'Hasbro pushed Sigil out of the nest': D&D's latest layoffs happened because the 'distinct monetization path' for its virtual tabletop Sigil never materialized

D&D's attempt at a virtual tabletop (VTT), a digital space where you could hypothetically play a bit of Dungeons & Dragons, has been hit with layoffs shortly after its release—that was per a LinkedIn post by former senior writer Andy Collins earlier this week. Now, a report by Rascal News has more details—and it's all looking rather dire.

Rascal News reveals an internal memo, forwarded to the publication by an employee who chose to remain anonymous. However, Collins would later confirm to the publication that the memo is legitimate. It reads: "After several months of alpha testing, we’ve concluded that our aspirations for Sigil as a larger, standalone game with a distinct monetization path will not be realized.

"As such, we cannot maintain a large development effort and most of the Sigil team will be separated from the company this week. We are, however, proud of what the Sigil team has developed and want to make sure that fans and players on [D&D Beyond] can use it. To that end, we will transition Sigil to a DDB feature. We will maintain a small team to sustain Sigil and release products already developed at no additional cost to users."

The memo adds that, "to those moving on as a result of this decision, we will provide robust support, including severance packages, 2024 bonus, career placement services, and internal opportunities where possible."

Rascal News then shares further revelations from the anonymous employee, which issues Sigil of a confused and poorly-communicated development cycle—one where corporate leadership was lacking, and there was a "distinct lack of interest" from the word go. All with a rumbling undercurrent of WoTC not knowing how to put a videogame together. Which—to be clear, Sigil was never going to be. That didn't stop Hasbro thinking it was cut from the same cloth, though.

"Hasbro treated Sigil like a video game instead of a VTT, and at no point cared to understand the difference. … The company apparently expected Sigil to create revenue in a similar fashion to Magic: The Gathering or Baldur’s Gate 3: simply by existing. When that proved not to be the case, the employee said Hasbro pushed Sigil out of the nest and were uninterested if it managed to fly before crashing to earth.

"The employee described a meeting only a month ago where Collins asked leadership about their vision for Sigil going forward. Nobody was able to provide a clear answer." Jeez.

It doesn't feel great to have my every fear about the ill-fated D&D virtual tabletop vindicated. To hear, even via a second-hand account, that Hasbro was simply treating Sigil as some videogame they could rinse with monetization gives me a sick stomach. I'm frustrated, more than anything: That developers are out of a job, that money went into this, and that people who are out-of-touch with how TTRPGs are played keep giving marching orders to the people who know their stuff.

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