WotC Hasbro Has Invested $1B In Video Games, Including A New D&D Game

Wizards of the Coast's head of digital production, Dan Ayoub, spoke to GamesIndustry.biz about Hasbro's future video game plans, with over a billion dollars currently invested in internally developed games.

With Baldur's Gate 3 doing so well, and developer Larion confirming that it would not be working on a sequel, the future of that franchise is still in question, with Hasbro currently looking for partners for the project. Ayoub commented that "something like" BG3 was in the works.

"One of the great things we took from the success of Baldur's Gate 3 is that people really, really like a great, well-executed D&D game, so we've got something like that."

-Dan Ayoub​

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Hasbro's four video game studios are Atomic Arcade, Invoke Studios, Archetype, and Skeleton Key. While those studios are working with various Hasbro properties, such as GI Joe, Invoke is currently working on a Dungeons & Dragons game. Of course, the company also seeks to create new IP via video games, and Archetype's James Ohlen (Knights of the Old Republic) is involved with a new franchise called Exodus.

""Over $1 billion is in video game development right now. And that is just these studios. That's to say nothing of the other game investments that are happening. Definitely I've seen the company put its actions around its words in terms of building these studios around strong leaders, thinking about the long game as well. We've got a portfolio that goes much, much larger than anything we're talking about right now."

In Summer 2023, WotC cancelled 5 video games. At the time it owned 6 video game studios, according to then-president Cynthia Williams.

 

[Echohawk]

Idle Champions seems to do well, and that's a license to Codename that's still getting upgrades.

This one is an interesting example when it comes to microtransactions. It has heaps of paid content. Some of the paid content makes it easier to progress faster in the game (inasmuch as anyone progresses in a clicker game). Despite this, it is entirely possible to play the game without spending a cent. Clearly this model works well for Codename since the game has been running for seven years, and still gets a constant stream of updates and new content.

 

[Valetudo]

I have my reservations about any "inhouse" games. I mean all they had to do was dark alliance 3. Instead we got a very ugly and poorly developed dark alliance with drizzle and friends.