17 years after the MMORPG Wizard101 was launched on PC, it’s lastly on consoles. ComingSoon spoke with KingsIsle Leisure VP of Product Joel White and Sport Director Artie Rogers to study extra concerning the free-to-play recreation and why it’s one of the best time to leap in for brand spanking new and returning gamers. Wizard101 is now accessible on PlayStation and Xbox, whereas it’s going to arrive on Nintendo Change at a later date.
“Unleash your interior magic and put together to unravel the mysteries surrounding a demise professor gone rogue. Darkness threatens to engulf the Spiral as you grasp highly effective spells, discover over 22 whimsical worlds, and workforce up with mates on this nostalgic wizard turn-based deckbuilding MMORPG,” says the official description.
Try an unique take a look at the Wizard101 Darkmoor replace loading display under:
Releasing on consoles is a very long time coming and a serious milestone. What was the largest problem in getting this to work on each PlayStation and Xbox?
Joel White: Wizard101 has been dwell on PC for 17 years, however has been in improvement for about 20 years. The sport engine that was picked 20 years in the past was trendy and utilized by lots of of different video games, however since then, it has develop into a bit of on the previous facet and never supported on any of the final 2 generations of consoles.
With that being mentioned, the toughest half was getting that older engine to run on the newer consoles, and that took fairly some time.
The second hardest factor was altering the entire UI parts within the recreation to be controller-friendly. By the top of the undertaking, we needed to modify virtually 200 UI screens to make them work the best way we wished with a controller.
With the Darkmoor replace additionally going dwell this yr, why is that this a very good time for brand spanking new and returning gamers to leap into Wizard101?
Artie Rogers: Fort Darkmoor was at all times a fan favourite by way of its setting, so followers of the unique dungeon will get to see a lot extra than simply the one zone. Now, there will likely be a revealing of lore that has been hinted at for years to the gamers by present NPC’s, monsters, and extra.
We’re additionally revisiting Shadow Magic to strengthen its lore connections and add strategic depth to how you should utilize it in fight. Shadow Creatures, Shadow Pacts, and Shadow Enhanced Spells are going to be a brand new avenue for gamers to make use of Shadow Magic, and we’re excited for them to begin that journey as they discover Darkmoor. We really feel the modifications we’re making will current an attention-grabbing risk-reward state of affairs for the participant and can give them some new strategic choices throughout fight.
And this yr particularly is a improbable yr for brand spanking new gamers to find the magic in Wizard101. A flood of individuals will likely be beginning their journey as the sport releases on console, which supplies gamers a brand-new alternative to study and develop as they progress at a gentle tempo alongside one another whereas counting on the years of guides and assets which might be already at their disposal on-line.
Fort Darkmoor is a fan-favorite location, so why is now the suitable time to additional develop it?
Rogers: We’re at the start of a brand new multi-year story arc – our fifth! – and we wished to begin robust. Darkmoor is a world we at all times felt had plenty of potential, a world many individuals on the workforce have wished to develop for some time, and this new arc supplied us with an ideal alternative. With out giving an excessive amount of away, the start of Arc 5 may be very completely different from how we’ve begun arcs up to now; and, of all of the worlds within the Spiral, Darkmoor was one of the best tonal and thematic match for the place we need to take the Wizard101 story subsequent.
Wizard101 is free to obtain. How a lot of the MMO can gamers play without spending a dime till they should unlock areas by Entry Passes or use in-game foreign money?
Joel White: As of January 2025, we’ve got moved the paywall again to only after the participant enters the 2nd world of the sport, Krokotopia, making all of the mainline quest zones within the first world, Wizard Metropolis, free to play.
All gamers are welcome to play as much as 2 free-to-play occasions that run every week. There are at the very least seven occasions that run per thirty days, all with completely different targets, themes, rewards, and extra!
After a long time of updates, it might be simple for brand spanking new gamers to develop into overwhelmed. How have you ever been in a position to preserve the sport’s onboarding possible over time?
Artie Rogers: We now have been working to tempo out the introduction of the sport’s methods and facet methods in order that gamers experiencing the sport for the primary time are uncovered in a approach that retains the sport expertise contemporary and various.
For veteran gamers, we labored to verify the core expertise stays constant for individuals who get pleasure from it for what it at all times was. Gamers decide into these methods when they could need to expertise one thing completely different or discover the sport differently. So even for veteran customers, the speed at which they need to study and use these methods is essentially as much as them.
Our group of gamers additionally does an ideal job at documenting, holding one another knowledgeable, and giving one another one of the best ideas and tips as extra is added to the sport. You will discover wikis, discussion board posts, video tutorials, and extra from the very starting!
Wizard101 has been round since 2008. To maintain a fanbase engaged for literal a long time is an unimaginable feat. Why do you suppose individuals preserve coming again to Wiz101 regardless of all of the MMOs which have come and gone within the interim?
Rogers: I feel there are a number of causes…I feel our setting is uniquely various when in comparison with different video games. Most video games have a hard and fast setting, however with the Spiral Universe in Wizard, we will discover new settings in several worlds yearly. One yr could also be impressed by Nineteenth-century Australia, or one other might take parts from Medieval Jap Europe. Darkmoor will make the twenty third of these mainline worlds, so there are many attention-grabbing areas to discover!
Our recreation permits the participant to interact with it in the best way they need. There are low-stress experiences for individuals who are fascinated about narrative and exploration. There are artistic areas for these fascinated about constructing advanced displays of their homes. There are more difficult areas like PvP and Problem Mode. There are areas within the recreation for bigger teams of individuals with cooperative decorations as a part of the Guild system or cooperative battle in our Raids. There are occasions that are extra action-oriented with faster-paced fight like Beastmoon. Whereas our setting helps preserve the sport feeling new to present and returning gamers, we even have all kinds of issues to do within the recreation the place every day can current a unique set of challenges or experiences for everybody.
Our lore and story is one other main part that brings gamers again. The lore of the Spiral is deep, various, and may be severe at occasions, but it surely balances that with humor and whimsy, which contributes to the cozier vibe of our foremost story expertise.
What’s been most rewarding about seeing the group proceed enjoying for this lengthy? From individuals enjoying with relations to lifelong friendships being cast throughout the recreation, plenty of connections have grown from the sport.
Rogers: Clearly, listening to about individuals who have made life-long friendships or companions within the recreation is at all times heartwarming. For me, one of the rewarding issues is to see individuals who grew up enjoying Wizard101, who then introduced that love and enthusiasm to the sport in a private approach by coming to work with us. The primary decade of Wizard101 planted the seed of their hearts to assist us make Wizard101 nice for the a long time to come back!
