Why no physical Gwent card game?

[Sonny]

Imagine a physical version of Gwent where you can collect cards and build decks akin to Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh! or Pokemon, with each booster containing a rare or better card.

Any idea on why they haven't done that yet, or whether something similar is in the pipeline? I've been dying to play Gwent against a friend around the dinner table since I first played The Witcher 3.

[Eduardo]

there is physical gwent man

[Eduardo]

https://allegro.pl/listing?string=gwint%20gra%20karciana
But that's polish version xD

[Sonny]

Originally posted by Zoltan Chivas:

there is physical gwent man

There's a couple of physical Gwent games on Etsy, too. Would still be nice to have a collectible card game, though!

[Lagrange]

we could once we create cards out of thin air while playing NG

[Phazon]

There are so many unique mechanics in what just what one card can do, a lot of random based mechanics, the ever changing power of cards, leader abilities. There is just so much going on for a card game that doing this on a physical level would become highly tedious and people would get fed up or bored. Gwent works well because of a lot of it is processed on a automatic level. I personally would never want to play this game in-person.

If it was the more simplified version you see in the Witcher games, sure but that would be kinda boring as it comes down to who can create the bigger beat stick.

[Neon Noodles]

I would say its due to how trading card games are monetized.

First, they are primarily marketed towards children. This is because kids lack impulse control and the price range is low enough that they can usually acquire the money on their own or convince parents to indulge them somewhat regularly. This means the game can somewhat regularly turn a profit without too much concern.

Second, they are usually based around a property that repeatedly releases new content in regular intervals which allows for new cards to be made and virtually free mass marketing. Think new seasons of sports or anime. This means the game can regularly retain interest without much concern. An exception for this is MTG, which releases its own original new content, but that's more of an outlier than a standard.

Third, they rely heavily on a favorable supply chain market. In the past, cards, wrappers, etc. have been relatively cheap to produce because they're just cardboard, glue, and paint. This has allowed the first reason to remain true and the second reason to be financially feasible. Since the pandemic, the entire supply chain from production to packaging to shipping has greatly increased costs. This has had a noticeable impact on established card games like Pokemon and MTG, driving the price of individual packs up.

Since the Witcher is primarily marketed towards adults, does not regularly produce new content, and the pandemic is still in effect, it is unlikely they will attempt to enter the physical card game market.