As has been discussed for a number of weeks, Star Wars Card Trader will eventually come to the Android platform. With the launch of that platform will come some large volumes of new users who will have missed out on a number of weeks worth of cards.

Impact

Right now, there are a ton of people who have access to a small pool of insert cards each week, many of which sell out VERY quickly. With an added impact of thousands more, there could be some major change to the insert availability and economy.

Although the Topps team is likely going to consider how all of this is going to go down as they get closer to launch, its clear that the ripples will be felt regardless. This could mean that the game will change considerably to accommodate the growing user base, or things could just end up being that much more competitive.

Value of Sold Out Inserts

Right now, a 1750 count Vintage sells out in less than 30 minutes. These cards are so popular that the store slows to a crawl during the time they are released. If you add another contingent of users, who knows what will happen?

It will also mean that the android users will have missed so many of the previous weekly inserts that value for the big cards may jump so high that they are basically untradeable. Right now, its close to impossible to get your hands on a Vintage Han without mortgaging your house. Now think about 10,000 more people entering the marketplace? Good god.

Same thing goes for any marathon or active set that is still in process during the eventual Android launch.

Potential Scenarios

If Topps were smart, there would be a weekly marathon set starting from scratch around the launch that gives these users access to their own special chase. I would almost make an Android exclusive Vintage set and let them use those cards to trade for the ones they missed. Either way, the biggest cards in the game remain extremely valuable.

If you have noticed, not every insert has a sold out tag, including the Greens and Oranges in some cases. Im curious if a re-release is in order. That could tank value of some of these cards, so look out. It might just be a mistake though.

Similar, I am of the opinion that card counts on the main weekly sets will need to increase significantly. You cannot continue to have 2000-3500  card count sets when so many new users are coming on board. This may mean that the newer inserts are more common, but there will be more fish in the sea to eat them up. Demand shouldnt be as impacted. This is something to be toyed with, and my advice would be to start high and bring it down until the balance is reached.

Servers will also need to be able to take on the added stress, as mentioned above things get very slow upon the release of certain cards.

Im sure there will be a million new issues that pop up as soon as the app ports to Android, but its going to be big. I think its worth preparing ourselves now for what might happen as soon as the launch is imminent.