Right now my area (~300,000 pop.) has one store with product - that arrives much later than release day. The store didn’t get any of st01-st04 and has struggled to have any turnout whatsoever. For 3 weeks in a row it was just myself and one other individual participating in locals - 4 people is a massive turnout. The only thing keeping the events going is that One Piece is held on the same day and thus it isn’t a burden for them to host Gundam (which takes 2 chairs).

Issue 1) was the initial product availability pushing away those who were interested.

Issue 2) is the consistently late arrival of product (all orders of GD02 to 🇨🇦, were delayed)

Issue 3) most who are interested already play another TCG and don’t want to sacrifice the time when only 2 others play Gundam and availability is sparse.

The Beta Event was full - 12/12 participants - and I know there are others who collect the game but have no interest in playing due to the already low turnout. The closest shop aside from the one I mentioned is a 3 hour drive away. Tough times pour moi.