If you can't beat 'em, leave 'em in the dust. A number of developers who worked on EA's Black Panther game before it was canceled have now joined Magic: The Gathering publisher and D&D game house Wizards of the Coast to nurture a new title under Shadow of Mordor director Michael de Plater.
Wizards of the Coast president John Hight tells GamesIndustry.biz that de Plater and "14 key people that he's worked with" at Cliffhanger Games – which EA shut down suddenly this summer – are starting "to incubate a new game for us." Some of these developers had also worked with de Plater at former home Monolith, which Warner Bros. closed at the start of 2025.
At the moment, de Plater's secret project is just in its beginning stages, but Hight can already tell it's "something very cool and new."
"And that part I can't tell you yet," he continues.
It doesn't seem de Plater has many specifics nailed down yet, as Hight explains, "We'll go through a fairly lengthy concept process where they're going to look at a lot of different ideas."
Ultimately, Wizards of the Coast wants "to give [de Plater] time" to create.
The publisher is currently also working with Dragon Age: The Veilguard co-director Corrine Busche, who left BioWare this spring before EA began cutting Dragon Age staff to shift its "full focus" on Mass Effect, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor director Stig Asmussen, who Hight says is getting similar treatment as de Plater from Wizards regarding his untitled Dungeons & Dragons game. There's currently no indication that this new incubation project will be yet another D&D game.
