Ravensburger NA CEO Addresses Disney Lorcana Scarcity as Launch Date Approaches

Ravensburger NA’s CEO is responding to reports of allocation and scarcity ahead of the launch of Disney Lorcana this week. At Gen Con, ComicBook.com had the chance to speak with Ravensburger NA CEO Stephane Madi ahead of the launch of Disney Lorcana. During the conversation, Madi was asked about the strong demand for the new game and especially how the company was dealing with allocating product ahead of the lead-up. Madi noted that there was a lot of speculation about Ravensburger NA’s approach, but that the company was taking steps to focus on hobby stores and especially OP play. 

“There’s been a lot of speculation along the way,” Madi said. “I’ve been in meetings where I realized how much the speculation has affected some people because it’s gone really far. And a lot of our fans and retail partners are looking for firm answers. And so, there’s a lot of confusion out there. We’ve tried to clarify it and we continue to clarify it. We have prioritized the hobby trade in our allocation. We have prioritized particularly OP play. We believe that there will be product to experience, to play, and to go around. There is going to be scarcity in the first set. That’s, I think, a given. You can see from the scale of the demand. This is a very difficult category to plan for and to forecast.”

Demand for Disney Lorcana has been high since the game was first announced a year ago, when D23 promo cards started selling for thousands of dollars online. And Madi said that Ravensburger has responded to that demand using every measure they can to make sure players have product they can play at the outset. “We’ve taken every measure we can within our control, whatever levers are in our control, we have made those decisions,” Madi said. “Whether it is controlling the online trade policies, prioritizing OP play and allocation, minimizing our channel distribution strategy in the early stages, focusing on the core channel and our core hobby game TCG player. We’ve done all that. These decisions are going to yield a result. And of course, we wish we could fill every unit of demand. That’s where we’re at today. But there’s been a lot of confusion.”

Madi said that a lot of the speculation started before any final decisions were made about how product would be allocated. “In the early days, [we heard] a lot of opinions such as there won’t be enough product, or you’re going to get this much in percentage, or you’re going to get that many boxes per store,” Madi said. “And all of that was just pure speculation. We’ve only made some of our final decisions very recently. And so, a lot of what we’ve been hearing for the last eight months, six months, a lot of that has been a lot of speculation. And unfortunately, some of these opinions and ideas went a little too far. Most of our decisions have been made in the last few weeks and we’re launching in two.”

When asked if Ravensburger NA would continue to respond to the high demand for Disney Lorcana, Madi said that things will certainly improve over time. “Oh, absolutely,” Madi said. “I mean, this is a brand that’s going to have quarterly releases. It’s not something that is going to be scarce in its availability to play and to experience, definitely not. And we intend to increase our supply to match demand to a higher level. Over time, it’s going to progressively grow. And so that’s definitely something that consumers and retailers can expect.”

Disney Lorcana will officially launch on August 18th at game stores.