Pixelborn is Dead: what happens to Disney Lorcana?

[@StevenMJohnson34]

"The game is only truly competitive when it is accessible" That's a great line and a wonderful argument to throw out here. I'm truly hoping that they have an official app on the way.

[@xxMrBlondex]

Even without pixelborn, good cards remain expensive. Definitely messes with game testing and player's building strategies. Sad day for lorcana. But it's a luxury card game, not a competitive athletic sport.

[@captaintoad89]

The sad reality is i will just play alot less lorcana now than i was. I always attended my local every saturday but i loved the game and played every day on pixelborn. I can already feel my interest slipping away when im limited to playing once a week for three hours when other games have online clients.

[@501stGamingrocks]

This was a really well put together video, and I liked how inclusive you tried to be of everyone even including immunocompromised, and anxiety problems in the world.

[@Y0j1mbr0]

Fall into the social anxiety category, so this one hurts. Always depressed I can't go to local store or join my mates when they go to tournaments. Was my only way of playing with them and others. Well articulated as always and completely understand their reasons for doing so, just can't help but be sad. Will continue to enjoy your content of course, keep up the good work.

[@AlphosNZ]

Really sorry to hear that :( I hope they come out with their own client soon!

[@Cymru2k2]

man such a shame but was always due to happen and surprised Disney took as long as they did and am grateful for the time we had pixelborn. I 100 percent cant wait for more content from you, and will defiantly be looking into ways I can play online via cam from my desk. You made some brilliant points, I don't blame RB at all and cant really fault Disney they cant pick and choose how they protect there Ip's which this is one of, we should all be thankful for the time we had access in this manor and look forward to what's ahead.

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

exactly. We were there! The opportunity of a lifetime! To quote How i met your mother - the TV show : Let me tell you Ted mosby... and when those young women scream through a car roof "WHAT IS UP NEW YORK?" We will be "What is up new york". Barney Stinson out. end quote

[@Kovu1224]

I personally was purchasing the cards aswell as playing pixelborn to test out the different ink combinations and how they play, also this let me test my deck before LGS store events...

[@robertcusick9931]

Just to add about the accessibility for testing, Just proxy for testing! You only need real cards for actual tournaments.

[@Samw1seGamegee]

I haven’t played Lorcana since playing second at my LGS, winning the card and playmat in my first ever TCG Tournament. I placed that high because I played weekly at my LGS *and* played a bunch of different decks to try to learn the ins and outs of the big ideas and strategies. I’m playing in the Ursula tournament this Sunday. Same amount of people. But I have had a busy summer. I haven’t played any local Lorcana due to my schedule. So, I have zero reps and feel super unprepared to play. I know I will still have fun. My 9 year old daughter is playing in it, too. So that will be exciting. But I wish I could have built her deck and coached her some on pixelborn, to give her the best shot at playing her best. Anyways. I miss Pixelborn. I hope an online client is released soon. It really did boost the game for me.

[@timknauer8906]

You made some really well-considered points. Personally, playing on Pixelborn has never stopped me from buying cards and testing cards before you buy them can be crucial. It has been a nice way of getting more games in than the weekly local had to offer.

[@Meet_Pro_Newb]

this is sad. I just got pixelborn like a week ago and learned about lorcana... I have made a deck but like you said I cant afford to buy it... its like 400$ USD for 60 cards 5-0 so far with it though.... maybe one day I can get the cards.

[@HummingbirdDesignLab]

Thank you so much for making this video. Your pros and cons were very well laid out and although I’m very sad to see Pixelborn go away, your comments helped me understand why Disney would do this. I am very sad for Pavel. I know he has worked very hard on this, and the TCG would not be where it is today without all his efforts. I am also sad for my favorite content creators, such as yourself that used Pixelborn in most of their videos. It has really helped me understand the meta-and gameplay and how to be a better player. ❤😢

[@brandons7931]

I think an appropriate approach to manage the accessibility vs maintenance cost for an online client for Lorcana would be either structuring a monthly subscription service for access to all cards or per-set purchase price. The ladder offers a revenue service every 3-4 months or so with set releases, but likely would atrophy over time faster than the former for various reasons. I think key is whatever the decision is, full catalog card access will be key to maintain a competitive scene.

[@chrisakright4105]

Maybe they are developing their own official app… I think they would certainly benefit from doing so, and I would be surprised if they haven’t already been considering this. Regardless, great job! It was an extremely thoughtful and considerate video!!

[@FerytaleX3]

I can see a lot more different decks being played at the challenges. And a lot more chances for those who didnt get to try through pixelborn. Also it encourages to visit the local stores for game nights, which i did both a lot. But still the card prices were a big problem. These could possibly go down now too

[@Kovu1224]

Disney and Ravensburger should have hired whomever was behind Pixelborn and perhaps Disney and Ravensburger could have licensed this software officially.

[@ktoff]

Honest opinion and no shade to people who played primarily on pixelborn, but Ravensburger/disney was probably losing money from having pixelborn in existence. Alphos goes on to mention that even card games that do have online clients don’t have all the cards there for free. We were fortunate enough/spoiled to have pixelborn for as long as we did. Having it gone will force players to go to the store more and play or form playgroups/teams to have more regular irl practice ( for the more competitively minded).

[@TheGamerAmine]

i'm sorry Alphos but i think you're wrong, we playing 10 gamees per day with pixelborn, most of people will not go to store weekend to find a game or 2 a week.

[@TheGamerAmine]

not mentioning plying to the same persons every week

[@teamkaboozles4910]

The issue with this is Lorcana is in its infancy. Right now we want the game to thrive and last. Part of that is getting the word out and Pixelborn is free marketing. You content creators is free marketing. Yes that means Disney has to give up control a little to which the mouse house does not do. But I truly believe a free client that can be streamed like pixelborn helps grow the game.

[@LeloRetsam]

Why not work with Pavel, which is already a stablished creator and the free marketing? This is an awful decision and I'm truly upset about Disney's decision

[@Legaleagle0200]

Disney doesn’t run Lorcana. What are you talking about?

[@LeloRetsam]

@@Legaleagle0200 it takes literally 5 seconds to research and find out that disney representatives approached Pavel and asked him to respect the IP

[@chrisdesmarais6837]

If you read Pavel's announcement it had nothing to do with RB. Pavel was approached by Disney proper.

[@AlphosNZ]

Yes I just wanted to make sure no one blamed RB anyway if they didn't read through the announcement.

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

gonna have a final run then ... hoping to se an official TCG online to play! It is such a good game! Best I ever played online. Even in all its imperfections, and unlicenced unglory... BUT it motivates me to make my own video content of "games" with my decks.... kinda lke showing what happens. Playing against myself.

[@pizzarand]

Might finally be able to get rid of my addiction😢

[@betrayal4life288]

How much you wanna bet that this was done so Disney and Ravensburger can launch their own official app with similar software to pixelborn.

[@LifeandDeathGamer]

I'm installing pixelborn right now to get a "trial" of lorcana. Sadly for me, I've known of Lorcana's existence but did not know there was a way to play the whole thing freely. What has me and had me stand offish towards Lorcana or any TCG for that matter that is not Magic is that I've spent years and am thousands of dollars deep into Magic. I can't afford to play two and Lorcana needs to be so good that I'm willing to spend less and play less on Magic. This is tough for TCGs coming out because you NEED to convince me to instead of buying Modern Horizons 3 packs and cards, to buy from Lorcana. And you NEED to convince me that you're game is as good in my eyes as Magic is before I'm willing to give you hundreds of dollars to learn it and collect decent cards to play it. I imagine I am not alone in this camp of pseudo sunk cost fallacy, but more so that I've found my time and money in Magic worthwhile, and time and money are highly valuable, can Lorcana give me an environment like that? Thanks for putting out this video, sadly and ironically the death of Pixelborn is the news that is getting me finally taste test Lorcana

[@ipip5516]

imagine killing free advertising but a massive community that played because the game is inaccessible due to costs, area etc

[@DonNdoki]

I just found you and have enjoyed the content you create. What is the future of your channel going to look like? I hope you continue to create lorcana content

[@jhparsons]

In my head I was always hoping that Pixelborn would bridge the gap until an official client launched, but I can see where launching an official client with some restrictions on cards while banning a totally free knock off at the same time would be an even bigger PR disaster.

[@russofthefrozennorth]

Okay I don't think it has been said here so here it is. If a company doesn't defend their intellectual property (IP) they risk losing that IP. So if Disney / ravensburger didn't shut down pixelbourne it would open them up to losing the intellectual property rights of the entire lorcana game. That is legal fact, And is the number one reason why they shut it down.

[@cakintz]

Do you have any comments or plans you can share on how this is going to affect your channel and content creation? The true shame will be losing you, Quantum, Bannibal, Steadfast, and other Lorcana creators

[@josephandrees5381]

My accessibility with the game goes from 100 games per week to maybe 6, and the quality of player is significantly less. It's going to take a lot to keep me interested

[@charliecruz5640]

just bought a structure deck for my partner and i, and was excited to play online an practice. just left yugioh and leaving lorcana now. whether we want to play in person or have our privacy is our business. distance, work, personal struggles or just anxiety. this actually sucks. if i have no choice but to play in person, id rather just play a better card game like one piece. money isnt the issue, its just the commute and time it takes. sucks. 2 months later theyll be a pay to play website soon. lol mark my wordsss

[@oOoJudeoOo]

I don't wanna see a life without pixleborn. :(

[@ghostknight1865]

No hate on Pavel, I was a Patron. But people have no idea how IP law works. They HAD to shut him down eventually, otherwise they would be open to all sorts of lawsuits from anyone. They also can't really take unlicensed work and make it official as it would mean recognizing it was operating without a license with their knowledge... thus opening them up to lawsuits. Plus Pixelborn had a business model that made sense for an individual, not a corporation. I just hope they have their own MTG Arena-style client coming soon, because it's a no-brainer and being physical-only is capping the potencial of the game.

[@ghostknight1865]

@Briggetyt Different IP jurisdictions / laws, different situation, with different timings, etc. Can't comment much as I don't know the details.

[@talenstout8324]

That’s stupid, there are restrictions on making people happy.

[@balloonzLorcana]

Would you consider playing on TTS?

[@robertfisher3507]

Pixelborn was more then half the appeal of lorcana for me. It made it possible for me to want to play at locals. I'd be willing to bet that something else will appear soon as a replacement.

[@KellyJoule]

What absolutely kills me is that Disney/Ravensburger looked at Pixelborn as a reason people wouldn't buy product, when it was easily the number one reason people even found out about Lorcana in the first place. Unless Disney/Ravensburger are developing a free alternative akin to MTG Arena, then this was a massive mistake business wise.

[@througtonsheirs_doctorwhol5914]

nah : it also has bugs, and they are making $ with a patreon selling non-disney stuff sure, but still making $ using their IP Lorcana as the main waterflow... not judging disney or ravensburger of pixelborn. It is an amazing game. Online and with cards. My 1st tournment got me hooked! My LGS has games on sunday. Sames hours I work. So no live over the board table for me :S ned to get days off for tournaments

[@KrisPBaconnn]

You have to understand that Ravensburger ≠ Disney. The developers of the game most likely already have an online client in the works, but Disney as a company doesn’t tolerate copyright whatsoever. I’m sure the people at ravensburger have seen the positive impact of an online client and have every intention of creating something similar.

[@Gangleandclownxiao1882]

I know many players who have stopped going to locals because they would rather just play at home online. That is a massive blow to the local game stores.

[@hatertime]

Maybe they don't want to have a digital client? They don't have a digital team, it would need to be outsourced. The reason they went physical is because that is what Ravensburger does...print stuff. Boardgames, puzzles, all kinds of things. It would be extremely ambitious if they decided in the first year of the game that not only would they print and distribute cards, they'd also have a fully functional online client and strong monetization. And they would do this all while having no idea that the game would be successful. I doubt any of their business strategy included that "were going to ride an immense wave of content creation and competitive gameplay on the back of a...free online client some fan made." The game isn't available worldwide yet, they have only had 4 product releases and said they would only begin advertising in Set 5.

[@matthewkincaid3902]

Yeah - I could easily argue there’s not much incentive to buy cards when all of them are available on Pixelborn. That is a loss of sales. Also - the game isn’t pavel or his teams IP. It was only a matter of time because people were profiting off of Disney / Ravensberger.

[@sslum]

Finger crossed the online client isn’t as greedy as MTG Arena

[@Kovu1224]

Disney Lorcana Merchandise is extremely expensive

[@dennythemenny3930]

Dude pixelborn is the reason I got into the game

[@squirlz333]

should leak the source code to some Chinese company lol. I think it's time for me to move on from Lorcana now before I invest money into it.

[@lmrbeerbellyl]

Everyone not having access to all the cards is to the benefit of these games. The meta shifting every 6 hours like it did on Pixelborn is not good.

[@palkys.]

I once was for Pixelborn, however, it ruins everything. A card game is not meant to be online. It should be in person and YOU do the mental effort. The software sorting everything out is lazy af and ruins the idea of a tcg. Edit: I supported before only because there was no supply in the beginning. Now there's a lot of product

[@pizzarand]

Btw ur hair looks great

[@AlphosNZ]

thank you! was unsure on the cut got it just yesterday 😅

[@yvngtempest8031]

Welp, games cooked for me then. Was fun while it lasted lol.

[@TruongMtgArenaHearthstone03]

take a shower people and go to your local game store!

[@R8rRen]

Lame af. Pixelborn made me buy cards. Not kept me from buying cards.

[@icedchief]

Lorcana has actually have a awfull community. A lot of former magic people. People who are salty and offensive…

[@TruongMtgArenaHearthstone03]

100% agree lol alot try hards for sure

[@6thface]

Disney waiting till now is completely SUS, after the fiasco that was the Disney Challenge Atlanta. They should have done this in January...... Ravensburger just keeps crapping the bed.

[@dared-6018]

How is it sus? as for Atlanta ive heard tons of positives about it. nothing ever runs perfectly in the first attempt and also it wasn't RB that shut it down it was Disney.

[@therealsheldonjplankton]

Once the mouse got word of pixelborn, he was like...kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5KUfWytmZaBf6c&ab_channel=thechumbucket

[@hatertime]

They're sort of proving the point that they should have done this sooner. Now that they allowed Pixelborn: it was able to set player expectations. They're getting backlash for shutting down the Free to Play Unofficial Client. Disney nor Ravensburger ever expected to build a community around unofficial fan made online client, and it wasn't in their pitch to Disney when they sought the license. It's great lots of people got a lot of enjoyment out of it, lots of great content and exciting tournaments. People from all over the world got to play Lorcana, especially in South America where they couldn't get the game. People who didn't have an LGS or it was too difficult to justify taking the weekend to play card games. But...all of those things would still be true if Pixelborn never existed. People in South America wouldn't be able to play. People without LGS wouldn't have been able to play. All of that was known to Ravensburger. It was known when they announced it to fans. It is unfortunate, but that's what I mean by setting expectations. Lorcana couldn't have been built around a fan made, free to play online client. It might hurt their sales, but they had to have known that this was going to be the case - they made and designed all of the sets and competitive rollout based on the proposition they would be popular on their own merits. I agree that every card game needs to have the most scrutiny from the most amount of players possible buttttttttt if we're supposed to be upset with anyone it should be Pixelborn for showing us a false way to enjoy the game and come together knowing that Disney would shut it down. I'm going to miss the content, I do think I will buy less product now but it's the way it is because the way it was wasn't sustainable.

[@talenstout8324]

Respect is a choice, opinions are part of humans, just because they have feelings doesn’t mean we can’t have ours. If a legal issue, then it’s stupid, there shouldn’t be restictrions on making people happy. Not letting people have opinions is actually the rudest thing, because you are denying people their individuality. Well it’s about how Disney can access those places. Those cons prove that this is stupid. But people need to earn money, that’s what gives it and the things you buy it with valuable. Most people have enough money to buy that stuff. Most people have enough of the things. Everyone has right to an opinion. It’s not bad to have opinions, it’s part of who we are, it’s nature.

[@dared-6018]

So you're saying that because pixelborn makes people happy that the legality issues should just be null and void because "happiness". that's not how businesses run. Disney has the licenses and didn't grant permission to anyone outside RB to use them. By allowing a third party that is not associated with Disney to use the IPs they open themselves up to potential issues since they have 0 control of the product. Also Disney has a very strong stance against people making money on their IPs without permission.

[@6thface]

I am done with Disney Lorcana.

[@lerak8452]

Woohoo, finally. Hopefully, Ravensburger makes their own version. Long time waiting. It's not good for the game.

[@AlphosNZ]

I'm curious why you think it was bad for the game? (no judgement)

[@beardedcat9744]

@@AlphosNZPixelborn is a double edge sword due to the fact a majority of decks are being netdecked for league/set champs and challenges because of content creators. We shouldn’t have a select few people deciding on the meta. People need to try cards out in person. There are tons of cards with potential but because some youtuber says a card is bad it will never see play. Also playing in person helps a person develop skill more than a online client that can help them with prompts. This is just my opinion. I get a majority of people cannot go to events or afford decks but that’s how all tcgs/hobbies are Lorcana isn’t an exception.

[@TheShriddler]

Agreed. You don’t want to be running paid entry events as the means to have invites to national/world championships while something like Pixelborn exists. It invites potential chaos when someone who primarily or solely plays on Pixelborn expects something to happen a certain way or is prevented by the game from taking illegal actions and then has to handle real cards and interact with rules that aren’t really implicated in Pixelborn. That, and all of the various US IP law quirks that force companies’ hands to shut things like this down eventually. It’s also possible that Disney doesn’t respect TCG staples like buying singles because they’re essentially cut out of a profit for that, so if a player isn’t going to go buy singles without testing them, but they might rip packs to assemble a playset, then Disney probably prefers they do the latter. Of course, that risks players leaving the game entirely.

[@lerak8452]

@AlphosNZ First, I never played Pixelborn. I don't believe people are as good as they are playing a card game that does it for you. A perfect example is to look at who just won the Atlanta Challenge. A deck no one was expecting and played well by the player. That is what this game needs. This will also change live events. I brainstorm with players and am pretty comfortable building decks. I don't need a pixelborn. I literally sit at home drawing cards and thinking about how they work. I'm just going through the motions of drawing and inking. Like I would play someone. Probably of card draw. I'm very good at Texas holdem, and you're thinking of your outs. The final thing is this is a card game meant to be bought and played in person. Now I have a bunch of cards because I work, but I don't have time or money like some of these people do that go to all these tournaments. So I don't believe it's a "money thing". If someone tells me they can't buy 4 Robin hoods for $120, but spends $500 total to go to a tournament. They're not being truthful. It's just priorities. People choose not to buy cards or packs because of Pixelborn. See the person for whatever reason who isn't playing live card games. That person isn't playing Lorcana. They're playing Pixelborn. One other huge mistake was having money tournaments. That's what I think did them in. I respect everyone's opinion. It's going to be hard on streamers to get in now that haven't really bought product. They're just known for playing pixelborn. I think that's why it hurts for a lot of youtubers. Now it's going to be a new strategy for some, or they may just disappear. I'm looking forward to the upcoming tournaments now. It's going to be really good.

[@josephandrees5381]

It's 2024. If your game doesn't have a digital client, it's doomed to fail. Your outlook on this is extremely dated.

[@6thface]

There will no longer be any real set meta, as there is not any hardcore community outside of Pixelborn.

[@AENock]

This is patently false.

[@mynameisgrundle8157]

Yeah metas definitely will exist. It will just be a lot harder for casuals to figure it out without resources such as KZbinrs and streamers dropping educational lorcana content. I imagine the deck list sites will still exist so at least there will be some small resource for deck help if you're struggling. Still, good luck to all solo players who only get to play at their weekly lgs tourney.

[@monoTNT]

Playing weird deck combos was my favorite part about having pixelborn 🥲

[@beardedcat9744]

Majority of the cards you wanna play and try are worth pennies most likely.

[@monoTNT]

@@beardedcat9744 issue is coordinating with someone to play with when i want to play stupid decks, if you have a ton of people to do that with kudos and congrats cuz ur pretty lucky

[@mynameisgrundle8157]

Yeah I'm a lot less inclined to play "fun" decks of questionable quality when my only chance to do that will be a weekly tournament at my lgs. Like I wanna "try out" bodyguards and healers but don't want to waste my entry fee and a shot at the prize to just get rolled seeing if it's any good.

[@monoTNT]

@@mynameisgrundle8157 101 brunos will Be just a joke on and waste on my lgs torneys, it will be fun but just giving away my spot and money on fridays 🤷🏽‍♂️😂