Wizards of the Coast Is Sunsetting Sigil's Active Development

EN World has received confirmation that Wizards of the Coast is planning to transition Sigil, its just-released VTT, to a D&D Beyond feature with no large future development planned. Earlier this week, Wizards of the Coast laid off approximately 30 staff members tied to the development of Sigil, a new D&D-focused VTT system. Ahead of the layoff, Dan Rawson, senior vice president of Dungeons & Dragons, sent out an internal email confirming that the project was essentially being shuttered. Rascal was the first to report the news and EN World was able to independently confirm the accuracy of their report.

The email can be read below:

Dear Team, I want to share an important update regarding Sigil. After several months of alpha testing, we’ve concluded that our aspirations for Sigil as a larger, standalone game with a distinct monetization path will not be realized. As such, we cannot maintain a large development effort and most of the Sigil team will be separated from the company this week. We are, however, proud of what the Sigil team has developed and want to make sure that fans and players on DDB can use it. To that end, we will transition Sigil to a DDB feature. We will maintain a small team to sustain Sigil and release products already developed at no additional cost to users. To those moving on as a result of this decision, we will provide robust support, including severance packages, 2024 bonus, career placement services, and internal opportunities where possible.

I want to take a moment to praise the entire Sigil team for their incredible work to deliver this product to our community. One of the things I’m most proud of here at D&D is our strong sense of purpose. We aim to honor our current players while ensuring D&D continues to build connections and bring joy to future generations. And that’s what the Sigil team was doing. Although we haven’t fully realized our vision for Sigil to scale, the team should be proud of their achievements.”

A full breakdown of Sigil's tumultous development can be found here. Rascal has several additional details about recent events that led to Sigil's early demise.

 

[RestlessRevenant]

Well that was a complete waste of time and resources WotC could have used to improve almost anything else related to DDB…

 

[Leatherhead]

I can't say it's unexpected, but I can say it's disappointing.

 

[dave2008]

Thank you for doing the independent verification. I do appreciate actual journalism!

 

[dave2008]

Well that was a complete waste of time and resources WotC could have used to improve almost anything else related to DDB…

Sure, but that is the case for any failed venture. I mean TSR had so many it destroyed the company and almost D&D!

 

[Belen]

Well that was a complete waste of time and resources WotC could have used to improve almost anything else related to DDB…

They do not make any money for QOL improvements in DDB. They will fix serious bugs but development will only focus on money makers.

 

[Alzrius]

Sure, but that is the case for any failed venture. I mean TSR had so many it destroyed the company and almost D&D!

Sure, but at least I still have my old Spellfire cards as nostalgic collectibles.

 

[dave2008]

They do not make any money for QOL improvements in DDB. They will fix serious bugs but development will only focus on money makers.

Actually you can make improvements that make money, just not as easily measurable as direct product sales.

Not mention Sigil is not going to make them any money as well. So, if you are going to waste money, might as well spending on improving a product that is actually used. I realize that is with the benefit of hindsight, but there were quite a few people who saw this coming (even within WotC it seems).

 

[Belen]

Actually you can make improvements that make money, just not as easily measurable as direct product sales.

They are focusing their limited dev resources on adding new content to the platform. This is for direct sales.

Quality of Life is not a priority for them. Bugs can affect subs or direct sales but a simple toggle for 5 vs 5.5 do not since it is "good enough."

Sure, if a QOL patch is easy or if enough begin t get upset, then they may add it to a patch schedule but they have had several years to work on the database and fix issues that have long been broken and it is not a priority.

So Sigil resources becoming available will not really see them put more into DDB. Their focus is making more money.

 

[OB1]

Ha! I just wrote in another thread that Sigil was likely dropping the ambitious (and scope creep heavy) plan to be a driver of new users into the D&D ecosystem and instead focus on being a physical 3D Terrain/Mini replacement system.

What Maps has proven good at for DDB is driving up lifetime customer value (instead of new customers). Looks like Sigil will now do some of that work as well.