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​

​

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.

 

[Zardnaar]

Falls into the I'll believe it when I see it category.

I loved it when WotC were waving around their erm credentials because they owned 6 studios. That produced basically nothing and have no track record of anything good.

Big whoop Ubisoft has 7 and they actually produce stuff. Some of its even good.

 

[wicked cool]

Do you mean, crpg?

Yes sorry

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Sometimes it's better to aim to get on base than it is to knock it out of the park. It would take some work to get all the official content in, I still think it would be worth it.

Of course another possibility is that they are making a core development engine that can be used for both the VTT and CRPGs. Kind of like how so many companies use the Unreal Engine to write their games. Develop all the core assets once, make it easy to add new. One D&D engine to rule them all and in the dorkness bind them? Or not.

That is a lot more work than is needed for a VTT.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

agreed and you could knock out 4 or 5 fairly short and quite interesting games in the Solasta engine in the time it would take to develop one AAA game.

And have zero cultural cachet. Solasta is a nice VTT. I think something like that would be amazing for DM's and players to use in personal games.

But BG3 captured the zeitgeist due to the facial animations which conveyed the excellent VA to a degree that has rarely been seen. It's really hard to go back to dead eyed Bethesda models after playing BG3, let alone some iso model you can barely make out.

 

[Epic Meepo]

Archetype is headed up by the guy who made BG 1 & 2, Knights of the Old Republic, and rhe Mass Effect games.

Baldur's Gate 4 spoiler: At the end, you must choose to release the blue dragon, the green dragon, or the red dragon. All three choices have the same narrative impact on the world.

 

[Zardnaar]

Baldur's Gate 4 spoiler: At the end, you must choose to release the blue dragon, the green dragon, or the red dragon. All three choices have the same narrative impact on the world.

Lol touche o7. Don't five them ideas.

 

[Von Ether]

Wasn't the reason Peter Adkinson's reason for leaving was because Hasbro completely sold off the video game rights without his input?

Like one of the first of many events where it's still plain that someone high up still doesn't get D&D. (I mean this from the OGL perspective)

 

[Parmandur]

Baldur's Gate 4 spoiler: At the end, you must choose to release the blue dragon, the green dragon, or the red dragon. All three choices have the same narrative impact on the world.

Not thar one, apparently: he was on Dragon Age I & II instead of ME 2 & 3.

 

[Parmandur]

Wasn't the reason Peter Adkinson's reason for leaving was because Hasbro completely sold off the video game rights without his input?

Like one of the first of many events where it's still plain that someone high up still doesn't get D&D. (I mean this from the OGL perspective)

What Adkinson wanted to do them is what Hasbro is doing now, build an in-house video game publishing system.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I hope they're making a dating similar where you play as Eleminster and can have "relationships" with all the NPCs he's connanically been with!