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[Nirolak]

So Hasbro has outlined Wizards of the Coast's new video game (and digital app) plans.

Tl;dr:

1.) They have an internal team made up of game developers poached from major game studios. They will make Magic Digital (the replacement for existing Magic digital games) and eventually D&D's digital implementation. The job postings all appear to be for a Unity based implementation of Magic currently.

2.) They also have a core of producers who will oversee new partnerships to make games based on their IPs. They give examples like an MTG MMO and an AR D&D game, but it's not clear if those are real products.

3.) They will also build a digital and online community tools for their physical games.

Making Moves
JANUARY 12, 2017

Since joining Wizards of the Coast last summer, I've had the chance to talk to many passionate employees, partners, and fans about their experiences with our games and their hopes and dreams for our future. We're channeling this passion as we make some exciting moves to bring players bigger and better experiences. The biggest move involves adjustments to and increased investments in our digital teams that will give us the capability and flexibility necessary to fully realize the enormous potential of our games.

Here's what that means:

We are reimagining digital versions of Magic and other Wizards games. We recently created the Digital Games Studio, a group of all-stars led by industry veteran Jeffrey Steefel. Jeffrey's team includes experienced Wizards game designers and industry talent from Dire Wolf Digital, Valve Corporation, Cryptic Studios, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Activision, BioWare, and many others. The Magic Online team is now included in this group, as well as digital art and game design. They're all thinking about how players might tap mana and prepare spells in the future, and I can't wait for you to see what they're working on.

We will bring our characters and worlds to other games and experiences. What would it be like to throw fireballs as a Planeswalker in an MMO, or quest for treasure with your friends in a D&D augmented-reality game? We want to play games like this too, so we hired David Schwartz, an industry veteran with 25 years of experience leading projects at Microsoft, Electronic Arts, THQ, LeapFrog Enterprises, and Midway Games. He is building a publishing team to explore partnerships and collaborations that will bring Magic and D&D to unexpected settings, genres, and platforms.

We will make your Wizards experiences more efficient, connected, and convenient. From getting matched in a big tournament to tracking your achievements to simply getting friends together for game night, there's a lot that goes into a good experience with a game outside of the game itself. A revamped technology team led by longtime Wizard Arron Goolsbey will be focused on connecting these kinds of in-store and online interactions so you will have cohesive and connected experiences with our games.

These are just some of the changes happening at Wizards of the Coast as we continue our mission to bring people together through their shared love of games.

Stay tuned for more updates and let us know what you think.

--Chris Cocks
President, Wizards of the Coast

Source: http://company.wizards.com/article/press/making-moves

 

[bigkrev]

There are people who have spent thousands of dollars on MTGO. The fact that they haven't said "listen, your collection is going to transfer" is really troubling to me

 

[Nirolak]

There are people who have spent thousands of dollars on MTGO. The fact that they haven't said "listen, your collection is going to transfer" is really troubling to me

I'd be surprised if they implement most of the legacy cards into Magic Digital.

I'm expecting that game to start with Origins.

 

[Nairume]

I really hope they are serious this time about trying to push for D&D games again. They seemed pretty sincere at the launches of 4th and 5th edition, only for us to get virtually nothing based on the edition of D&D best suited for video games and only one thus far that kinda sorta but not really adapts the current version that has been reviving a lot of popularity for the D&D.

 

[Saren is Bad]

RIP Hex then

 

[disappeared]

I really hope they are serious this time about trying to push for D&D games again. They seemed pretty sincere at the launches of 4th and 5th edition, only for us to get virtually nothing based on the edition of D&D best suited for video games and only one thus far that kinda sorta but not really adapts the current version that has been reviving a lot of popularity for the D&D.

We got Neverwinter, which is actually a pretty solid MMO.

But in terms of a more traditional PC/console RPG, I think it'd take one hell of a talented studio to pull it off. The core of D&D is ridiculously hard to replicate in a game given the utter freedom the pen-and-paper format allows.

 

[Kaiken]

I'm still waiting for MTGO for the PS4. I won't keep my fingers crossed for anything new they may or may not release.

 

[Plumpbiscuit]

Won't they make actual RPGs & cRPGs? I don't want another studio going down the MOBA/F2P/card game route... not when it's D&D related. I actually really liked Sword Coast Legends, even if it was a watered-down NWN, it can be seen as a good introduction into digital p&p and the dungeon master mode + map creator were awesome.

 

[Nairume]

We got Neverwinter, which is actually a pretty solid MMO.

We did, but even that used about as much of the 4e ruleset as Sword Coast Legends uses the 5e ruleset, which is to say not much at all.

The closest thing we got to a game that really tried to use 4e was a shortlived facebook game, which is a crying shame since, for all the flaws inherent in 4e as a roleplaying system, it would have made for some amazing games if used correctly.

 

[Remeard]

They had a great opportunity with the Wii U with Dungeons and Dragons, but that passed. Roll 20 is I think a step in the right direction, it seems they are implementing kits that seem to work well enough. If I had known I might have picked up the starter set through them for Phandelver.

If they put an app on PSN and Xbox it would surely make some money

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I would love to see Square make a turn based RPG based on the D&D license.

 

[Emarv]

I mean how long can it really take for them to put out some type of Magic Digital prototype? It feels like they've just been saying "it's coming" for years now. Whole copycats have risen and fallen in the same amount of time.

Call me when they finally have something real to share.

 

[Catshade]

I want to see Obsidian making a single-player D&D game. plz.

 

[Gurrry]

As long as they can make a better client than MTGO, then they are on the right track.

 

[FrontalMonk]

Don't get me wrong, I love WotC, I love M:tG, and I love D&D to pieces...but I have literally zero hope for any digital initiatives they do. I would love to be pleasantly surprised, but I've been burned too many times by too many WotC digital products to have any hope that this will be successful.

Just on the D&D side of things, outside of the games they licensed out like baldur's gate, we had the D&D character generator demo that came with the 3e PHB that looked cool but lacked any real functionality, the eTools they farmed out to Code Monkey Publishing which was barely above "disaster" level, the D&D Insider program for 4e which to be fair was actually decent but never delivered on its promises, and the current setup, which consists of licensing companies to make 5e supported software. It's been a mess, it's always been a mess, and I have no confidence it will ever be anything but a mess.

 

[LordRaptor]

I would love to see Square make a turn based RPG based on the D&D license.

 

[Brokun]

We got Neverwinter, which is actually a pretty solid MMO.

But in terms of a more traditional PC/console RPG, I think it'd take one hell of a talented studio to pull it off. The core of D&D is ridiculously hard to replicate in a game given the utter freedom the pen-and-paper format allows.

Neverwinter is actually not bad, but it borrows from D&D's setting more than it does its ruleset.

Yes it's hard to replicate an authentic D&D experience in a video game but Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights came to a good compromise and so far have been the most faithful to the rulesets of their time, and fun to play to boot! I would like to see a return to form.

I am playing an enjoying Neverwinter right now, but D&D is really not meant to be an action rpg. Please stop making D&D action rpgs.

I would love to see Square make a turn based RPG based on the D&D license.

Absolutely!

and eventually D&D's digital implementation

I'll believe it when I see it. They have been attempting this for the last 10 years, and every time I have been excited only to have my hopes and dreams dashed.

 

[Megalosaro]

Its a shame dnd games go so cliche. I world love for a game to covet some of the batshit insane concepts.

At the very least they should make game versions of the mega campaigns. If play a video game version of out of the abyss.

MtG has cool lore too, right? The trailer for kaladash was neat

 

[Nirolak]

I mean how long can it really take for them to put out some type of Magic Digital prototype? It feels like they've just been saying "it's coming" for years now. Whole copycats have risen and fallen in the same amount of time.

Call me when they finally have something real to share.

They hired the guy who runs this division eight months ago, which is also around the time they announced the decision to make Magic Digital.

 

[Glix]

I'd be surprised if they implement most of the legacy cards into Magic Digital.

I'm expecting that game to start with Origins.

That would be insane. Vintage/Legacy cube drafting is mega popular on MTGO.

 

[Tacklemacain]

I just want a magic game with drafting in the style of magic duels.

 

[Lucario]

I'd be surprised if they implement most of the legacy cards into Magic Digital.

I'm expecting that game to start with Origins.

This would immediately kill all competitive interest in a platform that's overwhelmingly used by competitive players. I'd be shocked if they made the cutoff that early, or didn't transfer collections over, assuming this is really the successor to MTGO.

 

[Nirolak]

That would be insane. Vintage/Legacy cube drafting is mega popular on MTGO.

The MTGO team still exists and is now under this new division, but I think their idea is that they do some updates to MTGO for those who want to spend a gazillion dollars on it, and everything else goes into Magic Digital as their flagship product.

When enough content is in Magic Digital, they could then move everyone over.

Duels by comparison I expect to die almost immediately.

 

[DrArchon]

I'd be surprised if they implement most of the legacy cards into Magic Digital.

I'm expecting that game to start with Origins.

Modern and Commander are two of the most popular formats though. There's no way they'd want to ignore both of those, right? I mean, technically yes you can make decks for both with cards from Origins onwards only, but still.

 

[Kyuur]

I'll believe it when I see it, especially with regards to DnD.

 

[Glix]

The MTGO team still exists and is now under this new division, but I think their idea is that they do some updates to MTGO for those who want to spend a gazillion dollars on it, and everything else goes into Magic Digital as their flagship product.

When enough content is in Magic Digital, they could then move everyone over.

Duels by comparison I expect to die almost immediately.

Oh, okay. As long as MTGO stays up until there is a replacement with no sacrifices I am fine. Losing MTGO would be crushing for me.

 

[Nirolak]

Modern and Commander are two of the most popular formats though. There's no way they'd want to ignore both of those, right? I mean, technically yes you can make decks for both with cards from Origins onwards only, but still.

So, to explain my perspective, Hearthstone has 50+ million players, Magic The Gathering (physical + digital) has 20 million players.

I think the goal of Magic Digital is to appeal to the 30+ million player gap, and expecting people who are new to Magic to start building a collection from 50+ sets is an astronomically large ask.

 

[nortonff]

I need a sequel to this:

 

[bigkrev]

I'd be surprised if they implement most of the legacy cards into Magic Digital.

I'm expecting that game to start with Origins.

Here is the problem- MTGO is a game that has a tiny player base, but the highest percentage of Whales among any micro transaction based game. If you piss all of your whales off in the hopes of finding a new player pool.... you are playing with some real fucking fire

 

[Nirolak]

Here is the problem- MTGO is a game that has a tiny player base, but the highest percentage of Whales among any micro transaction based game. If you piss all of your whales off in the hopes of finding a new player pool.... you are playing with some real fucking fire

The blog post suggests they're keeping that game going for whales.

 

[Glix]

Here is the problem- MTGO is a game that has a tiny player base, but the highest percentage of Whales among any micro transaction based game. If you piss all of your whales off in the hopes of finding a new player pool.... you are playing with some real fucking fire

I wouldn't say whales...

You just have a lot of people who are willing to consistently spend money.

I spend anywhere from 20-50 bucks a month on magic online. I certainly don't consider myself a whale, but it is an order of magnitude higher than what I have spent on any other F2P game.

 

[disappeared]

Neverwinter is actually not bad, but it borrows from D&D's setting more than it does its ruleset.

Yes it's hard to replicate an authentic D&D experience in a video game but Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights came to a good compromise and so far have been the most faithful to the rulesets of their time, and fun to play to boot! I would like to see a return to form.

I am playing an enjoying Neverwinter right now, but D&D is really not meant to be an action rpg. Please stop making D&D action rpgs.

Yeah I was gonna mention BG and NN, but it just seems like bringing those into any D&D discussion is cause for lamentation. I really doubt we'll see games like those again. Hell, look at something like Morrowind, while not based on D&D lore or rule sets, and Bethesda having completely abandoned the core role-playing formula that made MW so good.

I'm hoping it becomes a sort of cycle, where one day we might get to back to the real nitty-gritty of what made the old CRPGs so good. And there's no better license to do it with than D&D

 

[Shanlei91]

Crazy we won't see anything like Neverwinter Nights again in the foreseeable future.

"Here's a game with a solid campaign. Oh, and here are some powerful tools so you can host your own servers, creating entire multi-dungeoned worlds and towns, with scripts far more advanced than what's featured in the original campaign."

Played that for almost a decade - just unlimited, quality content. Something like Mario Maker or even Little Big Planet doesn't wow me after that. Financially it makes no sense for companies to make a game like that anymore. I skipped on most of the PS2/GC era as result of only playing that one game.

 

[Stormblessed]

I'm not particularly fond of the way CCG companies hobble their games rather than make new ones for video game platforms. Hearthstone always felt like a bootleg version of the WoW TCG to me, successful or not.

Games developed on the world of Magic would be something of a curiosity, though. There's a lot of lore there across a variety of unique locations. I'm sure a talented studio could leverage it into something interesting.

 

[Hagen]

I really hope the PS4 is a big part of their plans with MTG this time.

 

[Evolution of Metal]

I hope that Wizards aren't going to take on game development or publishing on themselves. They might have a lot of success with paper MTG, but software development isn't their strength.

From my perspective, WotC are on the back foot. They have missed the jump to the digital space with a clumsy MTGO implementation and they stood still when Heartstone vacuumed all the mainstream card players. Now they need something both competitive functionality and price wise, because MTG brand carries much less weight in the digital space.

I wish them success, because their fantasies about MTG MMOs are far fetched and unrealistic. I hope that they find partners like Games Workshop did with their projects, because dropping a massive amount of money into their own studio might not give good results.

This guy, David Schwartz, sounds like a bit of resume over achievements. Being a part of multiple sinking ship companies doesn't give him much credibility in my eyes.

 

[Megalosaro]

I'm not particularly fond of the way CCG companies hobble their games rather than make new ones for video game platforms. Hearthstone always felt like a bootleg version of the WoW TCG to me, successful or not.

Games developed on the world of Magic would be something of a curiosity, though. There's a lot of lore there across a variety of unique locations. I'm sure a talented studio could leverage it into something interesting.

Yeah, that would be dope. Magic dm as a game doesn't interest me. The universe does

 

[tebunker]

I wouldn't say whales...

You just have a lot of people who are willing to consistently spend money.

I spend anywhere from 20-50 bucks a month on magic online. I certainly don't consider myself a whale, but it is an order of magnitude higher than what I have spent on any other F2P game.

I used the be the same boat, but I do think that Wotc can start slowly and transition standard over first for drafts/testing then modern and finally legacy/vintage and cubes and commander etc. maybe even some more of the other side games. I know a lot of people who burned money playing that version where your whole deck is lands and the commander type guy summons random dudes based on cmc. Can't remember the name.

Hopefully they find a better method than tickets and better reward structures etc. but this is Wotc and they will find a way to goober it up.

 

[charlequin]

Don't get me wrong, I love WotC, I love M:tG, and I love D&D to pieces...but I have literally zero hope for any digital initiatives they do. I would love to be pleasantly surprised, but I've been burned too many times by too many WotC digital products to have any hope that this will be successful.

I agree that there is zero hope of the people running digital initiatives at WotC to date doing a good job with anything, which is why the thing driving hope here should be that they laid off a ton of the MTGO team, hired long-time video game industry veterans to run the new team, and are building Magic Digital Next without any involvement from the MTGO team.

 

[Rncewind]

Its buffling how there is now proper Onlien represnation of D&D and MTG

 

[Justice_Bolt]

RIP Hex then

I agree. But when do you think the new Magic game will be ready? It will take a lot of time.

 

[tebunker]

I agree that there is zero hope of the people running digital initiatives at WotC to date doing a good job with anything, which is why the thing driving hope here should be that they laid off a ton of the MTGO team, hired long-time video game industry veterans to run the new team, and are building Magic Digital Next without any involvement from the MTGO team.

Well that would be dumb. First bc I dont want a lot of folsk to lose their job, second because it isn't the mtgo teams fault they have had to manage a massive project with little support and little money. Mtgo was/is always treated second class. Finally firing all those folks and started with fresh faces means you lose all the lessons learned by the mtgo team.

No the best thing to take from the announcement is that is appears that they are finally taking digital initiatives seriously. This was their biggest issue recruiting talent, they had positions open all the time but it was clear you got no support if you went there.

I am still not sure they are serious, but they are far behind a lot of the competing groups in the digital tg field and have only been kept afloat thanks to cardboard, and they need to be serious or eventually they will die.

 

[Emarv]

They hired the guy who runs this division eight months ago, which is also around the time they announced the decision to make Magic Digital.

I guess I'm mistaken, but it certainly feels like I've been hearing about the next step for MTGO for years now (after that interface redesign). But time blends together so maybe I'm totally off.

 

[Nirolak]

I guess I'm mistaken, but it certainly feels like I've been hearing about the next step for MTGO for years now (after that interface redesign). But time blends together so maybe I'm totally off.

Oh, this isn't MTGO. This is an entirely new product by a new team of executives and developers.

 

[charlequin]

Modern and Commander are two of the most popular formats though. There's no way they'd want to ignore both of those, right?

They're almost certainly going to have a small set at launch and have to slowly backfill older sets over time while they wind down MODO. This job listing tells us they're gonna use an extensible Python-based script engine instead of a monstrosity of a hardcoded engine like they have now, so it should theoretically be a lot easier to implement all those older cards.

In general, my guess is that they'll be modifying their business model to make it somewhat F2P and closer to Hearthstone, so card values won't transfer over 1-to-1 with the old MODO world.

Well that would be dumb.

I don't think you followed, this is what has already happened. Worth Wollpert and 10+ members of the MTGO team were laid off, and while I'm very much not in favor of laying off bottom-rung workers here, the management of the MTGO team has been universally reported as toxic and ineffectual for years and years, so ultimately there wasn't any way to improve their digital offerings without some layoffs there.

Finally firing all those folks and started with fresh faces means you lose all the lessons learned by the mtgo team.

I would be hard-pressed to believe there are any lessons learned by the MTGO team. The new team is people who have actually worked in digital gaming at actual digital gaming companies before. I've had the experience of being in an isolated team, working on a project over everyone's heads, who find out when a new team actually properly staffed and trained in the field starts up that the new team is just miles ahead on every aspect of the job, and that's what we're looking at here.

 

[enzo_gt]

Hopefully comes to PS4 this time. And if they're not gonna bring it to PS4, then they don't announce it as such to begin.

 

[IvorB]

Just make a Magic card game on PS4 that actually works. Seriously, it's a CARD game for crying out loud; why is that such a struggle?

 

[HF2014]

I still just dont understand why they simply make a Magic Duels games but with all the cards available, like let say starting for Ravnica to current. I would jump in. Yes, some older cards set could be missing and it would not be totally complete like MTGO, but it will be way better thsn having just some cards from some set. I really found that annoying and thats why im still sticking with MTGO.