Hasbro has confirmed that the company is currently working on several new video games, including a new Dungeons and Dragons-themed video game and a game based on the Commander format Magic: The Reunion. Hasbro has seen some seismic shifts in its business in recent years. Wizards of the Coast has become the company’s main revenue generator, while toy sales have stagnated somewhat. Hasbro also divested itself of its eOne film and television studio at the end of 2023 as part of a major reorganization and reorientation of its company.
As part of this realignment, Hasbro is also shifting its focus to video games. Talking to flowerg News, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks confirmed that Hasbro was developing its own Dungeons and Dragons video game. Additionally, Wizards is also working on a video game focused on the Commander format for Magic: The Reunion. According to the article, Hasbro is also looking for a way to add more digital collecting capabilities to the Magic: The Reunionsimilar to Marvel Snap or Pokémon TCG Pocket.
Upcoming Dungeons & Dragons Video Games Explained
Hasbro has several Dungeons & Dragons video games in development
Even before the success of Baldur’s Gate 3Hasbro was actively looking to build the video game side D&D. Hasbro has partnered with several third-party studios to develop new D&D gamesincluding Gameloft and Starbreeze Studios. by Gameloft D&D the video game is a “survival life simulator” set in the Forgotten Realms, while Starbreeze’s game is described as a “co-op urban crawl.” Hasbro is also looking for a partner to Baldur’s Gate 4following developer Larian Studios’ decision to focus on its own IPs for its upcoming games.
Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast has also canceled several additional games D&D projects in 2023, including those in development by Otherside Entertainment and Hidden Path Entertainment. These canceled projects were part of a general realignment in Wizards’ approach to video game development, with the company intending to focus on games that were “strategically aligned” with the development of existing brands. At the moment, Hasbro emphasized that it was not moving away from video game development. In the Bloomberg News article, Cocks mentioned that Hasbro planned to budget between $100 million and $150 million annually for video games.
Our Take: Digital D&D Video Games Are Good, But Shouldn’t Be the Focus
Dungeons & Dragons video games should promote the D&D tabletop game
Baldur’s Gate 3 showed how fun and successful a D&D video games can be. However, Hasbro must remember that one of the main reasons why Baldur’s Gate 3 was chosen by so many players because it successfully captured the feeling of playing D&D on the table.
Although there are many D&D and characters, They all exist to make tabletop gaming easier in the first place. My concern is that Hasbro is trying to transform D&D in a video game franchise in the first place, which would be a huge mistake. In fact, Hasbro should be pumping more money into the development of the Dungeons and Dragons tabletop game and then use it as a springboard for future video games.
Source: Bloomberg