Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast is reportedly canceling at least five unannounced video games

Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast has canceled at least five unannounced video games. Bloomberg has called.

The move is an apparent reduction in the company’s ambitions in the video game space.

Wizards of the Coast is best known for the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop games, but has invested heavily in video games in recent years.

The first result of this promotion, 2021’s Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, didn’t garner much interest. “A bad first impression, but it’s growing,” wrote Bertie in Eurogamer’s review of Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance.

Much more promising is Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3, which is currently in development and is due for release in August this year.

In a statement, Wizards of the Coast insisted it remained “committed” to video games but made changes to focus on games “that are strategically aligned to develop our existing brands and those that show promise, to expand or engage our audience in new ways.” Fewer than 15 employees at Wizards of the Coast will lose their jobs, Bloomberg said, but they will be given the opportunity to apply for new positions within the company.

While the canceled games are unannounced, Bloomberg said independent studios Otherside Entertainment and Hidden Path Entertainment have been affected. Otherside has had a tumultuous existence. It started out with a mission to bring back the Underworld franchise, but its effort in 2018’s Underworld Ascendant was widely planned. Otherside was working on System Shock 3 before publisher Starbreeze nearly collapsed. In November 2022, Otherside announced a new game called Argos: Riders on the Storm, starring legendary developer Warren Spector.

Hidden Path Entertainment is best known for the Defense Grid games. It was working on an “open-world, third-person, AAA role-playing game” set in the Dungeons & Dragons franchise.