D&D suffers more layoffs as Wizards cuts Sigil VTT staff by 90%

Sigil, the Unreal Engine 5-powered virtual tabletop built to support the latest version of Dungeons & Dragons, arrived in a less-than-complete state just a few weeks ago. On Tuesday, a team member went to LinkedIn to report that 90% of the Wizards of the Coast staff who supported it have been laid off. Reached for comment, Wizards of the Coast confirmed the layoffs. Blain Howard, senior manager, brand publicity, also linked us to a landing page for Sigil, which notes that the platform remains live.

Howard also shared the following email, which he said was sent yesterday to all employees. It’s attributed to Dan Rawson, senior vice president Dungeons & Dragons and Hasbro Direct.

Dear Team,

I want to share an important update regarding Sigil. After several months of alpha testing, we’ve concluded that our aspirations for Sigil as a large, 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 DDB 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. 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.

I want to take a moment to praise the entire Sigil team for their incredible work to deliver this product to our community. One of the things I’m most proud of here at D&D is our strong sense of purpose. We aim to honor our current players while ensuring D&D continues to build connections and bring joy to future generations. And that’s what the Sigil team was doing. Although we haven’t fully realized our vision for Sigil to scale, the team should be proud of their achievements.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out.

Dan

An online, virtual playspace has long been a high-level goal of Wizards leadership, and the Sigil platform was seen as the highest expression of that vision. The PC-based, graphically sophisticated tool remains part of the D&D Beyond subscription model, and is meant to replicate the experience of playing at a table with elaborate miniatures, terrain, lighting, and more. But the experience that launched quietly on the last day of February lacks the kind of depth and precision to make Dungeon Master’s lives easier. In our review, we even questioned whether the team seemed inclined to support it further past its launch.

In a post Tuesday evening on LinkedIn, senior writer, game designer, and team leader Andy Collins was the first to publicly announce the layoffs.

“Appximately 30 talented developers (90% of the team) were laid off from the Sigil […] team at Wizards of the Coast, including yours truly.

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to continue working toward the full experience that we imagined, but happy for the opportunity to work on an intriguing challenge with so many smart and dedicated folks.”

Update: We’ve updated the original article with comments from Wizards of the Coast.