Bandai Teases a New TCG – Fans Think It’s Naruto
Bandai sent shockwaves through the TCG corners of the internet when the company announced a brand new TCG would be getting its big reveal on June 18, 2026.
Members of the broader Bandai TCG community that includes players of popular titles like the One Piece Card Game, the Gundam Card Game, and UNION ARENA already have a favorite for what this TCG is likely to be: a new Naruto TCG.
Below, let’s discuss the possibilities of Bandai releasing a Naruto TCG, and how big its potential could be were it to be released.
Why a Naruto TCG?
Even had I not seen the rampant buzz online with Bandai fans stating that Naruto was the most likely franchise to be turned into a TCG, my thoughts would have gone that way. Of all the franchises that Bandai is currently involved with, Naruto makes the most sense. Indeed, few other IPs could command an entire TCG built around their world like Naruto.
Like One Piece, Naruto is also one of the acclaimed “Big Three” that helped launch the craze for anime way back in the early 2000s. Other bit anime exist, but those anime are already included in UNION ARENA as sets, making them unlikely options for their own TCG. BLEACH is a relatively expansive IP like Naruto, but it’s already a major UNION ARENA set with a Vol. 3 coming out later this year.
With no other card game equivalent under Bandai’s arm, Naruto feels like the strongest possibility.
Naruto has been made into a TCG before – albeit not a successful one
Like most popular IPs these days, Naruto has at one point been turned into a TCG. Two different attempts at establishing a Naruto TCG come to mind, including one from the earlier 2000s, and a more recent adaptation that was produced overseas. Called Naruto Mythos, this TCG is actually currently available in Europe with a planned expansion to many more countries soon to come including the United States.
Reviews of Naruto Mythos, however, have been mixed, and the game feels more like a casual TCG game where you send your ninjas on missions rather than a typical battle card game that Bandai is so excellent at producing.
And that’s sort of a shame given how complex and interesting the battle system in the Naruto Universe is – one that would lend itself incredibly well to a Bandai TCG.
Bandai already has the Naruto/Boruto License
Naruto is listed as one of Bandai’s “Major IPs”
Given Bandai’s increasing emphasis on the TCG industry (it has cited card games as one of its biggest growth drivers in previous earnings announcements), it almost seems strange that Naruto wouldn’t have been given a TCG – or at the very least an entry into UNION ARENA the way BLEACH has a set.
Indeed, given Bandai’s relationship with the IP (they have it listed as one of their biggest on their website), the fact that it does not have a devoted UNION ARENA set to me makes it seem almost certain that they’ve been saving that particular IP for something else.
Well, Bandai has produced a Naruto card game before…
Then again, maybe I shouldn’t say Bandai hasn’t at least attempted to produce a full-fledged Naruto TCG before. In fact, the Naruto Collectible Card Game (the original Naruto TCG) ran from 2006-2013 – a reasonably decent run for a brand new TCG of that time. For whatever reason, Bandai did choose to discontinue this TCG back then. However, you can’t exactly compare the late 2000/early 2010s TCG market to the insanity we have today.
How successful could a Naruto TCG be today?
Given Naruto has been turned into a TCG before – and by Bandai itself nonetheless – one might wonder how strong its potential in cardboard actually is.
However, as I said above – you can’t really compare the TCG market two decades ago to the one today. The TCG market is much more robust now, with brand new TCGs having breakout success regularly.
Bandai’s own ecosystem of TCG players tends to lend itself to something of a built in audience. Playing any Bandai game at your local card shop you run the odds of seeing someone you know from another game. It’s pretty easy to move between Bandai games as they have familiar features and mechanics.
That being said, the biggest reason a Naruto TCG would do well today isn’t just the robust TCG niche Bandai is rapidly developing. It’s time.
Naruto fans are grown up and ready to spend
I was a HUGE Naruto fan growing up. Watching Naruto fight Pain when I was a teenager made me feel like I could achieve anything if I put my mind to it. Naruto was one of the first big anime shows I got into apart from Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon, and I remember excitedly coming home from school to catch an episode on Toonami.
Many, many of us have the same memories of this franchise. The only thing that’s changed is time has passed. We have the mental energy, and just enough pocket change to pick up a few Naruto products. And given Naruto’s ongoing relevancy via the currently running Boruto anime, the younger generation also has some skin in the game to pick up a shinobi-filled deck and try it out at the local game store.
So to summarize whether or not Naruto can be a success as a TCG in the 2020s – it absolutely can. As One Piece continues to claim its spot in the top TCGs, I would say Naruto has a similar chance of succeeding as that mega popular game.
Player frustrations continue to grow in a tight TCG market
Despite writing incessantly about UNION ARENA – the fantastic anime-based card game from Bandai – I’m actually pretty new to the world of Bandai TCGs. Indeed, I just picked up my first one back at the end of 2024 less than two years ago. I fell in love with the game instantly.
I ran into the same sort of frustrations back then that are surfacing around this news of a brand new card game from Bandai. Yet despite many people telling me that Bandai would probably drop UNION ARENA within a year back when I got into it, today the game is thriving. Card prices are going up healthily, tournaments continue to reach capacity everywhere, and the strategy of releasing regular big IPs into the game is driving growth in a way few other games can replicate.
The TCG market is tight across the board
Frustrations around the handling of card games are hardly a Bandai-only issue. Across the board TCGs are hitting new highs. The Pokémon TCG, for example, is breaking records and becoming so scarce that there’s even news of single, highly anticipated packs going for north of $100. With that in mind, it’s hard to say difficulty managing product availability, issues with scalping, and things of that nature are exclusive to one card game publisher.
And yet, I don’t say this to downplay the real issues players and fans of the TCGs are facing. In fact, right now I have it on my to-do list to put together a UNION ARENA deck and send it to a player that reached out to me because he wasn’t able to find any affordable products in his area (don’t worry kid, I’m gonna get to it).
I am also a player and a fan of Bandai TCGs and have faced the same difficulty in finding products and Rare Battles in my area. And while supply shortages are unfortunately a byproduct of a successful TCG in today’s market, that doesn’t do anything to ease the disappointment experienced by players who just want to have fun building decks or collecting their favorite card game.
Bandai is taking a “go wide” approach to compete with the big publishers. And based on market data, this strategy appears to be working. Not only does it currently publish several of the top trading card games overall in terms of sales, the Toys and Hobby sector (which includes card games and Gundam “Gunpla” model kits) of Bandai’s business is currently the largest.
Bandai's 2026 Revenue By Business Segment
Clearly Bandai is heavily invested in the TCGs they develop. Let’s just hope that investment translates into an increase in product availability for Bandais’ substantial existing player base.
We’re very close to getting the official reveal of whatever Bandai’s newest TCG is going to be. The yet-to-be-announced TCG even has its own X account already. Will it be Naruto? Or will it be something else. Regardless of what it is, Bandai shows to show its commitment to producing more TCGs in an attempt to solidify its place among the top publishers. Lately, it’s been doing this by providing compelling and gorgeous card arts, and a strong place for players to gather and compete and share in their love of TCGs and their favorite IPs.
The challenges we are facing appear to be growing pains and not a lasting condition as the Bandai card game ecosystem continues to grow. Indeed, backed by Bandai, a Naruto TCG feels like it could be a rocket ship like few others. That’s why the fans can’t help but feel like we already know what the news this Thursday is going to be.
