Update June 6 9:52pm CT: A representative for Upper Deck reached out to We Got This Covered to clarify that the company is suing Ravensburger, the company desigining Lorcana, and not Disney. We have updated the article to reflect as much. We regret the error.
Disney’s upcoming trading card game, Lorcana, has encountered legal trouble, and it hasn’t even been released yet. Another trading card company has filed a lawsuit against Ravensburger, the company designing the House of Mouse’s new game. It claims that Lorcana is “nearly identical” to its own upcoming trading card game.
Lorcana was first announced in Aug. 2022, and the first sets of Disney’s family-friendly TCG were sold during the 2022 D23 convention. The game allows players to summon their favorite Disney characters from various IPs, each with unique abilities to help the player win the game.
The Upper Deck Company has submitted a 19-page complaint to the Californian courts, alleging that Lorcana‘s co-designer, Ryan Miller, designed a similar game for them. According to Polygon, the game in question, called Rush of Ikorr, ironically, has not been released either. The document claims that Miller has been involved with Rush of Ikorr‘s development since 2018 when he was invited to contribute to its brainstorming phase. By 2019, he held the title of lead game designer under contract until 2020.
“Looking to make its next hit TCG, Upper Deck held a Gaming Summit from December 15 through December 16, 2018. Upper Deck invited and paid expenses for several game designers, including Miller, to visit Upper Deck’s Carlsbad office with the specific purpose of aiding Upper Deck in the creation, brainstorm, and collaboration of a new and novel TCG.
“Like the other game designers who accepted their invitation to the Gaming Summit, Miller entered into a 2018 Upper Deck Gaming Summit Agreement (“Summit Agreement”). In exchange for the compensation he would receive, the Summit Agreement called for Miller to contribute ideas and feedback relating to the design and creation of new games and game mechanics that Upper Deck would own and hold all rights to use.”
The complaint contains details about Rush of Ikorr, including its rules, mechanics, and card types. The game has players take on the roles of Gods inspired by ancient cultures. The document alleges that not only does Disney’s Lorcana share a similar gameplay duration, but it also features “similar win conditions” and game mechanics.
Based on what’s said in the document it seems possible that the similarities between the two games may be coincidental. However, without access to both Lorcana and Rush of Ikorr, it is difficult to determine whether Disney has infringed upon someone else’s intellectual property.
Upper Deck President, Jason Masherah released a statement to Polygon and said the company isn’t against competition. However, Upper Deck’s leadership wants to protect its and its licensor’s IP and wants the gaming community to “benefit from the different creative choices” made by each TCG manufacturer.
“We invested significant time and resources to develop a new and novel trading card game. Our current leadership values the importance of protecting intellectual property of both Upper Deck and its licensors. We encourage competition in the industry but also strongly believe in playing by the rules to ensure the gaming community benefits from the different creative choices by each manufacturer.”
Neither The Walt Disney Company, nor Lorcana’s manufacturer, Ravensburger commented on the lawsuit, nor did any of them announce delays for the respective releases. Disney’s Lorcana is scheduled to come out in Aug. 2023.