Today is a big day. Today Topps released the first animated/video cards in the digital hobby, which hopefully means the beginning of a new chapter in their apps. With the change in app format to the new build available on Bunt and Skate, it looks like there is finally code available to bring video to the environment. As someone who has called on this for years, this is a welcome change and a very exciting opportunity.
Basically, when pulled from a pack or selected from the sheet, the user has the option to play the video embedded in the card. These cards are called “FOCUS” in Skate, and were delivered free to every user via the store.
In seeing the Crosby card, im nothing short of floored for the way these new cards look and function. They arent clunky, they are seamless in the way they are integrated into the sheet, and hopefully do not require a huge data chunk to store.
Considering that one of the features of the new app style is a reduced storage footprint, maybe this is the opportunity to bring more exclusive content to all apps.
To be honest, there is so much that can be used for this over all of the platforms that Topps owns. I could see Topps NOW being attached to a particular highlight, I can see signature cards that show Mike Trout smashing a home run. This might be the opportunity to finally add more than just digital card collecting to the unique benefits of what Topps Digital is all about.
This is nothing short of a game changer in my mind, as its clear that this could be the start of something huge. The question is how this will progress across the Skate App, and how it will eventually be used in Bunt, Huddle, Kick and SW as well. I would love to see a Stone Cold stunner on my Steve Austin slam card, and a tap out on my UFC cards to boot. Video rights could be more complicated to obtain, which might complicate things. If not, can you imagine a new card released that shows a portion of the next Rogue One trailer? This could go a long way.
Overall, now that Topps has debuted this new format, its going to be interesting what other fun things the new app build will be capable of. Will we finally get our user showcase to show off our wares? Hopefully Focus is just the beginning.
Digital Card Central 
This Video feature is really a big breakthrough for Topps and the feedback on the app was entirely positive. I hope as well that this will be introduced asap to the other apps as Video cards are a unique feature only for the Digital world.
Though I’m a bit disappointed that the resolution doesn’t look that great on a tablet (probably due to the size), with the latest technical upgrade at BUNT and SKATE this over dimensional cards look just awesome and I was extremely surprised how good the resolution of some of the cards, signatures/relics is.
The next “Huge” feature currently only on SKATE is that “greying out” cards with the “New Trade” (All Cards) function. So you can see all cards, but when you want to see a card it’s now in a light grey with a big Topps logo. Although this doesn’t appear to be a big thing, in my opinion this is just huge, because you can only enjoy the card in full size if you really own this card (though it still works when you know someone who has that specific card and try to trade for it). This give’s finally more the impression that you really “own” this version of the Digital card and when CC’s may come a bit lower on Skate, this will increase the demand of having nice cards in your own collection. I hope this will as well find the way into all apps, can’t wait that others can enjoy my 1/1’s only when they go to “My Collection” 😉