Will Disney’s new project be completed after this lawsuit?

There’s a lawsuit surrounding one of Disney’s new projects. Take a look at what’s happening and let us know your thoughts.

Disney’s Lorcana Game

Disney is a major player in theme parks, streaming television, and major motion pictures, but we haven’t seen any Disney cards since Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. However, this game was solely played inside Disney’s Magic Kingdom theme park. Disney plans to compete now with Magic: The Gathering and the Pokémon Trading Card Game with its new Lorcana trading card game. Take a look at the introductory cards released at the last D23 EXPO HERE.

“The basic idea is there’s this place called The Great Illuminary,” said brand manager Ryan Miller, a veteran of Wizards of the Coast who also helped design the gameplay of Disney Lorcana. “It is a treasury of all the Disney songs and stories ever made — all the characters — and it’s where they’re kind of recorded. The players take on this role of an Illumineer — this powerful sorcerer that has the ability to bring these characters to life off the page. [Players will be] bringing a band of their favorite Disney characters together to adventure in this world.”

Lawsuit

Recently, Upper Deck filed suit against Ravensburger and a previous Upper Deck game designer regarding the Disney Lorcana card game. Upper Deck alleges that former designer Ryan Miller copied Upper Deck’s original game, and then alleges that Ravensburger repackaged and marketed that game as Disney Lorcana.

The official complaint states that Miller worked with Upper Deck on a game called Rush of Ikorr, and after a year and a half left the project to work with Ravensburger. Upper Deck alleges that his work product on Rush of Ikorr was transported to Lorcana.

“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,” said Upper Deck president Jason Pasherah in a press release.

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.

Jason Masherah, Upper Deck President

Response

Lisa Krueger, Sr. Communications Director at Ravensburger North America, has issued the following statement about the lawsuit:

“We at Ravensburger stand behind the integrity of our team and the originality of our products. The baseless claims filed this week are entirely without merit, and we look forward to proving this in due time. In the meantime, our focus continues to be on developing and launching a fantastic game in August.“

Do you think this lawsuit has merit? Please let us know in the comments and share this post with a friend to continue to conversation.

Source: boardgamegeek.com