A New Digital Direction for Wizards?

When Chris Cocks, the recently-named CEO of Wizards of the Coast, took on his new position we speculated how his digital gaming background, strongly grounded in Magic: The Gathering, might influence the company's vision. Thanks to a letter he released in January, we have a bit more insight into how he plans to translate his vision into reality.

Virtual Magic​

Cocks mentioned Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons in the same paragraph, implying equal footing. This is new for the CEO role, who previously focused primarily on the money making card game:

We will bring our characters and worlds to other games and experiences. What would it be like to throw fireballs as a Planeswalker in an MMO, or quest for treasure with your friends in a D&D augmented-reality game? We want to play games like this too, so we hired David Schwartz, an industry veteran with 25 years of experience leading projects at Microsoft, Electronic Arts, THQ, LeapFrog Enterprises, and Midway Games. He is building a publishing team to explore partnerships and collaborations that will bring Magic and D&D to unexpected settings, genres, and platforms.

There's good reason for why past CEOs have been cagey about discussing the two brands in the same breath -- the tension between the Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons divisions is well-documented. There have been no less than three attempts to make a Magic: The Gathering role-playing game, all thwarted by concerns that one brand would somehow harm the other. That seems to have changed with Cocks' arrival, which precipitated a Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign supplement that roughly sketched out a Magic: The Gathering setting. It was warmly received. There's no way to know for sure if Cocks' influence was the reason for the sudden change of heart, but it seems likely that the CEO's background certainly helped pave the way for future cross pollination of Wizards' most successful franchises.

Cocks also specifically referenced augmented reality gaming. We discussed how D&D in particular is ripe for an augmented reality supporting app that helps visualize certain aspects of D&D through a user's phone.

Digital Yet Again​

Wizards' frustrating inability to launch a comprehensive digital platform is well-known amongst D&D fans. Cocks focuses primarily on Magic: The Gathering but he does reference "other Wizards games":

We are reimagining digital versions of Magic and other Wizards games. We recently created the Digital Games Studio, a group of all-stars led by industry veteran Jeffrey Steefel. Jeffrey's team includes experienced Wizards game designers and industry talent from Dire Wolf Digital, Valve Corporation, Cryptic Studios, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Activision, BioWare, and many others. The Magic Online team is now included in this group, as well as digital art and game design. They're all thinking about how players might tap mana and prepare spells in the future, and I can't wait for you to see what they're working on.

For D&D, the virtual tabletop is probably the most likely candidate for a "reimagined digital version" -- and in this regard WOTC has largely ceded ground to Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. You can read more about the history of WOTC's attempts and failures at replicating D&D online in this article.

The Return of Forums?​

Finally, Cocks referenced connecting players online:

We will make your Wizards experiences more efficient, connected, and convenient. From getting matched in a big tournament to tracking your achievements to simply getting friends together for game night, there's a lot that goes into a good experience with a game outside of the game itself. A revamped technology team led by longtime Wizard Arron Goolsbey will be focused on connecting these kinds of in-store and online interactions so you will have cohesive and connected experiences with our games.

Again, WOTC's track record here isn't great, with the most recent issue being the complete removal of all of WOTC's digital forums for D&D .

Where Do We Go from Here?​

Scott Thorne at ICv2 notes one curious discrepancy :

One thing I do not see in Cocks’ vision of the future of Magic and Dungeons & Dragons: any mention of the physical products on which the digital versions are based. Given his background with Microsoft and digital gaming, that is not really surprising, though he does say he plays both. Hazarding a guess, I think Wizards has looked at the success Marvel and DC Entertainment have had with movies and online games based upon their comic book properties and hope to leverage the Magic and D&D IPs into success in the digital realm. The physical versions of Magic and D&D will remain important, in much the same way that Superman and Spider-Man are, important as source material but providing comparatively little revenue to the company.

Cocks' letter is grand on vision and short on details, but directionally it addresses three major weaknesses in WOTC's attempts to move D&D and its other properties to the next stage. In a connected, digital world, WOTC's D&D remains stubbornly analogue with much of the need to play and connect filled by third parties. Cocks' record as a digital gamer and his willingness to experiment is a promising sign that WOTC will return with a comprehensive digital strategy in the near future. We can only hope.

 

[TerraDave]

This is an old story. Decades of digital initiatives with very modest impacts, but I guess someone has to keep pushing that virtual boulder.

Fortunately, the real story is that the D&D tabletop game is selling better then it has in decades and has brought in millions of new players (like all those young people who visit ENWorld but don't post on the forums). WotC suits come and go, but my hardbacks are not going anywhere.

 

[RedBoxDwarf]

So much for campaign supplements...

Yeah, that was always my favorite thing about 2E, all of the options, splat books, and other materials for so many different campaigns. Too bad they don't seem on the horizon for 5E. Sad face.

 

[daplunk]

It would be idiotic for WOTC to try and create their own D&D software IMO. Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds have shown that licensing out to companies that have already spent years developing software solutions is the way to go. There are plenty of great software solutions on the market already. All they need is a license to take the next step and really make use of digital solutions in a tabletop world.

Hero Lab / Fifth Edition Character Sheet - Character Creator
Realm Works / Obsidian Portal / City of Brass - Campaign Managers
Fantasy Grounds / Roll20 / D20 Pro - Virtual Table Tops
Hero Lab / OrcPub - Game / Combat Manager

I wouldnt be creating something new. I would be looking at the fantastic work being done by others and figure out what gaps need to be filled. Personally I'm hopeful discussions between Lone Wolf Development and WOTC go well so we can get some license love in Hero Lab and Realm Works.

 

[Sunsword]

I didn't say monthly release. Sigh. Strawman are too easy to use.

My intention wasn't to put words in your mouth, just remember when TSR had 4 or so releases a month and WotC had 1 or 2. It's cool that we disagree. I don't think either of our opinions makes us monsters.

 

[tomBitonti]

It would be idiotic for WOTC to try and create their own D&D software IMO. Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds have shown that licensing out to companies that have already spent years developing software solutions is the way to go. There are plenty of great software solutions on the market already. All they need is a license to take the next step and really make use of digital solutions in a tabletop world.

Additional text omitted. This. A company should focus on what they do well. WotC doesn't do software well. Strategically, I'd start with a small group and not try anything very big until putting out smaller stuff successfully. Both the management and the technical team need quite a bit of time to ramp up their skills. Or go with a proven software company. Although, that still requires WotC management to learn about delivering software; they need a certain minimum understanding or efforts will go badly.

To address earlier points, I make a distinction between digital resources that support gaming (rules; adventures; visual and other media); software used to facilitate play (character and monster builders; encounter builders; combat and other state tracking; virtual tabletop); and software in which runs the game, in the mode of a tablet game or MMO. Personally, I think games like Diablo (with a better content engine; the content engine for the current Diablo is lousy; but the game engine is great), or any number of MMOs, do a far better job of creating a play environment than trying to build a similar game out of the table top game.

At the game I'm in, we all have tablets, and are using them more and more as play assists, but we rather have no interest in playing the game as an MMO.

Thx!
TomB

 

[freeAgent]

The problem with using D&D IP in movies is that the rulesets obviously don't translate and settings are more about building a sandbox than about a particular story. Since movies are all about stories and charaters, there's just not a whole lot "there".

The most recognizable character in the D&D IP stable is Drizzt (and Companions) with Elminster as a distant second. The Drizzt fanboy in me would love to see a series of movies or a TV show that mirrors the books, but the realist in me knows they'd probably be terrible. Terry Brooks did get a chance to turn his Shannara books into a (terrible, IMHO) TV show, so maybe R. A. Salvatore will get a similar opportunity.

 

[Parmandur]

The problem with using D&D IP in movies is that the rulesets obviously don't translate and settings are more about building a sandbox than about a particular story. Since movies are all about stories and charaters, there's just not a whole lot "there".

The most recognizable character in the D&D IP stable is Drizzt (and Companions) with Elminster as a distant second. The Drizzt fanboy in me would love to see a series of movies or a TV show that mirrors the books, but the realist in me knows they'd probably be terrible. Terry Brooks did get a chance to turn his Shannara books into a (terrible, IMHO) TV show, so maybe R. A. Salvatore will get a similar opportunity.

Well, being a big sandbox can be an asset that can be used for a franchise. My expectations are set at Transformers level, so we'll see if they can meet or exceed that.

Sent from my BLU LIFE XL using EN World mobile app

 

[Kramodlog]

My intention wasn't to put words in your mouth

So don't.

 

[TheSwartz]

All of this speculation about high technology intertwining with the greatest table top RPG.

And I still can't buy a legal PDF of the 5e PHB.

PDFs ain't high technology, as such.

That was exactly my point

/sarcasm

 

[Parmandur]

That was exactly my point

/sarcasm

Their standard seems to be "being out of print"; when 5E books go out of print, they will likely go up on DMs Guild, in that old format.

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