Hasbro Opens New Wizards of the Coast Video Game Studio in Montreal to Support D&D Franchise

Hasbro has announced a new video game studio in Montreal, with a new focus on supporting D&D video games. The new studio, called Wizards of the Coast Studios Inc. will focus on developing new content for the Dungeons & Dragons franchise and expanding Hasbro's lineup of digital games. The studio is expected to support 200 jobs. Dan Ayoub, the head of the D&D franchise, will also run the new studio. Ayoub, you may recall, has a long pedigree in video game development.

The new studio will not replace Invoke Studios, Hasbro's other studio located in Montreal. The new office for Wizards of the Coast Studios Inc. will be located next to Invoke Studios.

Hasbro has big aspirations for expanding the D&D franchise via video games. Several D&D video games are in development at third party studios and now we're seeing an in-house expansion of the D&D digital portfolio. One obvious speculation is that the new studio will work on a Baldur's Gate 4, which Hasbro has promised will eventually be released following the mammoth success of Baldur's Gate 3.

 

[The Soloist]

The workers do not need to speak French. A sizeable portion of my colleagues moved here from the US or the rest or Canada and do not speak a word of french. At least a third of my interactions with industry peers is entirely in English.

They might need to learn French if they want to immigrate down the line through Quebec, but work visas absolutely do not require French.


That's the thing, they don't need to. There's a ton of very qualified workers looking for work right now.

The ecosystem and the support between different game companies is also very high.

Indeed. I studied at Concordia University and worked 40 years in downtown Montreal near the Guy subway station. That is smack in the middle of the English part of Montreal. On the floor we spoke French, but often switched to English if our colleague couldn't understand. Sometimes we even spoke in a unique blend I call Frenglish, mixing words of both languages in the same sentence. It was all very cordial. There is no problem. It's all good.

What needed to be said, was said. Moving on.

 

[bedir than]

They could also not engage in the performative "playtesting" they use as marketing.

Is it now considered performative to hold a survey, read the responses, and then put out new material based on those responses?
Because that's the 5e playtesting model at WotC and it reads like actual playtesting for every company that does beta testing of anything.

 

[Reynard]

Is it now considered performative to hold a survey, read the responses, and then put out new material based on those responses?
Because that's the 5e playtesting model at WotC and it reads like actual playtesting for every company that does beta testing of anything.

No. I am saying that WotC specifically is using their playtest format as performative marketing.

 

[Dire Bare]

No. I am saying that WotC specifically is using their playtest format as performative marketing.

So, yes. "Performative" playtesting involving actual playtesting, surveying for feedback, and incorporating that feedback. Okay. Is WotC also using these opportunities for some marketing? Sure. Shrug.

 

[bedir than]

No. I am saying that WotC specifically is using their playtest format as performative marketing.

And yet their recent updates show they respond to feedback. Their employees strongly countered the lies about no one reading the feedback.

There's no performance, unless you think doing the work of testing is always performative.

 

[Reynard]

And yet their recent updates show they respond to feedback. Their employees strongly countered the lies about no one reading the feedback.

There's no performance, unless you think doing the work of testing is always performative.

I literally don't believe that.

It is actually worse if WotC "listens" because only the most vocal and most always-online fans respond. That means D&D development is steered by the people you want steering it least.

I'm a game designer. I don't believe you should ne engineering your design based on the most vocal portion of the internet. That's crazy. Make the game you believe in.

This is doubly true for D&D.

 

[Azzy]

I literally don't believe that.

It is actually worse if WotC "listens" because only the most vocal and most always-online fans respond. That means D&D development is steered by the people you want steering it least.

I'm a game designer. I don't believe you should ne engineering your design based on the most vocal portion of the internet. That's crazy. Make the game you believe in.

This is doubly true for D&D.

We live in a capitalist society. If you want to make money, you have to produce what the most people want to make the most money. (Not saying it's a good thing, because it isn't. However, unless we change how things work, that's the reality that we live in.)

 

[bedir than]

I literally don't believe that.

It is actually worse if WotC "listens" because only the most vocal and most always-online fans respond. That means D&D development is steered by the people you want steering it least.

I'm a game designer. I don't believe you should ne engineering your design based on the most vocal portion of the internet. That's crazy. Make the game you believe in.

This is doubly true for D&D.

They also use internal playtesting and concepting.
To act like the only thing they use is the mass feedback method is to ignore their quite clear statements about their process. The designers involved, even those that left for other projects, seem really proud of the game they believe in -- many are still designing for it (and offering playtests!)

 

[Parmandur]

I literally don't believe that.

It is actually worse if WotC "listens" because only the most vocal and most always-online fans respond. That means D&D development is steered by the people you want steering it least.

I'm a game designer. I don't believe you should ne engineering your design based on the most vocal portion of the internet. That's crazy. Make the game you believe in.

This is doubly true for D&D.

They get hundreds of thousands of responses, a d one of their key discovering the D&D Next era was how starkly different the survey feedback ended up being from online discourse.

 

[mamba]

Is it now considered performative to hold a survey, read the responses, and then put out new material based on those responses?
Because that's the 5e playtesting model at WotC and it reads like actual playtesting for every company that does beta testing of anything.

the way WotC does it yes, it’s at least as much marketing as it is playtesting