised play manager, to find out more. Firstly, how did 2021 end up for Konami’s Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG?
Dom: It was a fantastic year for Konami. The Yu-GiOh! TCG performed exceedingly well across the entire year, thanks to unique and hugely popular products like Ghosts From the Past and the Egyptian God Decks, to name just two examples. It’s very clear to me that products like this have been driving our success: the rarity and configuration of the contents have really been diversified thanks to the inclusion of Starlight Rare foil cards, the return of shiny Ghost Rare cards, and Ultimate Rare foil cards making an appearance through Official Tournament Store packs. These different card presentations have become ever more desirable and demand for them continues to grow. There’s a massive element of collectability to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG that fans have increasingly gravitated to across the year.
Can you tell me about Konami’s approach to in-store demos and events? What benefits does this offer, both for Yu-GiOh! fans and stockists?
Adrian: Official Tournament Stores are a fundamental part of how we foster the ever-growing Yu-GiOh! TCG community, providing fans with spaces in which they can come together, play, and discover unique and exclusive
events. We support our Official Tournament Stores by offering them a wide range of exclusive, branded promotional items to assist them with running events and offering demos in-store. This gives our fans a new way to collect accessories featuring all their favourite monsters and themes - things like card sleeves, game mats and deck boxes for storing their cards, for example. And it’s very important to us that players can feel part of a dedicated community, which is why our programmes are designed cater for players of all skill levels.
In 2021, Konami unveiled some very impressive and highly collectible booster packs, special rarity cards and collectible tins. Do these products drive sales among fans? What kind of reactions do you see on social media when these launches are unveiled?
Dom: These products have a major positive impact on our sales and are hugely popular with Yu-Gi-Oh! fans. Our fans are very loyal, and the community is deeply committed. Most fans are hugely invested in the overall brand, which of course encompasses the manga and animated series, digital video games and more, but the Yu-GiOh! TCG is one of the core elements of the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe. Consider the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Masterpiece Series: Platinum Blue-Eyes White Dragon card, which was noticeably well received. We produced a limited but still significant run of this highly desirable, wonderfully produced collector’s item and it sold out in just hours. This card, and others like it, are a great example of the level of passion within our community and the desire among fans to collects as many cards as possible. Ultimately, these products don’t tend to stay in stock very long. We see incredible reactions from our community on social media. Social media has increasingly become the backbone of our marketing strategy,
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particularly throughout 2021. As a space with many platforms and outlets, we use social media to produce a diverse range of engaging content, showcasing the variety of products we have available for our fans to collect and enjoy. We find social media is often where fans head to find out the latest news on the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. More than that, it’s a place where our community can congregate and talk about things in a positive way ahead of and at launch. It’s been an important source of hype and excitement for our products in recent years, especially during months where in-person contact has been limited. Influencers are becoming an increasingly integral part of our marketing and promotional activity. The influencers we work with are those we know to be natural, organic promoters of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, and they are passionate about the brand. Konami has always tried to work as closely with them as possible, so the company can present its products in a positive manner: we invite them in, we talk to them, we provide them with specialist content to reveal, as well as other exclusive opportunities. I can’t understate the importance of digital media. It has played a huge role in our activity over the last year. Naturally, we’re working with influencers who are talking to their audiences via digital platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. It’s important to note that thanks to them, we’ve managed to secure an indirect route to users that allows us to present our products in the best possible way, especially considering we haven’t had the luxury of having direct contact with fans through events over the last year or so.
How does Konami drive momentum in terms of product development, with so many new products rolling out throughout the year?
Dom: The collectability of our products has always been something we’re proud of. It’s safe to
