D&D General Resolution Games and Wizards of the Coast Announce the First Official D&D Virtual Reality Game

Swedish video game company Resolution Games announced a licensing deal with Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast to create a virtual reality game set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. From the press release:

Resolution Games, creators of the award-winning digital fantasy tabletop adventure Demeo, has jointly announced a collaboration today with Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS), the leading toy and game company’s subsidiary, Wizards of the Coast, to create the world’s first virtual reality video game set in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS universe.

“As anyone who’s played Demeo can guess, we’re incredibly huge fans of tabletop roleplaying games,” said Tommy Palm, founder and CEO of Resolution Games. “They have an unparalleled power to bring people together to create shared experiences, and that’s something we’ve tried to capture, too, with nearly every release in our library. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS offers one of the richest fantasy worlds that has ever been created, and it only gets bigger with every new sourcebook and adventure. We’re beyond humbled to have the opportunity to work with such an incredible IP and look forward to sharing the first details of this new project in the future.”

Following its 2021 release, Resolution Games’ Demeo garnered attention throughout the TTRPG world with its approachable blend of dungeon exploration and turn-based tactics with friends – which Palm reveals was firmly inspired by the team’s love for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. Both Demeo and the second game in the franchise, Demeo Battles, are playable on PC and in VR. Demeo is also available on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2.

“Resolution Games has a clear understanding of how to bring players together and capture the fun of tabletop gaming on digital platforms in an accessible way,” said Eugene Evans, SVP Digital Strategy and Licensing at Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro. “They are an ideal partner to bring a new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS video game to life in VR and beyond. Dungeons & Dragons and our other world class gaming brands continue to attract amazing partners as we execute our strategy to grow our digital games portfolio through licensing and internal development.”

No further details are available on the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons game nor is there any release window listed. The current big release from Resolution Games as stated above is Demeo and it’s PvP spinoff Demeo Battles. Those games are dungeon crawl fantasy games simulating the tabletop experience with figures that look like miniatures and a card-based action economy. The games can be played both in virtual reality and on a regular display.

Resolution Games points those seeking more information to the social media accounts for Demeo on Twitter and Facebook as well as their website demeogame.com.

 

[sevenbastard]

Did "Dungeons & Dragons" become a setting? If the D&D Universe is just a place with magic, dwarves, elves, and dragons, well I'm sorry, but Skyrim VR beat them to it.

If you are the marketing arm of WOTC that is exactly what you want. You want D&D to be the Rollerblades or Klenex. A instantly recognizable name that conjurs a very specific thing for consumers.

D&D has been slapping its name on video games with no connection to the actual rules for years. The old Intelivission ones, the 90s arcade beat up ups, some modern mobile games. All to build a brands (and make licensing money).

 

[Willie the Duck]

I have Demeo, it can be fun. I wonder if it will be boardgame-like Demeo is or if it will be more "first person" like Dungeons of Eternity (which I also have, and is a lot harder).

Is the above picture a representative example of the game? It looks very much like something that could be a regular PC or mobile game. What does the VR component do?

 

[Oofta]

Is the above picture a representative example of the game? It looks very much like something that could be a regular PC or mobile game. What does the VR component do?

There are no details on how it will actually work or what it will look like. However, I have played a VR dungeon crawl game and actually being in the dungeon was a different experience than playing a PC game. While I don't know how the proposed game will work, the game I played was first person, you had to actually swing your weapon, etc..

So it could bring a whole new perspective to the game, first person immersive perspective. Or not, it's still vaporware. Although I do remember speculating long ago in a college dorm room far, far away about having a VR D&D game that was multiplayer where we saw the world through our PC's eyes. I assume we're still a ways away from that though.

 

[Vaalingrade]

What does the VR component do?

Add a few hundred dollars to the hardware and Dramamine bill.

 

[CellarHeroes]

If you are the marketing arm of WOTC that is exactly what you want. You want D&D to be the Rollerblades or Klenex. A instantly recognizable name that conjurs a very specific thing for consumers.

D&D has been slapping its name on video games with no connection to the actual rules for years. The old Intelivission ones, the 90s arcade beat up ups, some modern mobile games. All to build a brands (and make licensing money).

I just had this image of describing D&D to someone...
Them: "What is Dungeons & Dragons?"
Me: "It's a Dungeons & Dragons-style game, set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe."

 

[wedgeski]

Is the above picture a representative example of the game? It looks very much like something that could be a regular PC or mobile game. What does the VR component do?

It's basically a virtualised, co-operative miniatures skirmish game. The 'table' is manifested in virtual space and you interact with it as if with a table full of miniatures, using cards to activate abilities, kill foes, interact with the environment, etc. The simulation handles line of sight, fog of war, distance, and all that.

 

[J-H]

As far as the world is concerned. Most people, if you asked, would say Athas is one of the Three Musketeers.

No, no, you've got it all wrong. Athas is the guy who picked up the cold sword in that game with the orcs (the one with the dwarfs and goblins and magic and stuff) and then became the lord of the undead on an iceberg after killing a bunch of elves.

I really don't know any Warcraft plot after a bit of WC3

 

[Abstruse]

Dungeons & Dragons already has that BTW. That's what caused all this big corporate insider shuffle on approaching D&D as a brand. Brand recognition for D&D is through the roof, on par with some of the largest entertainment brands in the world. D&D charts on the same level of recognition as "Lord of the Rings" or "Marvel Comics". Based on that, it should be a multi-billion dollar brand.

The problem is that tabletop roleplaying is not a multi-billion-dollar industry. This leads to a lot of steps that seem strange to people i the TTRPG industry, like trying to turn TTRPGs into a multi-billion-dollar industry (making changes to the OGL to get a cut of the comppanies making large amounts off their brand, locking customers into their VTT and digital storefront ecosystem) and pushing D&D into strange business deals (a lot of the weird licensing deals like boxer shorts with the D&D logo on them, a lot more branded D&D merch competing directly with the years worth of "geeky" generic RPG merch, several licensed and in-house video games, the rush to get movies and TV shows out, a D&D themed cooking show on streaming).

Hasbro really wants D&D to make the sort of money an IP with that level of recognition should be making, and it's likely they're going to keep floundering trying weird stuff until they do. A VR video game is the least weird of those, but I would not be surprised if something like a chain of gimmicky themed D&D restaurants pop up, or a cross-promotional licensed line of toothpaste (cinnamon flavor red dragon, mint flavor frost giant...), or anything else unusual as they keep throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks.

 

[GMMichael]

Is the above picture a representative example of the game? It looks very much like something that could be a regular PC or mobile game. What does the VR component do?

I'm pretty sure VR D&D looks like a virtual table, with virtual friends, rolling dice and still having to imagine the game world. But Matt Mercer is there.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Did "Dungeons & Dragons" become a setting? If the D&D Universe is just a place with magic, dwarves, elves, and dragons, well I'm sorry, but Skyrim VR beat them to it.

Agreed Dungeons and Dragons is not a setting, FR, DL, PS, SJ, etc... are settings.