Former Wizards of the Coast exec resurrects canceled game at new studio
A game previously canceled by Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering owner Wizards of the Coast has found new life at a new studio helmed by a former executive.
Today, Level Headed Games founder Leah Hoyer—formerly the GM and vice president of creative at Wizards of the Coast—announced that her studio has secured ownership of the hereto unannounced "collaborative arena party game." Hoyer had led development on the game while at Wizards, but left the company (per her LinkedIn page) in February 2023, after Bloomberg News reported the company canceled five in-development games.
Hoyer founded Level Headed Games that same month with "participation" in an a16z Speedrun. It appears the game is not based on an existing property. The company described the game as an "accessible gaming experience" aimed at "Gen Z and multi-generational" players, and said the game was previously in development at Wizards' "new IP studio."
Hoyer said early testing showed the game had "excellent promise," and the team had been making "rapid progress" in building the new setting.
“We are grateful to Wizards of the Coast that we were able to keep the project going," she concluded. "We arent building our game the way we originally thought we would, but change is the one constant in the industry these days. We regrouped, made critical shifts to reflect the realities of our new team size, and got back to work making something that we are really proud of."
