Quote Originally Posted by n7unleashed View Post
Maybe UD will try something new? I wouldn't be opposed to it. I know there are a lot of good sets they could bring back, but in the first year of a multi-year contract it can't hurts to try and be creative.


Why would they spend the extra time and money to even bother? You're assuming that they care what collectors think. When UD has had competition in the past, it forced them to step-up their game and the collectors benefited from it. With no competition and the arrogance that collectors have given them by continually buying stale products each year, there is no incentive to "get creative" or do something new.

Panini had a chance to strengthen the hobby and while some of their innovations were positive, for the most part, they simply dug the old Pacific/Score play-book out of the garbage and recycled the same old ideas from the 90's. The end-result, an already saturated market, became even more flooded with the same cards that people already owned. Remember when people would give anything for a shield? Does anyone even want a shield given to them today?

ITG is in the same place that they were almost a decade ago and seem content (all-be-it dis-appointed) to carry-on with the same game-plan that they have used over this time. While it satisfies their base, the same people who wouldn't buy ITG products a decade ago, have been given no reason to change their opinion and thus, they are stuck in a zero-sum game. Allot of people view ITG as the "little-guy" in the fight and keep hoping that someday someone within the company will see their situation for what it is; look ahead, look outside the box, give the hobby a giant kick (ie) take the reigns and lead the hobby into the future of collecting. The fact that each year they try and offer a small sample of something new to the hobby, shows that the ideas may be there but the fact that most things stay the same, says that they (like everyone else) doesn't know where the hobby is heading and they don't wish to risk all, in finding that out. Can't blame anyone for not wanting to bet the farm but also can't be overly sympathetic, when the crops don't grow.