WotC Brand New D&D Video Game from WotC's New Acquisition Tuque Games

Tuque Games has announced it's working on a brand new D&/D video game. "We're developing a brand-new game based in the widely celebrated, enduring, and immensely popular Dungeons & Dragons universe. This yet to be announced title is steepled in classic D&D lore. We aspire to push this game to new heights for the genre. It’s an honour and a privilege to begin a new chapter for Dungeons & Dragons video games."

Not only that, but the company has been purchased by WotC! The press release went out earlier today:

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RENTON, Wash., Oct. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS), today announced that it has acquired Tuque Games, a digital game development studio based in Montreal. Tuque is led by veterans of the game industry with experience working for leading publishers. Tuque will continue the development of games for Wizards of the Coast's best-known brands, beginning with Dungeons & Dragons.

"At Wizards, we're continuing our commitment to creating new ways to bring our fan favorite brands to life," said Chris Cocks, President, Wizards of the Coast. "Our unique approach of connecting fans around the tabletop as well as through our expanding portfolio of digital games is redefining what it means to be a games company."

Founded in 2012 by Jeff Hattem, Tuque Games released their first title, Livelock, to critical acclaim in 2016. Now with over 55 full-time employees, Tuque will focus on the development of digital games based on the popular Dungeons & Dragons franchise.

"Tuque is thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of the Wizards of the Coast team," said Jeff Hattem, Founder, Tuque Games. "By working more closely together, we can accelerate our joint vision and bring to life new games, characters and worlds in Wizards of the Coast's roster of franchises."

"In Tuque, we believe we have found a unique partner that pairs the nimbleness of an indie studio with the veteran leadership and scale required to deliver complex AAA games for our largest franchises," said David Schwartz, VP of Digital Publishing, Wizards of the Coast. "We are excited to bring Jeff and the Tuque team to the Wizards of the Coast family, which we believe will allow us to continue to meet the needs of our fans while enabling us to scale our digital games development capabilities even faster."

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It seems there's a bit of a D&D video game renaissance going on. Baldur's Gate 3 is coming, as is Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

 

[Undrave]

For all we know it'll be some sort of mobile microtransaction game. Like that Raid Shadow Legend that's been paying youtubers left and right lately...

If it could at least be as good as Honkai Impact 3rd that'd be good...

I'm incredibly leery of modern AAA titles right now.

The good ones tend to be the exclusives designed to sell systems or software, and I know that Hasbro and especially WotC aren't getting into the console making or game launcher markets any time soon.

edit: A bit of clarity.

I can't read "AAA games" without hearing Jim Sterling's mocking tone in my head nowadays

 

[GreyLord]

I'm not positive what defines a AAA game vs. one that is not, but many times it seems VERY subjective rather than objective.

Was BG a AAA game or not, how about BG2. How about NWN?

I'd consider those AAA games in retrospect, even if many at the time thought that were lower level tier games that bordered in Indie.

Much of this nonsense about what is or is not a AAA game is just that...nonsense these days.

So it comes from a major publisher who spent 200 million on it. IF they only make 50 million on that, but the "Indie" developer makes 100 million on their game...which one was actually AAA?

It comes down to perception, and if it really is all about painting a perception...I think it's more of a wait and see what comes out of the studio and what they create rather than doing the entire Video Game elitism that some have in trying to define what a AAA game is vs. a Non-AAA game.

I'd rather play a ton of Trails of the...games than any of the more recent AAA Final Fantasy games...for example...and to me the Trails games of late have had a LOT more substance and enjoyment than FFXV did for example.

 

[FrogReaver]

I'm not positive what defines a AAA game vs. one that is not, but many times it seems VERY subjective rather than objective.

Was BG a AAA game or not, how about BG2. How about NWN?

I'd consider those AAA games in retrospect, even if many at the time thought that were lower level tier games that bordered in Indie.

Much of this nonsense about what is or is not a AAA game is just that...nonsense these days.

So it comes from a major publisher who spent 200 million on it. IF they only make 50 million on that, but the "Indie" developer makes 100 million on their game...which one was actually AAA?

It comes down to perception, and if it really is all about painting a perception...I think it's more of a wait and see what comes out of the studio and what they create rather than doing the entire Video Game elitism that some have in trying to define what a AAA game is vs. a Non-AAA game.

I'd rather play a ton of Trails of the...games than any of the more recent AAA Final Fantasy games...for example...and to me the Trails games of late have had a LOT more substance and enjoyment than FFXV did for example.

AAA in this context is not a rating of how good or bad the game was...

Essentially it means it's a high budget game. While throwing lots of money at a game doesn't always lead to quality, it certainly can't hurt things either

 

[GreyLord]

AAA in this context is not a rating of how good or bad the game was...

Essentially it means it's a high budget game. While throwing lots of money at a game doesn't always lead to quality, it certainly can't hurt things either

In that case there's no reason that Tuque won't make a AAA game if that's all it takes. There's a TON of money that can be tossed into it if so need be.

The bigger thing in this is that with more direct overview, Hasbro and WotC can try to input more directly the items they wish reflected about D&D into video games by Tuque regardless of money or AAA rating.

Some may see that as good, some may see it as bad. I suppose it depends on how you view Hasbro or WotC.

 

[FrogReaver]

In that case there's no reason that Tuque won't make a AAA game if that's all it takes. There's a TON of money that can be tossed into it if so need be.

The bigger thing in this is that with more direct overview, Hasbro and WotC can try to input more directly the items they wish reflected about D&D into video games by Tuque regardless of money or AAA rating.

Some may see that as good, some may see it as bad. I suppose it depends on how you view Hasbro or WotC.

Ummmm… they would need to have the ability to toss around that kind of money. Most game companies except the biggest just don't have the ability to do that.

 

[GreyLord]

Ummmm… they would need to have the ability to toss around that kind of money. Most game companies except the biggest just don't have the ability to do that.

How much money is one talking about. WotC may not have it on hand, but Hasbro probably does. Hasbro has a little experience with video games as of late, though many may say it was bad.

Hasbro has other franchise/brands that have had video games that have been put out there such as Transformers and other arenas which have had games for their particular grouping.

Of course, how much money will be sunk into a game is debatable as well. I'll leave it more up to the risk calculators and those who deal with that area to hopefully figure it out.

I'm not seeing that it would be specifically a money thing though, and not sure if Hasbro has to spend a massive budget to get a AAA game.

According to Wikipedia though AAA games are

AAA (pronounced and sometimes written Triple-A) is an informal classification used for video games produced and distributed by a mid-sized or major publisher, typically having higher development and marketing budgets. AAA is analogous to the film industry term "blockbuster".[1]

Which means for most of those which are not blockbusters, it's more of a subjective term. A LOT of those games people would classify as AAA games, even if they have massive budgets...aren't actually AAA games in that light.

And games that may not have had a massive budget at first...can turn into a AAA game if it sells enough and becomes popular enough.

Hasbro itself could be considered at least mid-sized I'd think...and a studio could be a mid-sized studio under Hasbro.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Please, (I hope) it will be not other Diablo III clone. (Has anybody said "Diablo Inmortal"?). After the "endgame", killing the final boss, the game lost interest for me. I played "Sacred", and when I bought Sacred II and I tried to start a couple of games, I didn't continue. Also I tried Heroes of Newerwinter, the facebook game with 4thd Ed rules.

The videogames adaptations are one of the best advertising/publicity, and sometimes even you earn money, but many titles haven't been very successful, and D&D has got someone in that list. A D&D videogame can't be only to kill monsters to earn gold and to buy item and being like a "Christmas tree".

I warn if some time they try to publish a PvP D&D videogame will find not only the challenge of finding the right balance of power between melee and ranged attacks but also among knights, swashbucklers, firearms and warmages. Guns and crossbows need reloading but that can be done by squirrels.

* Why not a new agreement with Capcom for a new beat'em as Tower of Doom or Shadow over Mystara?

* Have you imagined anytime a D&D version of monster-tamer game as Pokemon or Digimon? It would be like the summoner class from Pathfinder.

* How would be a D&D tower defense, too close to "Orcs must die"?

* Almost all D&D games are set in FR. Why not a remake of Dragonlance campaign? It can't be worse than the cartoon movie.

* If streamer players are a good advertising... why not a Birthright RTS where players can create their own machinima movies and these to be published in youtube? for example adaptation of fairy tales from popular folklore, or using halflings and gnomes with a fun accent for (kid-friendly) comedy stories. Or a Ravenloft machinima.

* Have you imagined a game-live show as Critical Role with a virtual tabletop like a machinima movie?

* I imagine the future of D&D as an asymmetric videogame where a player is the DM and can put traps and summon monsters, but he can't control all, like in "Project Resistance", a spin-off of Resident Evil


Do you know the games "Dead by Daylight" or "Last year: the nightmare"? Now let's imagine streamer players with a title like this but set in Ravenloft, where nobody knows who is going to die or survive.

* Dark Sun would be perfect for a AAA videogame, but psionic isn't ready yet. I wonder about martial adepts, vestige binders and incarnum soulmelder classes in Athas.

* Sometimes I think Hasbro and WotC's dream is a D&D videogame like a mixture or ARPG, RTS and musou(Hyrule Warriors) as Kingdom Under Fire 2 but a project like this would years. And I say it again: A challenge for game designers about balance of power if a playable faction is "eco-friendly" low-level-tech (for example the two factions from Jakandor island) but other can use gunpowder and steampunk constructs (Eberron, gnomes from Krynn or Mystara, or Iron Kingdoms by Private Press).

 

[Ravenbrook]

Since you mention Birthright: It would be a great setting for a Crusader Kings-style game.

 

[Dausuul]

Man, Wizards BOUGHT the studio. This isn't a licensing thing. That makes me a lot more hopeful.

It makes me less hopeful. Licensing was a good strategy. It was working well for Wizards.

Take 5E's electronic tools, for example: They gave that license to Trapdoor Technologies. Trapdoor Technologies failed to deliver. So Wizards yanked the license and gave it to Curse, and Curse delivered D&D Beyond, which has evolved into the best official* suite of electronic tools D&D has ever had.

If Wizards had signed a deal with Trapdoor, with money changing hands, it would have been tougher to do that--there would be pressure to justify the investment. You can call that a sunk cost fallacy, and you'd be right, but it's still a big thing in corporate decision-making. And if Wizards had bought Trapdoor, lock, stock, and barrel? You can't just walk away from that kind of investment if it turns sour.

Now, any time some studio wants to license the D&D IP, the decision will be colored by "Is this going to compete with our in-house offerings?" And WotC's track record for in-house offerings is not exactly stellar. This has the feel of empire-building: D&D is going like gangbusters, the money is rolling in after the long winter of yearly layoffs, and folks are looking for ways to spend that cash... not always well-considered ones.

*I emphasize "official." I'm not picking on your favorite indie offering!

 

[Ravenbrook]

D&D is going like gangbusters

I didn't know Gangbusters was a successful game. (Sorry, I couldn't help that).