Originally published at: http://statelyplay.com/2017/06/20/magic-duels-on-life-support/
iPad, PC •
I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t give Magic Duels a lot of love. If you don’t remember, Magic Duels was released in 2015 as the successor to Magic: Duels of the Planeswalkers, which was an annual release from Wizards each summer from 2009-2014. It was slated to be THE final release of Magic on your iPad, and would be updated when new sets were released rather than scuttled and re-released each year. From everything I can gather, it worked rather well; I just realized that playing Magic wasn’t really my thing. Didn’t hate it, but couldn’t justify the amount of time to really learn and understand the complexities of the game, so, it’s really my fault that we didn’t give it its due here at Stately Play. That said, it’s now dead, so I guess we’re off the hook.
When I say “dead” I mean it in the most Pythonesque way in that it’s not quite dead. It’s not getting better, but it doesn’t want to go on the cart, if you catch my drift. The servers for the game will remain active (for now), but the last set launched for the game, Amonkhet, will be the last set ever released for the game. No new cards will be coming to Duels in the future.
Instead, it sounds like they have bigger plans for digital Magic: The Gathering:
We have also partnered with Cryptic Studios—creators of games like City of Heroes and Neverwinter—to produce a Magic: The Gathering massively multiplayer online game. The partnership is new, so we can't tell you when you'll be able to start roaming the Multiverse, but that day is coming!Great! Except, maybe not great if you're a fan of just playing Magic with, you know, cards. From an interview with the Cryptic Studios CEO over on gamesindustry.biz, it sounds less like a card game and more like a traditional MMO in which you play the part of a Planeswalker.
"My intent is to go forward with a Magic game that is not about the card game," D'Angelo said. "It's about jumping into the world and the fiction of Magic: The Gathering..."It also doesn't sound like the kind of game that will be phone/tablet friendly. So, what happens to mobile users who want to keep playing Magic on their tablets? It sounds like there are other titles in the works, but nothing concrete yet:
To that end, if you're a Magic Duels player—or any player—who wants to be involved in the next generation of Magic digital gaming, make sure you sign up for a Wizards Account if you do not already have one. We'll be using that system as a way to integrate our Magic Digital Next products, so it’s the best way to stay involved with our digital future!You can read the entire post from Wizards of the Coast here. There's a lot of words there, but not a lot of info, however, especially concerning the future of Magic on mobile devices. Hat tip: Jason Walker