>>57196442
>one of the oldest and well supported ongoing esports
>It's been around since the 90s

not as an esport
There were a couple of unserious tournaments in RBY to test the waters, and then the Video Game Showdown in 2008 that was the prelude to Worlds
TPC only really turned an eye on competitive into the 2010s, and they have been shit at it for the longest
Now there's big money in the VGC circuit but organization still looks amateurish, and all this time it's been more of a parasitic twin for the TCG circuit
And I haven't started discussing how shit the circuit is outside US and EU, even in Japan of all places they hate their structure which is very different to the West. And then on a whim, SEA countries who alway ran under the Western system were moved to shittier versions of the JP circuit
Also people still question whether it counts as an esport because of stuff like hax

I see lots of people in the grassroots wanting to do things well but lacking the tools for that, hands tied by the rules and decisions from above etc. Because they're "volunteers" judges are paid with TCG merchandise they have to sell later which makes it a nuisance for anyone not already a store owner. Oh and they have a culture of being fucking untransparent and withholding info for the sake of it. I've lost count on how many times players only learned stuff we should know because a kind judge discreetly leaked it. It's a miracle they revealed the dates and locations for 2025 and 2026 so quickly because 2024 was like 3 months in advance to plan a trip as long and expensive as Hawaii.

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Gamefreak really said fuck everyone who isn't a VGC player or a shiny hunter