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.

 

[SkidAce]

I think it is shutting down.

Report: Hasbro Is Scrapping Dungeons & Dragons's Ambitious Virtual Tabletop

Project Sigil, which has been in the works for years, has purportedly seen active development ended after 30 employees were laid off.

gizmodo.com

 

[grimslade]

I am sad for the Sigil developers, and especially, Andy Collins, who lost their jobs and their project. Losing employment in this economic moment is pretty grim. This news is an unmitigated tragedy for them. I wish them all good luck and future prosperity.

Hasbro c-suite only understands their products through analogy, not actual knowledge. It doesn't matter if it is a GI Joe figure for the collector market or a new expansion for MtG, they are all widgets devoid of meaning. A 3DVTT sounds good in these terms. It can sell virtual widgets without shipping problems, raw materials, and tariffs. These RPG people loved the virtual widget of BG3, they will love our virtual widget place too. Make a virtual widget place! So they think of the digital assets they can sell as the same as the physical assets they sell. They don't understand software development or the timeline of adoption of a new medium. What software has Hasbro produced in-house that has been a success? I am seriously asking, The Google is very vague. DDB was purchased after it was developed. I believe MtG Arena was not in-house either. Dark Alliance? Hasbro wants results but does not have the patience to build up a platform. Hasbro learned nothing from its time working with Larian. BG3 was not universally loved in beta. It took a lot of refinement to get to Game of the Year, a lot of listening to player feedback. Just 10 months ago, they were touting investing $1 Billion into Digital Gaming. But spread across how many projects? How much of that billion was to Sigil? DDB? New IP?
The thought is only for short term gains. Quarterly thinking. I do not see any leadership to change this. Definitely not with Chris 'Bullish about A.I.' Cocks at the helm.

 

[Afroconan]

The theory is nonsense, but 2024 did not clear up anything. The game is an organizational disaster. If you aren't using Beyond with its hyperlinks, ever rule requires page flips through multiple volumes. It's a mess.

I've never used Beyond and, to me, everything but stealth, and how nick interacts with two weapon fighting is easier to reference and understand.

After 10 years of running the game with a set of core books it was a matter of getting used to the new ones.

Guess I'll just agree to disagree.

 

[Older Beholder]

Stealth. Travel. Combat. Social. Inspiration. XP.

Yes. All of these and more.

You probably could have looked those up yourself, but you preferred to be dismissive.

The fact that you list ‘combat’ as a rule you’d have look up in a game makes me think we’re going to be talking past each other on this one, and given none of this has anything to do with the topic of the thread I’ll politely bow out.

Apologies if I came across as dismissive, I didn’t mean to suggest that your theory was nonsense, just struck me as a bit hyperbolic.

 

[MNblockhead]

I'm a bit bummed out. I was hoping for a VTT developed bespoke for D&D, with solid support for its mechanics and smoothly linked to DDB. I like maps but I think it works because it is simple and I hope they don't over develop it.

Really didn't care much for or against it being 3D. I'm not losing anything, really, because it would likely have been awhile before I could run it on a mac or for it to be good enough to be worth buying a PC to run games on it. And it will be some time before my current WFRP campaign wraps up. But I was hoping that by the end of the year, Sigil would be in a state to serious consider using.

I would be nice if they would put some development into creating a game system for Foundry that provided robust mechanical support, but I suppose they don't want to risk sales on other platforms by playing favorite.

This makes me more interested in seeing how the MCDM VTT turns out. It looks pretty, but that's not what will sell me. If MCDM pulls it off and develops a VTT that fully supports the mechanics of Draw Steel, I will seriously consider buying and running games in that system. VTT tech has gotten to the point that all of the major products meet my core needs for battlemap functionality, but none do a good job with mechanical support. I've also been following Foundry's Crucible system and backed their Ember campaign. Am a little optimistic that they will optimize mechanical support for Crucible and perhaps DnD 5e, but Foundry has a history of focusing on battlemap flash and not the GM QoL improvements I've desired for years.

 

[kayakingpoodle]

Optimism doesn't wait on facts. It deals with prospects. Pessimism is
a waste of time.

Pessimist are just Optimists with experiance.

 

[Hussar]

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

Isn’t that because no one else has the resources to actually innovate?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Pessimist are just Optimists with experiance.

Well, and different brain structures.

 

[Scribe]

Well, and different brain structures.

Interesting.

 

[TheSword]

Pessimist are just Optimists with experiance.

You make it sound like pessimism is a good thing. In truth it just diminishes.

Every invention that works, experienced a moment before when it didn’t work.