Wednesday January 15, 2014


Enterplay’s My Little Pony CCG has gotten a big response from all channels, according to Enterplay President Dean Irwin, but the majority of sales are going to the hobby channel. “It’s a gamer’s game so I think it’s fair to say that a majority of the purchasers are going to be 14-24 year old guys, just like with most games,” Irwin said.

Irwin backed that up with consumer demographics and channel information. The demographics come from the company’s Facebook likes, which Irwin said are 65% male between 13 and 34. The sales by channel are also showing an older bent, with hobby outselling mass. “Historically, Enterplay was 95-98% mass,” Irwin said. “On this product, the majority of the business looks like it’s going to be hobby.”

Hobby reacted quicker when the product came out of the gate strong, Irwin told us, with all of his hobby accounts reordering the first week, and mass accounts reordering the second. At this point, “We don’t have an account that hasn’t reordered multiple times,” he said.

Characterizing the response as “phenomenal,” Irwin said that the company had sold out of the Premiere Edition 2-Player Starter Set product on the first shipment, despite printing 2X the preorders at the time the print run was set. Reorders were filled on Theme Decks and Boosters, but those are also now out of stock at the publisher level.

Enterplay is going back to press with a new printing of all of the MLP CCG SKUs, including the two Premiere Theme Decks, Boosters, and 2-Player Starters. All will be available in mid- to late February. Reprinted cards will omit the “alpha” mark in the trademark line, differentiating them from the first printing, Irwin said.

OP Kit 2 Promo Card

On the organized play front, Enterplay is readying its second kit, after retailers wiped out 2500 kits with the first shipment of the first kits, each of which had enough promo cards for eight players. “Pinkie Pie” and “Gotta Run Fast,” the special cards from the second Organized Play Kit, are reproduced here.

Enterplay is expecting to roll out its tournament program, with online posting of results, sometime in Q1.

Enterplay also produces the My Little Pony Trading Cards, for which a third series is due out this summer. The trading cards are stronger in mass than in hobby, the reverse of the situation that is developing with the game, Irwin told us. Dog tags, for which a binder is planned, are also doing well in the mass channel.

Pre-launches for the My Little Pony CCG will be held January 25-26 the UK, Australia, and Germany; Canadian launch was simultaneous with the U.S.