Wizards of the Coast, the Hasbro-owned company that created Magic the Gathering, has canceled five of its planned video game releases, according to a report by Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier. The company reportedly made this move to cut back on its ambitions in the gaming industry to a degree. Apparently, the company has chosen to focus on releasing games that build on existing brands and have higher chances of resonating with audiences. This means that Baldur’s Gate 3, the Early Access RPG developed by Larian Studios, will still see its full release in August of this year.
Schreier reports that these game cancelations coincided with a small layoff of fewer than 15 employees within Wizards of the Coast. Although this layoff reportedly won’t affect the company’s internal studios too much, it could significantly affect external studios, which include Otherside Entertainment and Hidden Path Entertainment. Having said that, Whitney “Strix” Beltrán, narrative director at Hidden Path, did essentially confirm that the studio has not canceled its open-world Dungeons & Dragons game. She posted a link to some job openings for the studio on her Twitter account.
The details remain unclear
Although the report does not go into too many specifics regarding which games Wizards of the Coast canceled, it did say that one of them had the codename ‘Jabberwocky.’ Additionally, the report brings up two other external projects that never left early development.
We also do not know the exact reasons why Wizards of the Coast canceled these games, although some may point to some recent occurrences. Back in June 2021, Wizards of the Coast released Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, a real-time action brawler that ultimately did not impress either critics or fans. In addition, parent company Hasbro saw its stocks fall by 40% last year. In the end, we won’t get a definitive answer unless Wizards of the Coast wants to give us one.
Image via Larian Studios