"Gods Legend": From physical cards to digitalization, the team wants to bring Greek mythology to more players | Early project
Text | Xue Dexing
Editor | Liu Shiwu
In recent years, board games have become popular again globally.
According to a report by Statista, it is expected that the global board game market will generate $9 billion in revenue by 2025, and from 2025 to 2029, its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will reach 3.42%. Compared with the global market, the market revenue expectations in the United States are more optimistic, leading the market with approximately $2.869 billion in revenue in 2025.
Meanwhile, in the board game market in the United States, the demand for strategy games from both casual and core players is constantly increasing, and online video games have also become a new growth point for offline board games. The mobile game "MONOPOLY GO!" adapted from the classic board game "MONOPOLY" (Monopoly) has achieved remarkable success.
According to Business of Apps, the digital version of "MONOPOLY GO!" earned more than $135 million in the first four months after its launch in April 2023, and it took less than seven months to achieve a cumulative IAP (in-app purchase) revenue of more than $1 billion, making it one of the fastest mobile games to reach this milestone in history.
Recently, entrepreneur David, whom 36Kr has come into contact with, after conducting market research, hopes to launch and distribute a tabletop card game his team once created, "The Legend of Titans", overseas.
This card game is based on ancient Greek mythology, integrating familiar mythological stories, characters, and weapons in the European and American world. Its gameplay is adapted and innovated based on the framework of the well-known card game "bang!" and the Chinese board game "Sanguosha", and was completed by David and his roommates when they were in college.
"The Legend of Titans" has applied for copyright in the United States in 2012 and completed the design of the card version. In the current version, it contains a total of 40 character cards (Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, etc.), 20 magic cards (Trojan Horse Strategy, Pandora's Box, etc.), and 20 weapon and equipment cards. The first edition includes 20 characters, 10 magics, and 10 weapons; the second edition will be released one year later, adding 10 characters, 5 magics, and 5 weapons, and introducing a maze game that Americans like (based on their feedback during the testing process).
Image Source: "The Legend of Titans"
After completing the design of the card version, David has invited nearly 3,000 people to test the card game, most of whom are Americans, and the rest are from countries around the world, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, South Korea, Malaysia, etc. After the test, more than 70% of the players expressed their intention to purchase and said that the gameplay, character skills, and background are all new to them. "For those with gaming experience, the mode of this game has completely overturned their thinking," David said.
Since then, "The Legend of Titans" has not been officially released or transformed into a video game.
Now, David said: "The story setting of ancient Greek mythology is relatively well-accepted globally, especially by users with a Western cultural background. This is the advantage of our product." He also hopes to have the opportunity to adapt his card game into an online video game. "For players in the European and American world, this card game may be more attractive to them."
Image Source: "The Legend of Titans"
This article was first published on the WeChat public account "36Kr Games".