Rudy Ng of Tsuburaya Productions on the Ultraman Card Game—a Product Almost 60 Years in the Making

12th November 2024 EDT FEATURES

Rudy Ng of Tsuburaya Productions on the Ultraman Card Game—a Product Almost 60 Years in the Making

"Ultimately, we want to embody and inspire the core values of Ultraman—courage, hope, and kindness—in everything we do. We seek to communicate these values at all times and be a light amidst a difficult world by inspiring people to be like Ultraman."

Rudy Ng of Tsuburaya Productions on the Ultraman Card Game—a Product Almost 60 Years in the Making

The Ultraman Card Game launched globally on 25 October 2024. It’s the first-ever Ultraman TCG product, debuting nearly 60 years after the inception of the Ultraman franchise.

We spoke to Rudy Ng, the Vice President of Tsuburaya Productions, to learn more about everything that went into making the newest entry into the TCG world a reality.

Ultraman has been around since 1966. Why did you choose to wait until now to turn it into a TCG?

There’s been a resurgence in the TCG industry of late, especially with some other more famous brands showing a major increase in popularity. We wanted people to be able to enjoy Ultraman in a new way – to make people feel like they’re part of the game, part of the story. They can feel like they’re the protagonist by building their own deck of 50 cards. They can even choose which characters they most resonate with and deploy them accordingly—be they the kaiju or the Ultraman characters.

Plus, with the recent success of the Ultraman series on Netflix, it made sense for this to be the next step.

Why do you believe that Ultraman has the potential to succeed as a TCG?

With TCGs, people look for good gameplay first—which we have. It’s just as good if not better than those of other TCGs. Some of the things we have that set us apart include simultaneous turns which not many other TCGs have, as well as the game duration of 10-15 minutes instead of the usual 20-30 minutes.

But even more important than that, we have lots of content to work with. Our TCG is just one way for people to connect with Ultraman and eventually get sucked into its universe. In fact, one of my goals is to invite a person in the actual Ultraman costume to an Ultraman Card Game tournament to officially open the tournament. So it’ll be as if the same version of Ultraman that people see on TV is right in front of them, right there.

We can even tie the TCG into live shows, meet-and-greets, movies, and so much more. This was proven by the success of Ultraman: Rising, a Netflix movie which has impressed people across many demographics—everyone from young children to grandparents.

Unlike most other Japanese TCGs, you’ve chosen to debut the Ultraman Card Game in Japanese and in English simultaneously. Why have you taken this step?

Well, you can consider how we launched Ultraman: Rising—in multiple languages simultaneously as well because it’s a worldwide, international brand. There’s no reason why we should’ve launched the TCG in Japanese first to test the market and only in English later after seeing its success in Japanese. We want to launch it in four different languages (Japanese, English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese) because we have fans all around the world.

Another reason why we don’t want it to be in Japanese first is because doing so would cause upcoming booster packs in other languages to be delayed. Finally, releasing it in multiple languages simultaneously allows us to reach out to players and fans all over the world at once.

What influence would you say that the TCG markets of Japan and Asia-Pacific have on that of the West and vice versa, and how would you expect these cross-regional influences to develop in the future?

Japan has had a strong TCG culture for a long time, and this soon spread to Southeast Asia because of the impact that Japanese pop culture has had here. So we’re not all that far behind Japan. Then, in America, Magic: the Gathering started in 1993, and it’s since had a big influence everywhere.

I would say that another way that the Asian and Western TCG markets influence each other is in styles of gameplay. Since over the years, different TCG franchises became popular in each of the regions, the gameplay styles developed in each TCG franchise and each region began to blend over the years and resulted in what we have today.

In an ever-growing and ever-splintering global pop culture scene, would you say that the Ultraman Card Game is a viable way for the Ultraman franchise to retain the pop culture cachet that it had 20, 30, or even 50 years ago?

I do think it’s a good way to do so because whenever we have new Ultraman products out such as a TV series or movie, we promote them as much as we can including within the TCG, and in the TCG we have the opportunity to bring back the classic Ultraman characters from the 1960s to 80s as well. So that makes the TCG truly multi-generational. The mechanics are also easy to understand; however, there’s still depth and complexity.

We deliberately made the Ultraman Card Game easy to learn but difficult to master because this way, people of all ages and generations could play it together. Because it doesn’t require too much thinking, it’s easier for people to bond over it. That’s very important to us, especially because Ultraman has been around since 1966. It’s very heartwarming for us to see children connect with their parents and grandparents over the same Ultraman franchise.

What would it take for you to regard the Ultraman Card Game as a success?

Seeing a wide range of people taking part in our events. The more people, the better. I want to again stress the multi-generational aspect because it’s truly a heartwarming thing to see. To be able to connect with one’s family over Ultraman at an Ultraman event—whether the event has to do with the Ultraman Card Game or a live show or a meet-and-greet or anything else—that would define success for us.

On that note, when we start holding tournaments, we plan to include an under-12 division as well in which parents can bring their kids who take part and support them from the sidelines. Then, in the open category, we hope to see a wide age range among the competitors.

We want our events to feel like a true Ultraman experience. We have so many fantastic fans out there and just want to make sure that they have a good experience at each event. That’s another way for us to regard the Ultraman Card Game as a success.

On a personal level, what’s your experience with the world of TCG?

I started out with Magic: the Gathering as a child but eventually stopped until I was 27 and working at another company which was involved with TCGs as well. This revived my interest because of the exposure to all the different types of TCGs and their respective gameplay styles and so on. I actually didn’t expect the TCG fanbase to be as large as it was, especially because as someone who studied computer science, I always assumed that the TCG industry was a sunset industry.

However, what TCGs do have over digital games is the human connection—just look at the social impacts of the COVID-19 lockdowns, for example. Think about what happens in the final stages of a TCG tournament when all eyes are on the last few players left standing and the sheer hype that ensues. Many people assume that e-sports are more like that; however, it was really an eye-opener for me when I saw that when running TCG tournaments with my previous company—and that’s something that I really love seeing.

It really is true that TCG cards can change a person’s life—after all, some cards can go for thousands of dollars and set up the owner for years and maybe even for life.

Do you have any favorite cards from other TCG franchises that you either own or are pursuing? If yes, which ones and from what franchises?

My favorite card is the Nicol Bolas card from Magic: the Gathering which depicts one of the Elder Dragons because of the massive impact that its effect has on the opponent. It forces the opponent to discard every card in hand.

What’s next for Tsuburaya Productions besides the Ultraman Card Game?

We’ll be working on Ultraman live shows as well as more merchandise in collaboration with our licensors. Ultimately, we want to embody and inspire the core values of Ultraman—courage, hope, and kindness—in everything we do. We seek to communicate these values at all times and be a light amidst a difficult world by inspiring people to be like Ultraman.