Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, reportedly canceled five games without notice along with staff layoffs affecting “less than 15 people,” according to a report. new. Bloomberg report.
Those who will lose their jobs will have the opportunity to apply for new roles within WotC, but this obvious business restructuring will also affect others outside the company. Bloomberg reports that this reorganization will affect Otherside Entertainment and Hidden Path Entertainment, both of which are hard at work on games for WotC. News of this change following the release of Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance last year, which is unpopular with critics and playersin light of Larian Studios’ continued development of Baldur’s Gate 3 (apparently unaffected by this reorganization despite WotC acting as the game’s publisher).
These two games, in part, represent WotC’s larger foray into the video game space like Bloomberg reports that the company has contracted with several studios to make the game. WotC has also “built at least six game studios of its own,” according to the publication.
One project in the now-cancelled works is codenamed “Jabberwocky”, according to Bloombergand two other outside developed games in original development are also no longer in development. The cancellations and layoffs come as shares of parent company Hasbro fell 40% last year.
Wotc said IGN that it remains “committed to using digital games as a cornerstone of our strategy to bring games to players around the world”, adding that it has “made a number of changes”. change to our long-term portfolio to focus on games that align with our strategy of growing our existing brands and those that promise to expand or engage our audience in new ways.”
[Source: Bloomberg]
