Although this isn’t an official announcement, John Hight has stated that he would love to see something based on the Dungeons & Dragons IP, on which Baldur’s Gate is also based.
Last year marked the 50th anniversary of D&D, and Wizards of the Coast slowly revealed its bold plans for the gaming industry. This coincided with John Hight’s appointment as president. He worked at Blizzard for ten years as the “chief caretaker” of World of Warcraft before joining the publisher of RPGs, board games, and trading card games. So it’s no surprise that he would like to see a new D&D MMORPG. In an interview with GamesIndustry, Hight openly admitted that he would like to see this happen, although such a project would likely deviate from World of Warcraft’s two-decade-old formula.
“I’d love to have that. I think we need to rethink what an MMO is in this day and age. The traditional model that Blizzard — and even earlier, Ultima Online and EverQuest — pursued could use updating. In our case, it’s probably a crawl, walk, run situation. We want to make sure that we have the talent, the backend technology, and the plans to pursue it. But, of course, that’s just an idea for now. I want to see that happen,” said Hight.
There are already two MMORPGs: Dungeons & Dragons Online, originally released by Turbine in 2006 and now maintained by Standing Stone Games, and Neverwinter, launched by Cryptic in 2013. These are fairly old and have never achieved the level of success the franchise deserves. Hight’s comments make it clear that WotC wants to build a strong foundation of talent and technology before taking on such a massive endeavor. Even if the project gets the green light, it could take a decade to materialize, so patience will be key.
In the meantime, plenty of other D&D projects are on the horizon. This year will see the release of Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked, a fantasy tabletop adventure game. Starbreeze, the creators of Payday, are working on Project Baxter, an online co-op title expected to release in 2026. Invoke (formerly Tuque Games), the studio behind Dark Alliance, is developing a new project as well. There’s also a newly announced action/adventure game in the works at Giant Skull Studio, founded by Stig Asmussen. Asmussen previously met Hight at Sony before he joined Blizzard, making the collaboration more natural. Finally, Gameloft is developing a survival/life simulation/action RPG.
Earlier this month, Hight announced that WotC had hired a team of former Monolith and Cliffhanger Games developers led by Michael de Plater. While the announcement only mentioned that they’re working on a “cool new concept,” it didn’t clarify whether it would be set in the D&D universe or something entirely new. Beyond that, WotC is also funding Archetype Entertainment’s Mass Effect-like RPG Exodus, as well as Atomic Arcade’s G.I. Joe project.
Source: WCCFTech, GamesIndustry
