Yu-Gi-Oh! Online International

International news and rankings in Yu-Gi-Oh! Online

Germany’s Rise Unthreatened

Posted on | July 5, 2009 | No Comments

germanyGermany are the second highest ranked Yu-Gi-Oh! Online playing nation in the world and also lead Europe by a considerable margin. YGO Online International analyses the reasons behind Germany’s dominance on the world stage.

Ever since even the earliest days of Yu-Gi-Oh! Online, Germany has been 2nd in these world rankings. Although some distance away from their immediate leaders, Japan, Germany is also only the second nation which regularly breaks 1,000,000 TP at the end of season tournament rankings (It has achieved this milestone every season since Season 4).

Germany is also one the very few nations that features prominently in Konami’s seasonal YOC Championships. Whereas Konami may try and stimulate their irregular Japan versus Korea series as the battle of titans in Yu-Gi-Oh! Online, it is clear that if any nation can act as a counterbalance to Japan, it is Germany.

But why Germany? Why not France or Britain or Italy or Spain or any other large western European nation? For that, we need to look outside of the online game and into its forbearer, the Yu-Gi-Oh! animé.

Although today the United States is the second largest animé market after Japan itself, it is western continental Europe which was first to embrace anime culture outside of its homeland, particularly France and Germany. Yu-Gi-Oh! is (was) a manga whose popularity kick-started a Japanese anime, whose popularity kick-started a card game, whose popularity eventually led to this; Yu-Gi-Oh! Online.

The entire basis of Yu-Gi-Oh! Online lies on the popularity of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and, to a wider extent, on the popularity of anime in general. The relatively recent emergence of the United States as a leading market to anime may actually have helped Germany’s abilities in terms of Yu-Gi-Oh! Online. As the English speaking anime market is diluted by more and more products, potential online duelists are lost to other interests whereas a German market not quite so under bombardment from constant new series will inevitably lead to a greater percentage of potential duelists sticking to their anime franchise of choice.

It is likely this large variety of choice that allows Germany to keep so far ahead of the United States as well as the United Kingdom. Its large population also serves to keep it ahead of other European nations which may potentially benefit from this situation, such as Italy, France and Spain.

But while this alone explains the number of duelists from European nations participating in Yu-Gi-Oh! Online, it does not fully explain Germany’s own dominance in the game.

This is partly explained by Konami’s own strong presence in the nation. Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH (formerly Konami of Europe) is based in the nation and it is the centre of Konami’s presence in Europe. The other two major offices are located in the United States and Japan, the three not-so-coincidentally forming the top three in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Online world rankings.

As the centre of the manufacture and distribution of the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, in all its forms, in Europe, Germany holds a rare advantage that combined with the wider trends of the international anime market gift it with the potential to rate so highly on the international scene.

With such corporate powers behind the (entirely unintended) backbone of their regional strength, Germany, as well as Japan and the United States, are here to stay as the ring leaders of Yu-Gi-Oh! Online as a world game.

Category: Europe, Germany

Comments

Leave a Reply





  • News in Brief (August 16)

    • In and Out New Zealand plummet from 36th to 52nd as their lone representative drops out of the TP rankings. The once powerful Oceanic nation now looks a spent force in the online game.
    • Rise of Empire Great Britain (5th) is now only 3,271 TP behind 4th placed Italy. If Britain can overtake by season's end, it will mark the first time they've reached 4th since Season 7 around this time last year.
    • Seychelles Smashers The mercenaries of Seychelles continue their rise, reaching 12th this week, just 508 TP behind 11th placed Australia. The pressure is now on Australia to maintain their renaissance since Season 9.
    • Seventh Heaven The total accumulated TP spluttered across the 7 million mark this week with 7,252,670 TP being recorded. Accumulation rates have slowed dramatically and it is likely we will end the season with a TP recession.
    • Point Droppers United States (-3,698), Greece (-2,006), Gaza Strip (-4,098), Albania (-4,706) and New Zealand (-4,758) all dropped TP since last week.