Has Wizards of the Coast Given Up on Sigil?

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Sigil seems destined to a slow, spiraling demise after layoffs hit the team overseeing the project. Overnight, news broke that approximately 90% of the team responsible for building Sigil, Wizards of the Coast's new VTT, was let go shortly after the system's public launch. The version of Sigil made available to the public was clearly a work in progress - not only did it require a computer with significant specs to run, it was also only available on Windows computers. The layoffs are the latest sign that Sigil was a solution in search of a problem, a project with no clear endgoal other than to serve as a shinier version of tools already existing for D&D players. EN World has reached out to Wizards for comment about the layoffs.

Project Sigil was initially announced as part of the One D&D initiative back in August 2022. The VTT was supposed to serve as a new entry point for D&D, with cross compatibility with D&D Beyond and additional functionality with D&D's ruleset to make the game easier to play. However, even the initial announcement seemed to lack a strong elevator pitch, other than offering a shinier 3D VTT compared to Roll20 or Foundry. However, many players and D&D commentators immediately pointed out the likely monetization that came with this project, with miniatures, adventures, and even core classes all up for grabs in terms of microtransactions.



Sigil's development continued for over two years, with Wizards offering press and fans new looks at the in-development project at several high-profile events. A Gen Con D&D Live show utilized Sigil for a dragon vs. dragon encounter featuring Baldur's Gate 3 characters (played by their voice actors) caught in the middle. However, the use of Sigil stunted the live show experience, turning a boisterous and raunchy show into a lifeless technical glitch-filled slog. With the players focused on the computer and constantly calling for aid, it was a damning indictment of what Sigil could do to a D&D session.



In early 2025, EN World was invited to a D&D press event at Wizards' headquarters in Renton, WA. The event included an hour-long look at Sigil, which was billed as more of a level builder than a traditional VTT. While the designers showed off how relatively easy it was to build a quick encounter within Sigil, they admitted that most tables wouldn't use the VTT to run every encounter. They also couldn't answer fundamental questions about the VTT, such as monetization or what the design goals for the VTT was. Again, it very much felt like a solution for a problem that hadn't been introduced. At one point, the designer noted that their plan for Sigil's development was largely dependent on what users actually wanted in the system and expressed hope that users could use the VTT for systems beyond D&D 5E. It was also pointed out to developers that there was significant crossover with Maps, a D&D Beyond feature that used 2D maps and tokens that seemed to be far easier to implement with the release of new D&D products. Other than acknowledging the overlap and stating that the two systems worked differently, there wasn't a clear answer as to why Wizards was developing two VTT-esque products at the same time.

Sigil launched in February 2025 as something as a surprise. While a longer beta period was originally planned, the full launch of the project was instead announced via a 140-word press release. The project was limited to D&D Beyond subscribers, with a paid subscription needed to unlock full services. The strangely terse press release and muted launch had all the makings of a market dump - that Wizards of the Coast was cutting its losses after spending significant resources trying to build a system with no clear-cut audience or goal in mind.

As of now, it's unclear how Sigil will be supported moving forward - will it roll out new set pieces and miniatures as new adventures and content with the upcoming Dragon Delves launch? Will it get any significant updates at all now that there's only a handful of employees left to work on the project? Or is Sigil destined to fade into obscurity, the latest in a series of failed online products headed by Wizards that was meant to launch alongside new editions. Only time will tell.
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer

It's interesting that the big story right before this broke was about the sales of physical books and how incredibly below expectations they are for 5.5. It literally made the rounds with the receipts all over the internet earlier this week. But, we were told, WotC didn't actually care because they weren't in the business of selling physical books anymore; VTT and its sexy micro-transactions model was the future revenue stream!

And then a day or two later, Project Sigil appears to die right before our eyes. So, what exactly is D&D's projected revenue stream? If it's not book sales and it's not a VTT which was cancelled, then what is it? And if there isn't a good revenue stream for D&D, then what is WotC going to do with the brand?
Wait really? I haven't seen anything about that big story confirmed anywhere here or in my circles. Where are those receipts?
 

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It's interesting that the big story right before this broke was about the sales of physical books and how incredibly below expectations they are for 5.5. It literally made the rounds with the receipts all over the internet earlier this week. But, we were told, WotC didn't actually care because they weren't in the business of selling physical books anymore; VTT and its sexy micro-transactions model was the future revenue stream!

And then a day or two later, Project Sigil appears to die right before our eyes. So, what exactly is D&D's projected revenue stream? If it's not book sales and it's not a VTT which was cancelled, then what is it? And if there isn't a good revenue stream for D&D, then what is WotC going to do with the brand?
Ima gonna ask for a link on this big story. Should be easy to find what with the receipts all over and all but I’m not finding it. 🤷‍♂️
 

It's interesting that the big story right before this broke was about the sales of physical books and how incredibly below expectations they are for 5.5. It literally made the rounds with the receipts all over the internet earlier this week. But, we were told, WotC didn't actually care because they weren't in the business of selling physical books anymore; VTT and its sexy micro-transactions model was the future revenue stream!

And then a day or two later, Project Sigil appears to die right before our eyes. So, what exactly is D&D's projected revenue stream? If it's not book sales and it's not a VTT which was cancelled, then what is it? And if there isn't a good revenue stream for D&D, then what is WotC going to do with the brand?

For what it's worth, I've not heard anything about physical books being below expectations, at least in terms of Wizards' sales. They certainly didn't exceed expectations but from what I heard, they've been selling generally well. All three books are going to a second print run. I know nothing about D&D Beyond sales, which tends to be much more carefully guarded data.

Claims that the new books sold in the 3,000 copies range were erroneous and (IMO) foolishly spread.
 

Wait really? I haven't seen anything about that big story confirmed anywhere here or in my circles. Where are those receipts?
I would also be very dubious about that since any evidence not from WotC themselves (very likely Bookscan data, I'm guessing, if not just made up or extrapolated from arcane reverse engineering Amazon sales rank tea leaves) will not include any numbers from WotC's own direct sales which they pushed hard with their DDB bundle.
 

You don't need.

With respect, there is an empirically measurable truism in software - 80% of your users use 20% of your features. Most people don't use most of the features in big applications. Delivering overly-complex software with awkward user experience is a perennial problem in the software industry.

And, this is not about what I need, personally. I don't run games by VTT. I have played in several campaigns, and watched my GMs constantly gripe about how awkward it was to run the game, or get the software to do what they wanted to do.
 

Yes, but not all at once for everyone. You can go out and buy another copy of a book (even Dragon magazines which, I know, are harder to come by) because they're still out there. Centralized tools are gone for everyone. When D&D Beyond goes down (and it will), it goes down for everyone.

I'm happy when I have both physical books and downloadable digital books with a good 3-2-1 backup scheme – three copies, two different media, one off-site.
While I agree with you - might point still stands: everything is ephemeral.
 

So, what exactly is D&D's projected revenue stream? If it's not book sales and it's not a VTT which was cancelled, then what is it? And if there isn't a good revenue stream for D&D, then what is WotC going to do with the brand?
for now books, although the probably somewhat diminished, and digital via DDB, probably making up for the lost book sales

Sounds like the focus will be on DDB to me. I’ve been arguing they should turn it into the Steam game of TTRPGs for a while now, for now they bring on more 3pps at least
 

It's interesting that the big story right before this broke was about the sales of physical books and how incredibly below expectations they are for 5.5. It literally made the rounds with the receipts all over the internet earlier this week. But, we were told, WotC didn't actually care because they weren't in the business of selling physical books anymore; VTT and its sexy micro-transactions model was the future revenue stream!

And then a day or two later, Project Sigil appears to die right before our eyes. So, what exactly is D&D's projected revenue stream? If it's not book sales and it's not a VTT which was cancelled, then what is it? And if there isn't a good revenue stream for D&D, then what is WotC going to do with the brand?
We really don't know much about books sales anymore: amazon rankings are gone, direct sales from WotC, digital only purchases on beyond, etc. The only thing we know (if you believe WotC) is that initial sales were very good. The question is how are they maintaining. That has been the strength of 5e, not the initial sales but the ability to maintain sales. We will not know that for a while.*

Regarding digital, you are clearly out of touch. D&D is still very much providing digital offerings and even a VTT (Maps) it is only the 3D VTT that is dying.

*Personally I do feel that 5e is in a decline currently. That doesn't mean it can't be rescued, but it doesn't seem to me like it has a strong vision/ management at the moment that is needed to correct its course.
 
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So I wonder if this is essentially the last nail in the coffin on Cynthia Williams’ projects at WotC, I.E. John Hight saw what was being planned and gave it a very short leash. He would seem to have the experience to know when you’re throwing good money after bad wrt a big project like they tried with Sigil.
 

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