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.

 

[Parmandur]

Same thing that's going on in the film industry. I'm a 20 year marketing veteran for feature films who lost his job last summer and is now pivoting into nursing as a new career after I sent out 400 resumes and landed only a single interview for a job way below my level of expertise, that I didn't land.

In a nutshell, the fracturing of the mass audience has reached a level where almost no AAA content can make it's money back, and both industries are in the middle of a major correction in how they operate to account for that. I'm not sure Hollywood CAN change quickly enough (Sony may have the best shot), and will likely end up no longer being the world leader in Theatrical/TV entertainment when the dust settles.

Sorry to hear about your career woes, that bites.

Honestly, looking at what other film industries are able to accomplish these days, a decentralization of gilm/TV around the world may just be an inevitable result of technology changing. Look at what Godzilla Minus One did with a slim budget.

 

[kayakingpoodle]

With all the debate over optimism and pessimism I think it's worth noting that if you go back to look at the old discussions there were quite a few people§ who were excited about the possibility of a new vtt but spoke negatively about it while citing specific concerns present in what got revealed. Realistic and constructive criticism of obvious problems like overly beefy system requirements and poor gm support is not "pessimism" but quite a bit of what is now being whitewashed as "optimism" consisted of people saying those problems don't matter because wotc knows best & is too big not to have a solid plan in place.

§ like myself

I was excited for those that wanted to use this kind of VTT, I am sad they didn't finish it for the same reason. It is not a product i would have ever used personally.

 

[kayakingpoodle]

MAPS is my favorite VTT to use as DM.

I play on other VTTs, mostly Foundary and Roll 20 and I did try Sigil during the Alpha testing. But when I am going to DM, it is MAPS all the way. I believe MAPS is the best table top experience I have played.

Also when it comes to purchases; the only reason I am a DNDB master tier subscriber is so I can host games on MAPS. Further about half of the overall content, and all of the digital content I purchased from WOTC in the past two years was specifically for use on MAPS.

So yeah, they are getting far more money from me than they would be without maps and I don't think I am the only one.

I loved DDB maps, but i just can't support DDB any longer so no subscription from me means no maps for me. The only money I have ever regretted spending on D&D in over 40 years of playin is the money I spent on DDB and it wasn't until wizbro bought the site that I felt this way.

 

[tetrasodium]

I was excited for those that wanted to use this kind of VTT, I am sad they didn't finish it for the same reason. It is not a product i would have ever used personally.

I think that pretty much summarizes the reason project sigil was set on a path doomed to failure. It was an initiative launched by someone likely square in the realm of 'not a project they would ever personally use'. With design priorities mistargeted to be based on what would excite non users, those priorities were so far off the mark that there wasn't room in the development cycle to fit goals required for the folks who actually would have wanted to use it to actually want to use it. By the time people who would have used it saw anything and started raising concerns over things in that first video & early preview reports it was either too late or too unwanted by a decision maker who wouldn't have used it anyways.

 

[Zaukrie]

I loved DDB maps, but i just can't support DDB any longer so no subscription from me means no maps for me. The only money I have ever regretted spending on D&D in over 40 years of playin is the money I spent on DDB and it wasn't until wizbro bought the site that I felt this way.

Fascinating. I'd rather have beyond than books at this point. That's why we have both!

 

[AlViking]

Fascinating. I'd rather have beyond than books at this point. That's why we have both!

Meanwhile I'm sucker enough to have both, at least for the core books. I like reading through the books but the convenience of DnDBeyond saves me a ton of time as a DM.

 

[Zaukrie]

Meanwhile I'm sucker enough to have both, at least for the core books. I like reading through the books but the convenience of DnDBeyond saves me a ton of time as a DM.

Oh, I have both, but not sure why!

 

[kayakingpoodle]

Fascinating. I'd rather have beyond than books at this point. That's why we have both!

I have found that DDB slows games down (especially on the phone app) and causes players to not learn how to play their characters. Going back to paper character sheets and spell cards has sped up our games with the cost of a little longer session 0 where we do character creation. I only play in-person games.

I was big on using DDB until the market place changed. I bought 90%+ of everything up to Monsters of the Multiverse. Now it all sits unused because it doesn't save anytime and the way they chose to implement the 24 stuff has broken so many things for the people that don't use them. I can't sell it and I don't use it hence the regret. Every major issue I have with DDB is something wotc did after they bought the site.

 

[AlViking]

I have found that DDB slows games down (especially on the phone app) and causes players to not learn how to play their characters. Going back to paper character sheets and spell cards has sped up our games with the cost of a little longer session 0 where we do character creation. I only play in-person games.

I was big on using DDB until the market place changed. I bought 90%+ of everything up to Monsters of the Multiverse. Now it all sits unused because it doesn't save anytime and the way they chose to implement the 24 stuff has broken so many things for the people that don't use them. I can't sell it and I don't use it hence the regret. Every major issue I have with DDB is something wotc did after they bought the site.

I do a combination of paper and online when I play. Print out a character sheet that has 90% of what I need, look up online details for spells or whatever if I need extra detail. But my wife refuses to do this so every other time I ask for something she has to flip pages while mumbling something about it being right there.

Ah well. It does help if i can double check characters when their doing something that I haven't encountered before or that feels off. Pluses and minuses I guess.

 

[kayakingpoodle]

I do a combination of paper and online when I play. Print out a character sheet that has 90% of what I need, look up online details for spells or whatever if I need extra detail. But my wife refuses to do this so every other time I ask for something she has to flip pages while mumbling something about it being right there.

Ah well. It does help if i can double check characters when their doing something that I haven't encountered before or that feels off. Pluses and minuses I guess.

All of my books are tabbed, and we note page numbers for most everything on the character sheets during character creation and when something is addt to the sheets. It is also a requirement that you cite the book and page number when a discussion is needed. Books are at the table while playing.