TCG Card Shop Simulator leaves early access after two years
OPNeon Games has pushed TCG Card Shop Simulator out of Steam Early Access, with the card-shop tycoon hitting 1.0 on 14 September and close to 50,000 player reviews behind it.
TCG Card Shop Simulator has left Steam Early Access. The card-shop tycoon reached version 1.0 on 14 September 2026, a little under two years after it first appeared on Valve’s storefront on 15 September 2024.
The update finally adds a playable build of Tetramon, the trading card game players have been buying, cracking and shelving inside the shop since launch. The developer also says model and memory usage have been optimised for 1.0, which should mean smoother performance and fewer bugs than the early access builds.
Your old save still works
Saves from version 0.70 carry over, so shopkeepers do not need to start again. Cross-save between consoles and Steam is still unavailable, and the playable Tetramon mode is a single-player affair played against computer opponents, with no multiplayer planned for the near future.
A side project that sold 100,000 copies in three days
Writing in the 1.0 announcement, developer Ding Shen Sia of OPNeon Games explained that the game grew out of burnout with solo mobile development and a simple wish: to open an endless supply of trading card packs without paying for them. The early access launch arrived a month ahead of his own plan, and he had hoped it might sell 100,000 copies within a year. It managed that in three days.
The audience has kept growing. Steam’s own review tally now shows just under 50,000 player reviews with an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating, with roughly 47,986 of 49,750 reviews recommending the game. Remaining roadmap features that were too large for 1.0, such as the playable card game’s deeper modes, will follow in later updates.
Our opinion
There is something quietly pleasing about a game whose founding ambition was simply to let people open packs without a credit card feeling the pinch. TCG Card Shop Simulator reads the hobby honestly: the thrill is in the crack of foil, the hunt for a chase card and the slow accumulation of a shelf that finally looks respectable. Two years of early access and a 1.0 that arrives with a working card game rather than a shinier shop counter is a respectable way to close the loop — and leaving the remaining roadmap promises for later updates is more honest than pretending 1.0 is the end of the road.