In new interviews, Ravensburger North America CEO Stephane Madi, Ravensburger’s global head of games Filip Francke, and Disney Lorcana co-designer Ryan Miller revealed more about the Disney Lorcana release plan following The First Chapter.
The Next Decade of Disney Lorcana
Madi spoke to ICv2 at Gen Con 2023 about the game and release strategy. Madi called Disney Lorcana’s gameplay “accessible” to Disney fans but still “deep enough” for game enthusiasts to enjoy. He said game enthusiasts are the “tip of the pyramid” when it comes to Ravensburger’s target audience for Disney Lorcana, followed by Disney collectors and families.
ICv2 asked how many Disney Lorcana releases Ravensburger is planning for each year and Madi described a quarterly launch plan. So far, Ravensburger has released Disney Lorcana: The First Chapter at Gen Con and local game stores. It will be widely released on September 1.
Francke told the Los Angeles Times that Ravensburger has a 10+ year road map for Lorcana.
Miller, a life-long fan of trading card games, also spoke to the Times about his history and the story of Disney Lorcana, which has cards inspired by Disney characters, objects, and songs.
“Card games have a level of abstraction,” Miller said of the medium.
You can feel a story kind of unfolding. In Lorcana, one of my favorite mechanics is the song mechanic. You can have one of your characters sing for you. It’s a great example of how cards can show you a little scene that’s happening. When two characters challenge each other, I like to think that maybe they’re not fighting; maybe they’re just arguing. The nice thing about that abstraction is that instead of telling the player, ‘Here is what is happening,’ they get to bridge that gap.
Miller loved Magic: The Gathering as a child and later worked for Magic’s parent company, Wizards of the Coast. James Zahn, editor-in-chief of the Toy Book, said Lorcana is poised to join Magic and Pokémon at the top of the pack.
“Quite simply, the launch of Disney Lorcana is the largest, most buzzed-about customizable trading card game launch that we’ve seen in several years,” Zahn told the LA Times.
Lorcana has the opportunity to connect with players who are familiar with that type of customizable gameplay, but also attract this entirely untapped fandom of Disney enthusiasts.
Creating a game that appealed to pre-existing TCG players and Disney fans took a long time, according to Miller.
If we innovate the trading card game rules, the trading card gamers get super jazzed about that, but we risk alienating folks who have never played a trading card game before. If we go way too safe, we risk the other thing, where the trading card gamers say, ‘This isn’t for me.’ I think the reason it took so long to get where we got was that specific target we were trying to hit — to do something that we feel is welcoming and strategically exciting for trading card gamers.
Are you excited about Lorcana? Is this a trading card game you could see yourself invested in over the course of several years? Let us know in the comments.
Read more about recent Disney Lorcana developments below, including details on its launch:
- New Disney Lorcana Story Trailer Released as Game Hits Specialty Store Shelves
- Disney Lorcana Was Not Released at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, Disappointing Guests
- VIDEO: Learn to Play Disney Lorcana with WDWNT
- Disney Lorcana Reveals Secret Sixth ‘Enchanted’ Rarity
- Full List of Disney Lorcana Cards Revealed with App Launch
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