New Zealand is ranked 37th in the world at present, but this current ranking in Yu-Gi-Oh! Online hides a surprisingly competitive metagame in the regular game.

Part of the overall slump in Oceania participation in Yu-Gi-Oh! Online is likely due to the wrapping up of the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX anime and the lack of a debut on Australian or New Zealand television for Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s, creating a large stretch of time in which the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise is not being promoted in the region.

Contrasting population alone, not the most perfect system but it makes for a good base, New Zealand should be generating some 20% of the TP that Australia does, on average. As of the time of writing, New Zealand generates a mere 8%.

If it is correct to say that both Australia and New Zealand are suffering a recent slump in participation levels stemming from the same cause, then why the large discrepancy in what remains of the online communities there?

While Australia does play host to Konami’s Oceania headquarters, it does not have the same effect of generating interest in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise as it, unlike its counterparts, focuses on coin-op and casino games. Even if this was a large boost in Australia, the close geographical, economical and cultural ties between the two would lead to this effect being replicated, at least in part, in New Zealand, as the other continental headquarters likely do to, say, Canada in North America, Italy, France and Spain in Europe and Korea and Singapore in Asia.

The truth may be, disappointing though it is, that New Zealand is finally settling into a level it can compete at and that New Zealand just does not hold quite the same interest in the online game its larger neighbour does. New Zealand has traditionally been a low TP scorer and actually finished bottom of the world rankings in Season 3 (and would be ranked 58th if they held that amount of TP today).

When New Zealander duelist clickme finished top of the TP rankings for Season 5, it obscured the reality that while not a true one-season wonder (New Zealand earns TP off and on), New Zealand has been punching above its weight class for some time.

In fact, it’s interesting to note that if New Zealand fail to rank in the top 1,000 TP ranked duelists this season, then they will have failed to score in half of the total seasons to date (Seasons 2, 3, 6, 9 and 10). With all these facts spread out, it appears that New Zealand is returning to a more natural station and that even with its recent slump Australia’s status as Oceania’s champion is unlikely to be threatened.