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.

 

[SteveC]

True. But it seems to be unique to Hasbro in the TTRPG space.

I think the number of rpg companies that have the budget for a software development team is a very small number.

 

[Lanefan]

Why rely on reviews now though? You can download it and have a go.

Only, it seems, if one has state-of-the-art high-end tech to run it on, which immediately rules out most people including me.

Which makes me wonder: if this was intended to be a mass-market thing, why didn't they program it so it could run on lower-end tech? Not doing so would seem to chop off a huge chunk of the potential market before you even start.

Maybe the most killer thing is though, is, even if WotC did think it was "finished", it's only on PC. And you do, as a matter of cold fact, need developers to get it on to other platforms. This product cannot succeed as a PC-only product.

Ignoring Apple is a good (and Good) thing to do. Friends don't let friends buy Apple.

What other computer (as opposed to phone) platforms are there? Linux is still a rounding error, and I don't know of many if any Android-based computers. And running this in the little tiny screen of a phone seems pointless, so no need to program for those.

 

[kayakingpoodle]

What's kind of interesting is that the 5.5e books were written so clunky because of this. Many people have commented on how a lot of things in the new books are worded in a tedious, awkward way that's sometimes difficult to parse for a normal human, but is great if you're planning on plugging those things into computer code. People speculated that this was done to make things easier to implement into Sigil. What a shame.

I see your point, but think it's more likely written for DDB than Sigil well laid out more than written.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

What's kind of interesting is that the 5.5e books were written so clunky because of this. Many people have commented on how a lot of things in the new books are worded in a tedious, awkward way that's sometimes difficult to parse for a normal human, but is great if you're planning on plugging those things into computer code. People speculated that this was done to make things easier to implement into Sigil. What a shame.

I don't think that's the case, and was just odd theories. They changed the language and for the most part in a way that made it easier to tell what things did in the game.

 

[Jaiken]

This project looked to be a huge undertaking. Players would want specific models for their player characters and they could range to anything in appearances. Unless you could upload your own model I did not see this project working out.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

This project looked to be a huge undertaking. Players would want specific models for their player characters and they could range to anything in appearances. Unless you could upload your own model I did not see this project working out.

You can build your own minis in the program.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This project looked to be a huge undertaking. Players would want specific models for their player characters and they could range to anything in appearances. Unless you could upload your own model I did not see this project working out.

Another case where buying Talespire would have made more sense. Want a custom mini? Make it in Heroforge and import it. (And next fiscal year, WotC would buy Heroforge ...)

 

[Shemeska]

Ouch. Gleemax 2.0 :/

 

[Retreater]

I think the number of rpg companies that have the budget for a software development team is a very small number.

Right.

• And the number that could afford to buy and shutter a film studio at a $3.5 billion loss.
• And the number that would try to revoke their game license and then revise it and then backtrack.
• And the number that would start development on a VTT and lose around $1 billion. Edit: a large amount of money.
• And the number that would pull access to 2014 content on DND Beyond but then put it back.
• And the number that would have enough money to misprint, scrap, and then reprint a luxury boxed set of Deck of Many Things to completely miss out on the holiday shopping season.
• And the number that would confuse the entire market and fanbase with an edition that's not a new edition that has no idea of what it is.
• And the number that announced, produced, and then hid the release of several streaming originals.
• And the number that could release a major motion picture and fail to do anything to capitalize on it and let it be forgotten at the box office.
• And the number that would release a book utilizing AI art after denying it, then reprint that book, make a statement that they'd never use AI, and then have their CEO make statements about how great AI is.

What I'm saying is that WotC is being pulled in several different directions because the Hasbro C-suite doesn't understand the audience, can't comprehend how to make D&D profitable enough for them, and have no organizational vision of what their goals or purpose is. They are wasting money and goodwill and will ultimately lose fans. WotC and Hasbro desperately need to get their stuff together.

I work in management. This stuff is inexcusable.

 

[michaeljpastor]

They should just make it a VR chatroom that you can build in, like Second Life was years ago. Make it a social space to find other adventurers. Tavern brawls, pvp arenas. "Use my world for your adventures" stuff.