Properties with roots in the world of interactive online and console gaming are increasingly extending their brands into the trading card game (TCG) category, often in co-branded versions with leading players in the space, but also in straight licensed editions. These expansions take the IPs into a high-interest realm with a lot of crossover in audience demographics and a lot of potential for cross-merchandising. They also allow fans to get off their devices and into in-person communities for a time—something many of them are looking to do—while keeping them connected to the brand. Some recent and upcoming examples illustrate the trend:
- The free massively multiplayer online tank-shooter franchise World of Tanks, from Wargaming, is being translated to the world of TCGs by Archon Studio, with a debut set for the fourth quarter of this year. The online game, which had more than 413,000 simultaneous concurrent players for its 2.0 release, according to a recent announcement, has also been adapted for a tabletop miniatures game by Gale Force Nine.
- Riftbound (previously known as Project K), a League of Legends trading card game being published and distributed by licensee UVS Games, is set to release in English-speaking regions in October 2025 after debuting in China earlier in the year. It is set to expand to other territories in 2026. Riot Games’ League of Legends IP joins Star Trek in UVS’s portfolio of licenses; UVS also publishes the long-standing UniVersus TCG. League of Legends has previously lent its name to a digital card game called Legends of Runeterra.
- CD Projekt Red authorized No Loading Games to develop and Hachette Boardgames to publish and distribute a TCG based on the character Gwent from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. After a decade in development, the 400-card Gwent the Legendary Card Game was released on September 1 of this year. The video game has sold more than 50 million copies, making it one of the top 10 best-selling games of all time. The character Gwent also stars in a dedicated casual mobile game. (Note that this video game franchise is different from the others in that it is based on a series of books rather than being native to the interactive space; the video game series takes place after the time period of the books but in the same universe.)
- Square Enix paired its Final Fantasy franchise with Magic: The Gathering, produced by Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast division, for a co-branded TCG released in June 2025. It generated more than $200 million in sales in a single day, according to Hasbro’s second-quarter financial results, quickly becoming the most successful of the company’s licensed Universes Beyond sets, surpassing The Lord of the Rings. (Universes Beyond is the umbrella for sets that combine outside IPs with the game play of Magic.) This new game joins another longstanding Final Fantasy TCG from Hobby Japan. As for Magic, its first Universes Beyond set based on an interactive gaming brand was a Fallout edition, which released in March 2024 under license from Bethesda Softworks and Amazon MGM Studios, followed by an edition based on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed in July 2024. Magic also recently collaborated with Sony’s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise for three editions of its Secret Lair product line, which consists of limited-edition cards sold direct-to-consumer that are primarily meant for collectors but are playable in Magic: The Gathering. The first was released in July 2025.
- Ubisoft collaborated with Cross The Ages: Trading Card Game to integrate characters from its action-adventure video game franchise Watch Dogs into the fantasy/sci-fi lore of the TCG, in a card set released in April 2024. A total of 51 Watch Dogs cards were rolled out gradually under the partnership. At the time of the launch, the core Cross the Ages game had more than 100,000 community members and 300,000 downloads.
Licensing in the gaming category, in all of its forms, has been going from strength to strength lately. IP owners of all types are entering the category, while licensees are looking for opportunities to tie in with properties that have their roots in gaming. At the same time, gaming brands from all niches within the gaming universe are extending their IPs into other sectors within an increasingly integrated ecosystem that consists of tabletop board, card, trading card, and miniatures games; interactive console, online, and mobile games; casino gaming and lotteries; and even TV game shows. The broader category represents a way to reach a wide range of consumers, especially teens and young adults, in a place where they spend a lot of time playing, socializing, experiencing entertainment, and making purchases.
A reminder that Raugust Communications’ monthly e-newsletter comes out tomorrow, September 16, 2025. The Licensing Topic of the Month examines trends in the dollar store channel during this time of economic uncertainty, and the Datapoint research spotlight analyzes changes in the IP landscape within the licensed and collaborative beauty category in 2024. If you do not yet subscribe to this free publication, you can do so here.
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