A gaggle of people who previously labored at the now-shuttered Cliffhanger Video games on its canceled Black Panther sport have been picked up by Wizards of the Coast for a brand new venture.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the group is led by Monolith Productions veteran Michael de Plater, who beforehand was director of design on Center-earth: Shadow of Mordor and VP, artistic for Center-earth: Shadow of Battle.
“We have been really capable of deliver him and 14 key those who he is labored with there – and plenty of of them at Monolith – to incubate a brand new sport for us,” stated Wizards of the Coast president John Hight to GamesIndustry.biz. He added that the venture remains to be in the very early levels, and is anticipated to undergo a “prolonged idea course of.” Hight in contrast it to the same new D&D online game venture Wizards of the Coast is supervising below Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order director Stig Asmussen.
The 14 different builders becoming a member of de Plater are veterans of Cliffhanger Video games, a studio fashioned below EA in 2023 largely comprised of veterans from de Plater’s Shadow of Mordor group. The studio was engaged on a single-player, action-adventure, open-world Black Panther sport as half of a multi-title collaboration between EA and Marvel.
Nevertheless, the sport was canceled and the studio closed earlier this yr as EA moved to deal with solely a small handful of franchises: Battlefield, The Sims, Skate, and Apex Legends, alongside its sports activities division. It’s unclear what number of people complete have been impacted by this shut-down, as others have been additionally laid off at the identical time from EA’s cellular and central groups, although it is believed that the quantity was lower than the roughly 300 people EA minimize earlier in the yr throughout Respawn and EA Fan Care.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You could find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Obtained a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.