General News - Seven or Eight D&D Games in the Works

PC Gamer reports that there are seven or eight D&D games in the works.

The announcements of new Baldur's Gate and Dark Alliance games suggest a change, and that's backed up by Wizards of the Coast. In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Wizards of the Coast president Chris Cocks explained that this is only the beginning and there are "seven or eight" videogames based on D&D coming out in the next few years.

"We want each game to have a point of view, and to really keep on just a couple of things and do it really, really well," he said. "What you don't want to do is have every game in the franchise try to do the same thing, and try to do everything all at once."

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Well I really hope they have more than one RPG in production. Because otherwise they will go back to where they've been for the past 10+ years, into irrelevance.

SSI Gold Box Games remastered please

I like the fact that WotC is considering making more video games. However, I just hope that different "points of view" does not mean games that don't have anything to do with D&D, such as games distorted ruleset (e.g.SCL) or crapy lore.

If only one of them is similar to Neverwinter Nights I'll be happy for 10 more years.

Perhaps Wizards of the Coast want to try a variety of game styles to see which one's resonates most. I guess this makes these games an audition of sorts; for which d&d games should be produced in the future.

Fact is D&D under Hasbro & Wizards of the coast was never good at licensing the IP. Atari/BioWare/Obsidian made a few hits but after that it was cheap games & MMO's.

It wasn't until they let Digital Extremes make Sword Coast Legends that we finally got a new SP D&D RPG in years. We all seen how that game was a huge flop financially.

So I really don't expect much but at least they allowed Baldur's Gate III to be made.

Great news. Looking forward to seeing what devs come up with. Hope there's a Planescape setting CRPG somewhere in there.

Originally Posted by TheRealFluent
Great news. Looking forward to seeing what devs come up with. Hope there's a Planescape setting CRPG somewhere in there.

There was but Beamdog cancelled it due to lack of funding.

The fifth and final episode of Matt Barton's interview with Trent Oster begins with a couple of pertinent questions from Codex user Micoselva. Regarding Siege of Dragonspear, without going into specifics Trent says the expansion suffered from poor scope management and a lack of oversight. As for Beamdog's mysterious Planescape project discovered by the Codex back in 2017, he confirms the widely held suspicion (also recently confirmed by David Gaider at PAX Australia) that the game was cancelled due to a failure to secure funding. Eventually the interview gets around to the topic of Beamdog's latest project Axis & Allies 1942 Online, though it quickly turns into an extended rumination on Trent's game development philosophy and Beamdog's feature. He aims to keep the company small and also wants to do more multiplayer games going forward. It seems like the era of Edition Enhancing is well and truly over.

I know 5e makes it unlikely, but it would be nice of they weren't all set in the Forgotten Realms. Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Planescape etc, there are so many options that don't feature inevitable Drizzt.

Originally Posted by Pongo
there are so many options that don't feature inevitable Drizzt.

I don't mind seeing him in a game in a side roll. I just don't want a game to be about him or him being in a major role.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
It wasn't until they let Digital Extremes make Sword Coast Legends that we finally got a new SP D&D RPG in years. We all seen how that game was a huge flop financially.

SCL was surprisingly good for what it was. Yes, I expected more of it and it was their own fault that it flopped. They thought dumbing it down would attract a wider player base. In the end nobody was really happy with the product.

As for official products, it all hinges on BG III for me now. If that isn't it, I'm glad I backed Realms Beyond and Solasta.

Originally Posted by Silver
Perhaps Wizards of the Coast want to try a variety of game styles to see which one's resonates most. I guess this makes these games an audition of sorts; for which d&d games should be produced in the future.

So unlikely.
Basic merchandising, a franchise is deployed on many markets to get a piece of the cake on each.

There is money to be made on various market segments, the franchise is brought on them (this decreases the cost of marketing) and money is taken.

A vid product studio does not market a board game version of their vid product to determine if they go this direction. A miniature company does not license the production of vid products to determine whether they go the vid industry path.

They do it because it is a cheap way to take money.

D&D franchise is so transversal it places in many vid products segments and meet a demand. They could make a vs fighting game and still meets demand for it.

They keep adding revenue streams.

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur
So unlikely.
Basic merchandising, a franchise is deployed on many markets to get a piece of the cake on each.

There is money to be made on various market segments, the franchise is brought on them (this decreases the cost of marketing) and money is taken.

A vid product studio does not market a board game version of their vid product to determine if they go this direction. A miniature company does not license the production of vid products to determine whether they go the vid industry path.

They do it because it is a cheap way to take money.

D&D franchise is so transversal it places in many vid products segments and meet a demand. They could make a vs fighting game and still meets demand for it.

They keep adding revenue streams.

You are right, but the market segments will have different rations of revenues and expenditures which can be used as prediction for future titles. So it's not only testing the market but also testing development.

I have a feeling this will be the case similar with Warhammer franchise. Lots of crappy games, but only few memorable ones.

I'd be more than happy if we got a few memorable ones.

Originally Posted by Pongo
I know 5e makes it unlikely, but it would be nice of they weren't all set in the Forgotten Realms. Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Planescape etc, there are so many options that don't feature inevitable Drizzt.

I don't think 5e is in anyway tied to Forgotten Realms. One of the most popular 5e adventure path books is even set in Ravenloft.

WoTC shot themselves in the foot by being so incompetent/greedy with their licensing. It forced the larger developers to create their own universes, rules system, etc. For gamers, it was a good thing, as we have some diversity we never would have had. But for fans of D&D, specifically, it's been a dark age.

So welcome back! We'll see how well they can compete, as the genre is saturated now.

Good, good, keep throwing stuff at the wall until it sticks. Maybe we'll get a decent game out of it.

Originally Posted by fadedc
I don't think 5e is in anyway tied to Forgotten Realms. One of the most popular 5e adventure path books is even set in Ravenloft.

Is that right? Good to hear! I don't spend time on P&P these days sadly, but I was under the impression 5E was very much tied to Forgotten Realms. If that's not the case I'm delighted - I hope we get a Ravenloft game in the mix . Or preferably something Dragonlance related - I'd so love to see that.