Almost a year after Baldur's Gate 3's release, Hasbro knows that "People really, really like a great, well-executed D&D game."
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Dan Ayoub, Hasbro's head of digital product development, touched on Baldur's Gate 3's success and revealed the company's plans will involve video games going forward. "One of the great things we took from the success of Baldur's Gate 3 is that people really, really like a great, well-executed D&D game," the Hasbro head said.
"For the company and for myself, that was a fantastic example of execution of the brand in an authentic way," he adds. "And the players came. They loved it and are asking for more. And I think you can see that with other brands as well." Outside of Baldur's Gate 3, Ayoub says Hasbro has four AAA studios to its name, one of which is working on a new D&D game and another that's "hopefully going to be a shot in the arm" for the company's G.I. Joe franchise.
"Hasbro's a 100-year-old company and it's built on play. It's always been about play, it's always been about entertaining people. And gaming is the predominant form of entertainment for a lot of people," Ayoub explains. "So in a lot of ways, it makes sense for Hasbro to be in this space." Hasbro-owned studio Archetype is also home to the former BioWare developers working on the upcoming RPG Exodus.
"Video games is an integral part of Hasbro's strategy going into the next 100 years," Ayoub adds. "And we have to make sure that everything that comes out is top quality, is authentic, and is something we can build upon, because we're talking about a couple studios and a couple games right now, but we have much larger ambitions for that."
Before you get too excited about another D&D game so soon after Baldur's Gate 3, the Hasbro boss adds that "Everything's going to stay in the oven as long as it needs to. We're not going to rush anything out."
While we wait to find out more about what Hasbro's studios are cooking up, you'll find plenty of other things to look forward to with our new games 2024 list.
