Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Wizards of the Coast was reorganizing its video game production and canceling at least five video game projects — one of them being Dungeons and Dragons game from Hidden Path Entertainment. However, Hidden Path announced on Twitter that its D&D project is still on track, and the studio is actively looking to hire new people to join the team.
Hidden Path’s tweet contradicts Bloomberg’s original report about several Dungeons & Dragons games being canceled by publisher Wizards of the Coast. The report author Jason Schreier responded to Hidden Path’s tweet stating that he finds the situation “unusual and very unfortunate” but stands by the original reporting. He cites that Bloomberg received clarification about Hidden Path’s D&D game getting canceled from a source and a Wizards of the Coast spokesperson.
Schreier further added that he contacted the Wizards of the Coast spokesperson again post Hidden Path’s tweet, and they reiterated that the game in question from the studio has been canceled.
This may be an unfortunate situation where Hidden Path’s D&D project has been canceled internally by Wizards of the Coast, but the studio has yet to receive official word on the cancelation. We don’t have any greater insight into the situation other than what is being reported by Bloomberg.
Hasbro and its subsidiary Wizards of the Coast wanted to release several new video games based on their popular Dungeons and Dragons brand. Some of the early games published by the company, like Dungeon and Dragons: Dark Alliance, ended up failing. Hasbro would later suffer a 40% drop in shares in 2022, forcing the toy company to reorganize, greatly affecting many of its subsidiaries, including Wizards.
Wizards of the Coast is being reported as having to lay off 15 people and canceling five projects being worked on by other studios, including Hidden Path Entertainment’s unnamed Dungeons and Dragons game. Fortunately, the publisher’s Baldur’s Gate III release in August is unaffected.
