Digital collectible card game

A digital collectible card game (DCCG) or online collectible card game (OCCG) is a computer or video game that emulates collectible card games (CCG) and is typically played online or occasionally as a standalone video game. Many DCCGs are types of digital tabletop games and follow traditional card game-style rules, while some DCCGs use alternatives for cards and gameboards, such as icons, dice and avatars. Originally, DCCGs started out as replications of a CCG's physical counterpart, but many DCCGs have foregone a physical version and exclusively release as a video game, such as with ''Hearthstone''.

Gameplay

These games manage all the rules of a CCG, such as tracking the avatar's health, removing damaged creatures from the board, and shuffling decks when necessary. The games are managed on servers to maintain the player's library and any purchases of booster packs and additional cards through either in-game or real-world money. Some games, like ''Chaotic'', ''Bella Sara'', and ''MapleStory'' allow online players to enter a unique alpha-numeric code found on each physical card as to redeem the card in the online version or access other features. In other cases, primarily single player games based on the existing physical property have also been made, such as the Game Boy Color version of the ''Pokémon Trading Card Game'' and '' Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers''.

Most DCCGs follow rules that exist for real-world implementations of CCGs, simply played out in the virtual space. However, some games like ''Hearthstone'' have gameplay elements that would be impractical or impossible to perform in a real-world game but is easily done within the digital game. For example, ''Hearthstone'' has a "Discover" keyword that lets players temporarily obtain cards from across the entire ''Hearthstone'' library for the duration of a match, even if they do not own that card yet.

History

1980s–1990s: Origins

Prior to DCCGs, video games had used both card-based mechanics (such as '' Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu'' in 1988) and collection-based mechanics (such as ''Megami Tensei'' (1987), ''Dragon Quest V'' (1992) and ''Pokémon'' (1996), all based on collecting monsters). The Super Famicom card-battle/role-playing game '' Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu'' (1992), based on the ''Dragon Ball'' Carddass series, is considered an early precursor to the DCCG, as it allowed the player to collect, buy and sell cards within the game for use in card battles.

Tabletop-based CCGs came about in 1993 with ''Magic: The Gathering'' by Wizards of the Coast which became a phenomenon that year in the traditional game market. The CCG craze grew in 1994 onward as a result. This was also approximately the same time that widespread availability of the Internet was beginning. DCCGs evolved out of the ability for CCG players to challenge each other online rather than in person, as well as to provide computerized opponents so that players could play these CCGs by themselves.

The first DCCG games eventually appeared in the late 1990s. Early examples of DCCG games include ''Magic: The Gathering'' (1997), ''Chron X'' (1997), ''Pokémon Trading Card Game'' (1998), ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters'' (1998), and '' Sanctum'' (1998). ''Magic: The Gathering'' and ''Pokémon Trading Card Game'' were based on their physical CCG counterparts, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters'' was based on the fictional CCG from the manga ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' (1996), and ''Chron X'' and ''Sanctum'' were original DCCG games with no physical CCG counterpart.

There have been CCGs developed solely for computer play and not based on any physical product. The first online CCGs were '' Sanctum'' and ''Chron X'', both developed in 1997. ''Sanctum'' was taken offline in 2010, but has since returned due to fan intervention; ''Chron X'' still exists, producing new expansions over a decade later. ''Chron X'' was developed by Genetic Anomalies, Inc, which later developed other DCCG-like games based on licensed content.

2000s: Growth in Japanese market

DCCG games first gained mainstream success in Japan, where online card battle games are a common genre of free-to-play browser games and mobile games. Monster-collecting Japanese RPGs such as ''Dragon Quest V'' and ''Pokémon'', and the manga ''Yu-Gi-Oh'', were adapted into successful physical CCG games such as ''Pokémon Trading Card Game'' and ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game'', which in turn inspired a number of Japanese developers to produce digital CCG games, including adaptations such as ''Pokémon Trading Card Game'' and Yu-Gi-Oh! video games, as well as original DCCG games such as the minigame Triple Triad in ''Final Fantasy VIII'' (1999), ''Tetra Master'' (2002) which debuted as a minigame in ''Final Fantasy IX'' (2000) before becoming an online multiplayer game for the PlayOnline service, and ''Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge'' (2003). Within the United States, Wizards of the Coast had seen the success of games like ''Chron X'' and ''Sanctum'', and initially with the help of a small development firm Leaping Lizard, built out '' Magic: The Gathering Online'' (MTGO), an online multiplayer client for ''Magic'' first released in 2002 which players could spend money and win games to build out card collections. MTGO had a number of growing pains over the years, but remains an active service that is used as one point for entry for several of the main live ''Magic: The Gathering'' tournaments.

In Japan, CCGs that are played on arcade game machines with physical card sets came into vogue in the early 2000s, which provided a boost to arcade profits and have been a mainstay in many game centers since. Arcade games of this type have been developed by companies such as Sega, Square Enix and Taito, and are most commonly of the real-time strategy or sports management genres, with some diversion into action RPGs. Players can purchase starter decks for most games separately, and after each play session, the machines will commonly dispense more cards for players to expand their decks. Examples include ''World Club Champion Football'' (2002), '' Mushiking: The King of Beetles'' (2003), '' Oshare Majo: Love and Berry'' (2004), ''Dinosaur King'' (2005), ''Sangokushi Taisen'' (2005), '' Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road'' (2007), and ''Lord of Vermilion'' (2008).

Related, many video games have adopted CCG-type mechanics as part of a larger gameplay mechanism. In such games, the player earns cards as rewards in the game, often following similar rarity systems for distribution, and can customize some type of deck which influences other areas of the game's mechanics. Early example of this hybrid game include '' Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution'' (2003), '' Baten Kaitos'' (2003), and ''Metal Gear Acid'' (2004). '' Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories'' (2004) was a role-playing game where the combat mechanic was based on attacks pulled from a deck of cards constructed outside of the combat rounds. Similarly, ''Phantom Dust'' (2004) was a third-person shooter, but where the player's attack and defense abilities were randomly selected from a customized "arsenal" of powers that they collected through the course of the game. Other examples of CCG-hybrid games include '' Forced: Showdown'', '' Hand of Fate'', and '' Card Hunter''.

The success of Cygames' ''Rage of Bahamut'' established DCCG games as a popular genre in mobile gaming, leading to a number of DCCG games being developed for mobile devices. It was also the first DCCG game to become a major success in the Western world, becoming one of the top-grossing mobile games of 2012. DCCG games with significant populations of players include ''The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls'', ''Kantai Collection'' and ''Million Arthur''. In late 2012, ''Cinderella Girls'' was earning over one billion yen in revenue monthly, whilst ''Kantai Collection'' has grown to more than one million players throughout Japan.

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