People think the TCG is irrelevant due to it not being as competitive as MTG.
Surprisingly enough, they gain millions of dollars per set (four released a year) by spending very little. The game is more fun than I originally expected, and have found myself to replace MTG with it. Pokemon is not only cheaper, but it's simpler and easier to teach to friends.
Edit: Let us do some math.
The figure says 21.5 billion cards have been made. Assuming every pack has 10 cards and sold for retail price (four dollars and nineteen cents), we can calculate the value.
21,500,000,000/10= 2,150,000,000 packs
2,150,000,000*4.19= $9,008,500,000
This means that over the span of twenty years, 2.15 billion packs have been made, with a total revenue of approximately $9 billion dollars. This isn't even including special products, sleeves, playmats, etc.
