The Wheel of Time 'AAA Open-World RPG' Is Legit, Its Developers Insist, but Don't Hold Your Breath for a Release Date — It Could Be a PS6 and Next Xbox Game

It’s just to accidental the caller announcement of a The Wheel of Time video crippled being successful the works caught fans by astonishment — and sparked a steadfast dose of skepticism online.

The announcement, reported archetypal by Hollywood commercialized work Variety, described an upcoming “AAA open-world role-playing game” for PC and consoles based connected Robert Jordan’s much-loved 14-book bid The Wheel of Time. A three-year improvement play was besides mentioned.

It’s successful improvement astatine iwot Studios’ caller Montreal-based crippled developer, which is led by erstwhile Warner Bros. Games enforcement Craig Alexander. Alexander oversaw improvement for each Turbine (now WB Games Boston) franchises, including The Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and Asheron's Call. This, connected the look of it, would usually spark important excitement from fans. But it’s the sanction iwot Studios, which acquired the rights to The Wheel of Time (as Red Eagle Entertainment) successful 2004, and this speech of an improbable three-year improvement process that has raised much than a fewer eyebrows.

A cursory online hunt of iwot Studios reveals the institution has a fractured narration with the hardcore The Wheel of Time fanbase. I recovered aggregate posts from skeptical fans astir the business, with immoderate accusing iwot of being an "IP camper." Others judge iwot has "squandered" The Wheel of Time IP implicit the years, with aggregate projects that failed to spell anywhere. Fans often constituent to a 10-year-old reddit station that goes adjacent further with the complaints.

This, coupled with a corporate scoffing astatine the thought that a marque caller video crippled improvement workplace tin fundamentally travel from obscurity and crook astir a triple-A RPG that matches The Wheel of Time fans’ expectations, has led to a "we'll judge it erstwhile we spot it" cognition online.

However, The Wheel of Time has recovered important caller occurrence with its Amazon Prime Video TV series, which conscionable wrapped up Season 3 (Season 4 is yet to beryllium announced). The amusement has exposed The Wheel of Time to a caller service of fans, and, aft upsetting the halfway fanbase with important communicative changes successful Seasons 1 and 2 compared to the books, did good to crook the communicative astir with a much-improved Season 3.

It’s with each this successful caput that I acceptable retired to larn much from iwot Studios itself. Over a video call, I spoke with Rick Selvage, brag of iwot Studios, and Craig Alexander, workplace caput for the company’s video crippled efforts, to get a amended knowing of wherever the task is at, its scope, what fans tin expect, and to enactment each that online disapproval to them for a response.

IGN: How did the video crippled task travel to be?

Rick Selvage: We person a precise big, heavy communicative to tell, and we besides hap to power the rights done to The Wheel of Time, including each interactive rights. And video games are a large platform, instrumentality platform, for immoderate IP similar The Wheel of Time. So of people we were going to bash video games. The question is erstwhile and what benignant and however we're going to participate the marketplace? So we felt the clip is close to present bash that.

IGN: Can you springiness maine immoderate item connected the setup you person to recognize that vision? You’re talking astir doing a triple-A open-world role-playing crippled here. A batch is required to marque thing similar that hap to a definite prime level. Exactly what benignant of scope bash you person for this? What setup bash you person now? Where bash you anticipation to get to successful the future?

Craig Alexander: First measurement is squad enactment to get started. The program is to enactment with the franchise for galore years and make a bid of games, sequels, enlargement packs, DLC, et cetera, and physique retired arsenic overmuch of the satellite we can. And fixed that we person an expansive acceptable of rights with 1 of the top phantasy IPs successful the world, it's a labour of emotion and we're looking guardant to getting started.

But however we're going to interruption that up implicit clip is thing that needs to beryllium sorted retired successful pre-production. But we're assured that fixed the richness of the material, we're going to beryllium capable to physique retired overmuch of the world. And you had mentioned complexity. We afloat recognize these are large games to build. This is simply a large IP. I've had acquisition doing rather a spot of phantasy games, gathering MMOs, which are the biggest and hardest games to bash of all. I helped pioneer the genre, and judge this is the close clip for a large Wheel of Time immersive experience, and the fans person been asking for it for many, galore years.

IGN: It sounds to maine similar you are conscionable getting started connected this really, that it’s not similar you've got hundreds of developers moving distant connected the crippled astatine the moment. Is it the lawsuit that you request to commencement hiring aggressively to get this going?

Craig Alexander: Yes. We're actively recruiting a enactment squad now. We're going to beryllium having immoderate announcements soon arsenic we capable retired the enactment team. Then we're going to physique a prototype squad that's going to beryllium reasonably small, little than 20 to 30 radical implicit time, physique retired our prototype, physique up the vertical slice, and past yet spell into accumulation wherever we're going to person upwards of 200-300 staff.

Those numbers are reasonably emblematic for gathering this scope of a world. As you had mentioned, these are ample games, but past arsenic I had mentioned before, due to the fact that we program connected having a sequel strategy from the outset, gathering retired the full acquisition is thing that we're going to request to program for, due to the fact that I americium definite that the fans volition privation much and we'd similar to archer the full story. And this is existent of different large phantasy and subject fabrication IPs wherever there's a batch of contented to enactment with.

Rick Selvage, CEO of The Wheel of Time rights proprietor iwot Studios.

IGN: Is it the lawsuit that you program to self-fund and self-publish the project? Or volition you instrumentality that vertical portion to marketplace and effort and get a steadfast connected board?

Rick Selvage: No. First of all, it won't beryllium self-funded. We volition person important backing to physique retired the company, truthful that's not an issue. And successful regards to publishing, I deliberation it's mode excessively aboriginal to perpetrate to publishing either ourselves oregon different publisher. As you know, implicit the adjacent years exertion and concern models volition alteration dramatically, and we're successful a presumption that we don't person to marque those commitments now. We conscionable person to absorption connected making and processing the champion game.

Craig Alexander: I would adhd the absorption that I had mentioned connected hiring is for a improvement studio. The publishing functions, arsenic Rick said, travel overmuch later.

IGN: I'm asking this due to the fact that you've astir apt seen each the questions nether the prima connected the net arsenic a effect of the announcement, and 1 of them is astir the backing that you mightiness person to recognize this vision. When you spell retired and accidental a triple-A open-world role-playing game, that creates a level of anticipation among fans due to the fact that they cognize what a triple-A open-world role-playing crippled looks similar these days, and that's not cheap. We've seen modern triple-A crippled budgets balloon successful caller years to hundreds of millions of dollars. So I deliberation determination are questions astir however you tin recognize that without having immense concern to marque it happen.

Rick Selvage: We recognize the fiscal requirements to physique a crippled similar this. Craig has been astir that concern and surely ran each improvement for the Lord of the Rings Online MMO, with a fewer 100 developers. And we recognize the costs, we recognize the challenges, and that's wherefore we're putting the enactment squad present that are susceptible of doing that. And the backing facet of it is that we person nary concerns astir having the concern successful bid to scope the goals that we're establishing contiguous with our Montreal studio.

IGN: The announcement mentioned a three-year improvement process for the game.

Rick Selvage: Yeah, good the 3 years, I don't cognize wherever that came from.

IGN: I was going to say, that sounds precise ambitious.

Rick Selvage: The contented we've ever had with the Wheel of Time is that there's excited fans retired there, which is great, and there's a batch of misinformation that is started that is obscurity adjacent accurate. We've conscionable decided we're going to bash our happening and marque tv and games and movies, and alternatively than effort to enactment retired immoderate accusation that pops up… but astatine this constituent is that 3 years is… dunno wherever that came from. We cognize it's going to instrumentality aggregate years to bash this.

Craig Alexander: It's going to instrumentality time. The archetypal crippled volition beryllium the astir hard and we request to scope it decently and framework it, but we privation to person a compelling, high-quality merchandise successful a tenable magnitude of time, but past acceptable up for a occurrence successful the aboriginal truthful that we person the workflow tools, processes, et cetera, truthful that we tin physique retired follow-up releases similar I had mentioned, sequels and expansions and the similar implicit time, and tally this successful galore respects arsenic a unrecorded work and proceed to enactment the franchise for the agelong term, due to the fact that we person a large communicative to tell. I don't underestimate the magnitude of enactment to physique retired the full world, but our intent is to bash that.

But to debate, ‘When is merchandise fig 1 going to travel out?’ And, ‘What books and what regions of the satellite is it going to cover?’ Those details are inactive being sorted out. We're successful pre-production

Rick Selvage: That's an intolerable happening to state. It would beryllium inappropriate to effort to authorities it arsenic well, arsenic overmuch arsenic the fans would similar a circumstantial reply to it. There's a batch of enactment to do.

Craig Alexander is starring improvement of The Wheel of Time video game.

IGN: The announcement besides mentioned you expect to motorboat connected PC and consoles. Is that accurate?

Craig Alexander: Yes, the intent is to beryllium multi-platform. I can't talk to precisely which consoles due to the fact that determination volition apt beryllium a console modulation coming up. For example, the Switch 2 unclear, but Xbox and PlayStation astir likely, and past evidently the PC and possibly adjacent the Macintosh arsenic well, arsenic is emblematic of astir open-world RPGs.

IGN: Based connected what you're saying, this is astir apt a PS6 crippled and immoderate the adjacent Xbox is. PC is PC of course, but this doesn't dependable similar thing that's going to beryllium retired by the extremity of this console generation.

Craig Alexander: Yeah. Now it's imaginable we whitethorn privation to enactment the erstwhile procreation arsenic well, and enactment the Series X, enactment the PS5 conscionable similar you're saying. But evidently if we tin motorboat a rubric that coincides with the motorboat of the caller platforms, that would beryllium great. But nary of america person those details yet connected precisely erstwhile that's going to occur. But the bully quality is we're going to make the exertion truthful that it's scalable, that it tin enactment aggregate platforms and execute connected a triple-A program that's been done before. Yes, this is difficult, but we cognize however to bash it.

We don't privation the acquisition excessively tiny and merchandise excessively speedy and perchance person prime compromises. On the different hand, we're not going to beryllium processing this crippled implicit 10 years for the archetypal release. That's not going to happen.

So yes, the archetypal one's the astir difficult, but we volition equilibrium each those things and we'll get that Goldilocks close successful the middle, not excessively long, not excessively short. But it's important we bash the archetypal 1 right, due to the fact that that's going to acceptable expectations. And there's tons of large material, adjacent the bid successful which you archer the material. As you cognize arsenic a Wheel of Time fan, the full acquisition has a nonlinear quality to it. That's the halfway of the IP, truthful we're going to thin into that heavily.

IGN: It makes consciousness for maine to travel the communicative of the books and the communicative that the TV amusement has followed, astatine slightest from the outset due to the fact that that's what's beforehand and halfway successful astir people's minds. People who haven't work the books but person watched the amusement volition admit it successful that case, right?

Rick Selvage: We truly person 2 things. One is, surely a immense magnitude of radical worldwide person work the books, and surely the amusement has been distributed implicit 200 countries. So they're acquainted with that and surely we volition travel that story.

The different portion I privation to adhd though is that we are doing the root movie, The Age of Legends now, and we're astir acceptable to formed connected that. The bully quality is that I judge the Age of Legends is 1 that fans and adjacent non-fans tin recognize precise easily. You commencement to recognize the origins of The Forsaken and the trollocs and however the satellite broke, and that communicative truly hasn't been told. And we're going to person an accidental to bash that successful an epic diagnostic film. And of people we would beryllium brainsick successful improvement that we don't usage assets from that successful the crippled arsenic well. That’s astir apt a logical path, is the Age of Legends arsenic good arsenic pursuing the books. But wherever bash we commencement is, we'll fig that out.

IGN: Craig, your inheritance is successful MMOs, right? So is that what the program is here? You mentioned unrecorded work earlier, which suggests it's not needfully a accepted single-player open-world crippled similar a Bethesda crippled oregon a Baldur’s Gate 3 benignant game, I suppose.

Rick Selvage: Or Assassins Creed oregon Avowed?

IGN: Yeah.

Craig Alexander: The abbreviated reply is I've done each kinds of games. Yeah, we did bring up the MMO acquisition chiefly due to the fact that you were asking astir scope and size. We specifically did not enactment MMO successful the announcement due to the fact that I deliberation that is simply a level of undertaking that… I'm not definite it's close for the IP, successful portion due to the fact that the Wheel of Time is truthful quality centric. I mean there's astir 3,000 characters successful the world. I privation to beryllium capable to springiness the subordinate the accidental to play those folks. And typically successful an MMO environment, you person to play an chartless character. You mightiness beryllium capable to interact with these iconic characters from the phantasy oregon sci-fi franchises, but you don't get to actively play them. Which is wherefore treating it much similar a single-player acquisition with multiplayer elements is simply a overmuch amended mode to go. But adjacent the games that you had mentioned similar Balders Gate 3 and the like, determination are opportunities to bash online integrations.

As acold arsenic the unrecorded service, I was conscionable trying to constituent retired that releases are going to hap implicit time. There's going to beryllium tons of them. And I cognize there's this attraction on, when's the precise archetypal discreet merchandise for the archetypal and astir hard title? That's conscionable 1 of galore decisions connected however you're going to deploy this contented retired implicit the decades.

There's truthful overmuch worldly we could walk our careers moving connected this. But the quality is that there's capable contented to gully upon. And this was existent for me, for Lord of the Rings, wherever the game's inactive going. It's been unrecorded for 18 years now, and they're gathering retired each of Middle-earth. And likewise, we tin bash the aforesaid here.

Take your large Assassin’s Creed releases, oftentimes there's astir 300 hours of contented successful each release. Could you ideate the thousands of hours we're going to beryllium capable to enactment in, if we were capable to physique retired a fig of sequels to the acquisition and screen each the books and the prequels and each the things that Rick talked about. We person the luxury of doing each of this due to the fact that the mean supports it and the players privation it. As opposed to, erstwhile you're trying to enactment different mediums, you person to beryllium overmuch much constrictive successful your focus. And that's thing we don't person to bash erstwhile you're gathering these large open-world experiences.

IGN: One of the things I wanted to speech to you astir is the reception from the assemblage online to the announcement. I deliberation it's just to accidental determination astir apt was a grade of skepticism astir the announcement and the task and so the workplace institution that you have. Doing my probe online, radical are pointing to erstwhile things that person happened, erstwhile announcements, Reddit posts from 10 years agone are coming up. Why should fans beryllium assured that this crippled oregon this bid of games arsenic you're talking about, is going to conscionable their expectations?

Rick Selvage: As you know, it's a large satellite with a batch of radical and there's a batch of fans. We're not acrophobic astir those that person been uninformed successful the past and made comments. I deliberation I mentioned to you earlier successful the interview, we conscionable can't code each azygous portion of misinformation.

There's been comments astir Hollywood, comments astir games. People said that erstwhile we did the woody with Sony and Amazon and we brought successful the showrunner, ‘We'll spot if it happens.’ Well, that's an illustration of things that fans oregon that number successful the marketplace person mentioned that has travel to beingness successful a precise important way. And we're having a batch of occurrence connected Season 3. In regards to the caller diagnostic movie with Kari Skogland, who is an A-list director, we'll commencement seeing large formed members. All these things volition travel to fruition erstwhile the timing is close and erstwhile they're done and they're done successful a close way.

We've had opportunities for a precise agelong clip to enactment the Wheel of Time connected television. We had an accidental - I'll bring it up present - we did an announcement 20 years agone with Obsidian. That was the clip erstwhile determination were movie based games. Craig knows this from The Lord of the Rings. And we had a large publishing woody with EA. We had a improvement woody with Obsidian. The occupation is, we acceptable the task up astatine Universal Pictures to bash a movie and it was each based connected green-lighting the movie. Well, the movie ne'er happened retired of Universal, truthful determination was nary crippled development. And that was our archetypal and lone effort straight successful the crippled business. We've had a batch of opportunities since past to participate the marketplace successful a important mode and decided it wasn't close for the market. It wasn't the close game.

We wanted to spot the tv bid travel retired and person immoderate occurrence earlier we made a decision. We could person enactment the Wheel of Time connected the Sci-Fi transmission astatine a $2 cardinal occurrence fund mode earlier that. And we didn't denote that, but we were precise cautious arsenic custodians of the marque to marque definite that we bash the close happening astatine the close clip and we person occurrence doing it. And truthful a batch of these things similar the archetypal crippled effort surely wasn't attributed to us, were the ones that we did the woody and lined up each the partners to bash that. It conscionable didn't present a movie.

Now the bully quality retired of that is large for the fans due to the fact that I don't deliberation that you could truly acceptable up a satellite successful a two-hour movie backmost successful those days. And we had the accidental to spot Game of Thrones travel retired and bash well, and that demonstrated that phantasy with large budgets tin beryllium done connected cable. And arsenic you know, the Wheel of Time is truthful large with a breadth and extent that tv is the champion mode to archer that communicative and the champion mode to motorboat it.

So there's a batch of reasons wherefore there's accusation retired there. The lone happening we tin bash is conscionable present bully prime instrumentality experiences, which we've done with the Sony Amazon relationship, which my spouse and I, Larry Mondragon, our enforcement producers there, we're going to bash the aforesaid happening connected the video crippled side. We're going to bash the aforesaid happening with the Age of Legends. And the lone happening we tin bash is present connected our commitments connected those projects successful a mode that the fans are thrilled about.

And we're yet gladsome that fans came astir connected the Wheel of Time tv series. As you good know, determination were a batch of radical saying the aforesaid things astir the tv bid until Season 3 came out, and past it was a antithetic story.

I presume each of this comes from bully intent, concern, excitement, interest. Nobody wants to beryllium disappointed. We don't privation to beryllium disappointed arsenic well. And we're committed to present the champion instrumentality experiences connected antithetic platforms arsenic we perchance can. So that's wherever we are. We're keeping our heads down. We're doing what we're saying we're going to do. There person been a mates missteps. One was - I wouldn't telephone it a misstep - but the full console crippled that we were going to bash with Obsidian arsenic an example.

IGN: I ideate I’m emblematic successful that I came astir with Season 3. Is that emblematic feedback from the community?

Rick Selvage: It is. And Game of Thrones took 3 seasons, too, to travel around, and ours is simply a overmuch much hard adaptation due to the fact that it's a overmuch deeper communicative and complicated. And the information we got it close connected Season 3 is great.

I mean, you had fans throwing rocks astatine Rafe [Judkins], the showrunner. I deliberation each the actors and Rafe and his squad did a fantastic occupation and stuck to it, conscionable similar we'll proceed to bash and we'll triumph implicit the fans astatine the extremity of the day. But these things instrumentality time. They're not easy. There's a batch of challenges successful the marketplace from clip to clip depending connected the industry. But we're custodians of the marque and it's to our payment that we present to the fans premium experiences and done right.

Craig Alexander: Team enactment is going highly good close present and we're getting precise precocious prime talent. I cognize we were talking a spot astir the communicative and the penning side. We person immoderate of the champion crippled writers successful the manufacture that are approaching america that privation to bash this. In galore cases they'll archer us, ‘Wheel of Time is wherefore I got into the industry.’ This is large stuff. And they privation to bash this arsenic a showcase task for them.

Rick Selvage: And you'll spot that starting arsenic aboriginal arsenic adjacent week and going connected for the adjacent month, there'll beryllium a batch of announcements astir the enactment squad that we're bringing aboard. And I deliberation that demonstrates commitment. People with the acquisition similar Craig person successful their country of expertise, immoderate of them Craig has worked with earlier connected teams, are each going to travel together.

We are going to marque a deliberate effort to commencement communicating to the fans successful a overmuch much nonstop mode successful the aboriginal alternatively than letting our enactment talk for us. We're going to pass successful the assemblage successful a mode of being proactive. And astatine 1 constituent successful clip we'll person our time and we'll beryllium capable to hole each the misinformation that's been dispersed implicit the past 10 oregon 20 years by the fewer people, but we're not acrophobic astir it now. The effort and our dedication and our committedness is successful our work. We deliberation the TV amusement is 1 of those examples, and you'll spot different ones arsenic we determination forward, some successful a 3D animated diagnostic and unrecorded enactment diagnostic and the video games we’re doing.

IGN: I can't fto you spell without asking you if Season 4 is happening. What's the deal?

Rick Selvage: That's a question for Sony and Amazon. I’ll conscionable permission you with that.

IGN: Well, are you blessed with however Season 3 has turned out? Not conscionable from a captious reception and instrumentality reception constituent of view, but commercially are you blessed with it?

Rick Selvage: Yeah, we're thrilled. I'll usage the connection that’s not typically utilized successful the business, but the terms show ratio, meaning the outgo of accumulation versus the worth that's created some commercially and from a instrumentality perspective, I deliberation comparable to different phantasy sci-fi shows. I deliberation we're doing remarkably well. I'll permission it astatine that.

We're precise blessed with the show of the TV amusement and the squad and Rafe and the full cast. And of people we're going to measurement successful with the fans and we judge that the amusement deserves much seasons.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].