Konami will never prioritize MD over physical play.

Firstly, physical play is just more fun. The social interaction is a big deal for TCGs.

And secondly, physical play is way more profitable. Master duel probably barely makes money if you consider the upkeep while the TCG rakes in money. The average TCG players spends way more than the average MD player. I’m gonna take myself for example, I have spent about 30$ on master duel when it released but I go to 3 locals per week for a total of 15$. Now the 30$ i spent on master duel is mostly profit because there’s no physical product to manufacture, ship, etc. With the game being about a year and a half old, that comes to about 20$ per year. However, even if konami only gets about let’s say 1$ per tournament i go to (which seems likely) they still make 3$ a week which is 156$ per year. so a single tcg player is worth at least 8 master duel player. And i don’t think that master duel can ever be 10 times as popular as the TCG.

So that’s probably why konami has been pushing to get people into the TCG with duel links, speed duel, rush duel, and master duel.