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.

 

[TiQuinn]

Alamo Drafthouse is the model.

At the very least, theatres need to realize they are competing with restaurants as a fairly inexpensive way to enjoy a night out from the house. You attract customers with atmosphere and food offerings, not necessarily the content on the screen. But most US theatre chains are too addicted to studio content selling tickets for them to pivot to the new reality.

I dunno…at least locally, Alamo was the model 10 years ago, but their fall off since the pandemic has been precipitous. It just seems really capital-intensive and they’re no longer trying to keep the theaters fixed up.

 

[Distracted DM]

Yes, DDB is a crutch to new players that prevents many of them from having to learn the game/their characters. This is just my experience obviously, but when I forced players off of DDB and went through character creation and transfers to paper, they learned their characters and game knowledge that I long took for granted and didn't (originally) understand why they couldn't answer "simple" questions about the characters they had made when they came up during play.

It's not just DDB, btw, it's any extremely-automated character creator.. but most character creators (back in the day) weren't that automated, you still needed to know what you were doing.

BTW I feel the need to point out that this doesn't work for everyone; a couple players (out of dozens) really had trouble grokking the rules whether it was digitally or on paper... I'm a decent teacher, but that's where the actual professionals come in :'D
Wanted to make it clear that moving from DDB to PnP isn't guaranteed.. but it did work for the vast majority.

 

[kayakingpoodle]

BTW I feel the need to point out that this doesn't work for everyone; a couple players (out of dozens) really had trouble grokking the rules whether it was digitally or on paper... I'm a decent teacher, but that's where the actual professionals come in :'D
Wanted to make it clear that moving from DDB to PnP isn't guaranteed.. but it did work for the vast majority.

For our groups that tend to have a few new players in each group DDB was an easy way to on-board new players without them having to do much more than make some choices and roll some dice. Since wotc purchased the site that is nolonger the case, we were spending a significant amount of time teaching new players how to use DDB, and came to the conclusion that just teaching them how to play the game was a better use of that time. We do have more people decide not to play after a session or 2 than before wotc bought DDB, but since going to pencil & paper it is about the same. Our games have definitely improved since switching.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

If you're suggesting that WotC buy a chain of bars around the country and then dig a giant hole in the middle that leads into an underworld full of dangerous animals and death traps, you've clearly got a future in the Hasbro C-Suite.

That would've worked if you hadn't stopped me.

 

[KYRON45]

I’ve been playing for decades and couldn’t make a character without DDB. Why would I want to when I could just use the buttony dropdown picky online thing?

I’m no mathemagician but my guess is that there are more people who just make a character vs. people who care how well that character is made.

Can every futbol fan calculate the field goal in one’s per RBI that a hockey player makes per touchdown? Probably not.

 

[Distracted DM]

I’ve been playing for decades and couldn’t make a character without DDB. Why would I want to when I could just use the buttony dropdown picky online thing?

If you're not being sarcastic (can't tell, the plight of text chat!)- you've been playing for decades... How did you make characters before DDB existed?

 

[Hussar]

Can every futbol fan calculate the field goal in one’s per RBI that a hockey player makes per touchdown? Probably not.

This sentence makes my brain hurt.

 

[Nikosandros]

It is really hard for me to see a future in the theatrical experience. And I used to go every week!

I still love going to the theater, but I have to, sadly, concur with you. The decline will just go on.

 

[Parmandur]

I still love going to the theater, but I have to, sadly, concur with you. The decline will just go on.

I have been to the movie theatres once in the 20s, for Deadpool & Wolverine, and thst was pretty good. But compared to my comfortable 4k setup at home, it really isn't the upgraded experience it was in the 90s.

 

[Nikosandros]

I have been to the movie theatres once in the 20s, for Deadpool & Wolverine, and thst was pretty good. But compared to my comfortable 4k setup at home, it really isn't the upgraded experience it was in the 90s.

I feel differently, but I realize I'm in an ever-dwindling minority.