Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios announced their newest project, Magic: Legends, at the Game Awards this year. Magic: Legends is an MMO action RPG set in the multiverse of the vastly popular trading card game Magic: the Gathering, which has amassed 40 million players worldwide. Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios are no strangers to adapting famous settings into MMORPGs, having previously released games like Star Trek Online and Neverwinter, a game set in the Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons and Dragons.
Magic: the Gathering has had great success recently in the online space. Magic: The Gathering Arena received a full release earlier this year and has received great success, having reached over a billion plays while it was still in beta. With its success among both casual fans and eSports players, as well as its perhaps ill-advised rise to prominence in the MG championship tournament, Magic Arena has certainly proven that there is an audience for digital MTG content.
Magic: Legends was announced at the Game Awards with a minute-long cinematic trailer showing an array of characters in a variety of combat situations. While details were scarce, fans could recognize Zendikar in one scene by means of a distinct stone landmark called a hedron in the background. Zendikar is a popular setting that has played host to two sets in the main trading card game and has already been confirmed for a third coming in the third quarter of 2020. Another scene was likely set on the fan-favorite plane of Innistrad, a gothic horror-inspired locale recognizable in the trailer due to the imposing architecture and the presence of a menacing werewolf.
Work on the game was begun by Cryptic Studios in 2017, and is being done as part of an extension of a licensing contract with Wizards of the Coast following the success of Neverwinter. Stephen Ricossa, former executive producer of Star Trek Online, is currently leading the team designing Magic: Legends. “We’ve assembled a team of talented developers who are incredibly passionate about Magic: The Gathering and share a collective deep knowledge of the franchise,” says Ricossa, “we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to bring the multiverse to life in a way that fans have never experienced before.”
Many fans have wished for a Magic: the Gathering MMO for years. The game has always had a reputation for rich, fascinating settings brought to life by vibrant artwork. Players could be forgiven for wanting to explore these settings for themselves, and an MMORPG seems an ideal way to let them play out this fantasy. A live service game like Magic: Legends could be updated to follow new expansions in both the physical game and in Magic Arena and give fans a whole new way to interact with their favorite trading card game. And by tapping studios like Perfect World and Cryptic Studios, Wizards of the Coast is in good position to make this quote from Perfect World CEO Yoon Im really ring true: “It’s an incredible time to be a Magic: the Gathering Fan.”
More: 10 Things We Know So Far About the Magic: the Gathering Netflix Show
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