Popular collectible card game Magic: The Gathering will be getting the AAA RPG treatment. A new video game is in development by MMORPG developer Cryptic Studios and online publisher Perfect World Entertainment. It’s planned for both PC and console. No release date has been announced.
Perfect World, Cryptic Studios, and M:TG creators Wizards of the Coast have previously collaborated with the Neverwinter MMORPG. Neverwinter found success as a free-to-play MMORPG with micro-transactions and boasts 15 million players. This new Magic: The Gathering title extends their licensing partnership.
“This game is an exciting part of Wizards of the Coast’s Magic Digital Next initiative to extend gameplay beyond the tabletop, and we’re proud to work with the talented team at Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios to bring the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse to life,” said David Schwartz, Wizards of the Coast Vice President of Digital Publishing.
Magic: The Gathering is the World of Warcraft of CCGs – oft imitated but still the juggernaut of the genre. Players take on the role of Planeswalkers and summon creatures and cast spells to defeat their opponent. The upcoming RPG will “allow fans of the game to fully immerse themselves in the Multiverse, the rich fantasy world in which Magic: The Gathering takes place.”
“It’s Magic: The Gathering like you’ve never experienced before,” said Bryan Huang, CEO of Perfect World Entertainment. “We are ecstatic about the direction of the game Cryptic has been shaping. It’s always been a dream of ours to bring Magic’s Planeswalkers to a modern RPG.”
