Project Sigil 90% Of D&D’s Project Sigil Team Laid Off

Reports are coming in of a swathe of layoffs at Wizards of the Coast, constituting 90% of the team of the new Project Sigil virtual tabletop platform. In all, over 30 people have been laid off, leaving a team of around 3 people.

Sigil is still in beta, only recently made public three weeks ago. Recent reports indicated that the scope of the project was seemingly being cut back.

WotC’s Andy Collins—who has worked on multiple editions of D&D and other WotC TTRPGs going back to 1996—reported via LinkedIn that he was one of those laid off. He indicated that the small team left behind would continue to work on the project.

More news as it comes in.

 

[Zaukrie]

If things were gangbusters, then a company that just stated that they were moving into digital and digital gaming in a big way would not be mass firing a digital gaming team.

I am not saying that 5.5 absolutely tanked, but D&D was largely silent on the latest earnings report and this was after Q1 sales of a new PHB.

There may be more uptick now that the complete 5.5 is out, but it has not been mass adopted in my area and the reaction has been mixed.

The sales data is also mixed with WOTC claiming it is the fastest selling PHB ever but only they have the data as most people are assuming that the majority of people seem to have purchased it via DDB.

I thought Sigil was a great idea although half my group uses IOS so were locked out of it so we could not use it.

I primarily game online now but mostly because my players are in different states so we cannot physically game.

They really have not had time to measure demand for Sigil because they half-released it to market where it is not available on mobile or IOS.

I am not saying that I am right, but demand for Sigil will follow demand for DDB/D&D and if sales for 5.5 were not as expected, then cutting an expensive digital tool would be the first move.

Can we have one thread that doesn't devolve into this kind of negative speculation? Just one?

 

[SteveC]

DnDBeyond maps isn't going anywhere for people that want to play online. Meanwhile the third party VTTs are still supporting DnD so I don't see how they shut themselves out of anything. They just decided that having a VTT with all the bells and whistles of Sigil wasn't worth the investment. As someone else said above it seems like people are ready to say Wizards is failing if they don't take chances on something that might not work and they're failures if they do take a chance and it ends up not working. They can't have it both ways. Either they're super conservative and minimize risk of failure which has it's own risks or they take chances now and then that don't always succeed. The majority of software product development ends in failure or at best lowered expectations.

I have looked at Maps and found there's no reason to adapt it rather than use the product I already have. I don't see Maps as being the centerpiece for the online virtual gaming world. But I would like to see the pivot.

And as you say, the partnership with other VTTs is going forward. It just is very un-WotC like to put their edition in the hands of third parties. Maybe Larian should get back into the game.

 

[SteveC]

Can we have one thread that doesn't devolve into this kind of negative speculation? Just one?

You make a really good point. We don't need this. But, if I'm honest, I don't see how this can be spun in a positive direction, so what were you expecting? I expect some will try, and I'd like to see that. This was a huge part of the plan for 5.5E, and it just went away. I suppose we'll have to see what WotC pivots to next.

 

[Zaukrie]

You make a really good point. We don't need this. But, if I'm honest, I don't see how this can be spun in a positive direction, so what were you expecting? I expect some will try, and I'd like to see that. This was a huge part of the plan for 5.5E, and it just went away. I suppose we'll have to see what WotC pivots to next.

The speculation about other parts of the business..... We literally don't know, but it infiltrates so much

 

[Belen]

Can we have one thread that doesn't devolve into this kind of negative speculation? Just one?

They just fired a bunch of WOTC digital devs. I am not sure how this can be positive. Sigil has been a massive plan for the future of D&D as well as incorporating other brands into RPG play.

 

[LordEntrails]

Can we have one thread that doesn't devolve into this kind of negative speculation? Just one?

That would be nice.
Though when I see the first sentence or so of these posts I just skip them.

 

[Afroconan]

My prediction remains the same--walled garden marketplace, powered by D&D Beyond and Maps, with less emphasis on printed books.

It's evident with how many third party products they've been integrating on Beyond. Just this month they've announced two more.

And Maps is being developed into a pretty competent VTT.

Books are not going anywhere for the time beign. But a digital walled garden is where they're smelling the money.

 

[mamba]

They really have not had time to measure demand for Sigil because they half-released it to market where it is not available on mobile or IOS.

mobile won’t have the power to run it, Macs are 5% of the market, neither one will make a difference for the success

 

[TiQuinn]

There’s speculation and then there’s reaction. Sigil had been a focus of their 2024 release and featured in their marketing so there’s going to be some degree of speculation about what this means within WotC overall. Whether that has anything to do with DDB, or 2024 overall is a different matter, so I think it’s fair to discuss these points as well as challenge them. Point is, at least in this thread given the topic, I don’t think it’s out of pocket.

 

[Afroconan]

If things were gangbusters, then a company that just stated that they were moving into digital and digital gaming in a big way would not be mass firing a digital gaming team.

If they don't have anything to pivot that team to, then it makes sense they'd fire them. If I had to guess they'll be relying on the Maps team and expanding it.

I'm not a developer but maybe the skills for one type of product (3D VTT running on a videogame engine) do not translate to a 2D VTT coded in web. Maybe the first team is more expensive. I don't know.

As far as we know they are pivoting their digital strategy not turning their backs to it.

I thought Sigil was a great idea although half my group uses IOS so were locked out of it so we could not use it.

I primarily game online now but mostly because my players are in different states so we cannot physically game.

They really have not had time to measure demand for Sigil because they half-released it to market where it is not available on mobile or IOS.

I am not saying that I am right, but demand for Sigil will follow demand for DDB/D&D and if sales for 5.5 were not as expected, then cutting an expensive digital tool would be the first move.

I think you're kinda defeating your own argument. Could it be that its demise is related to it being a bad product with low reach and a high barrier of entry, and unrelated to how many people are joining D&D Beyond or how much the game is selling?

The platform was PC only, had relatively high hardware requirements, plus a master tier suscription.

For it to be usable you needed what? A table where every player including the GM had a PC that could run it, plus the GM having the suscription, plus either being online players or willing to leave behind maps and minis to bring Sigil to the table and even then that meant that those PCs to run it had to become laptops...

They shoot themselves on the foot by not making it accessible. D&D 2024 could actually be selling gangbusters and yet a high percentage of gamers wouldn't even be able to access Sigil, even if they wanted to.