It isn’t often that hugely successful gaming franchises fail to hit the market when it comes to their video game offerings. While it is undeniable that most of the iconic game franchises have a few duds in their midst, the majority of them, if not practically all of them, have at least one great game. It is only logical, as, without one truly remarkable title, you’d wonder how it would become such a smash hit in the first place. Even Ubisoft’s annual releases in the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry franchises strike gold eventually. Well, they used to, but that’s neither here nor there.
However, one gaming franchise has somehow not quite cracked the video game market, despite bringing in a significant sum of money every year. I’m talking about Magic: The Gathering, the immensely popular TCG that has all but devoured my life over the past year or so, and, for a few years a long time before that. MTG has had plenty of video games covering its rich worldbuilding and intricate mechanics, but none of them have quite managed to hit the mark, instead boiling down to being, at best, competent replications of the real-life card game. My question is, of course, why?
Magic: The Gathering Has An Odd History With Video Games
Image courtesy of Wizards of the Coast
Magic: The Gathering, much like Yu-Gi-Oh, has had some truly odd games that have either attempted to ape the card game to the best of their abilities or completely ignored it and morphed it into something completely different. Case in point, the game simply titled Magic: The Gathering, but better known as Shandalar, is an odd simplification of the 90s version of the game, with RPG mechanics hastily added in. It is a bizarre and frankly underwhelming amalgamation of both ideas that never quite works. Sure, it has its fans, especially as it is one of the few single-player games set within the MTG universe, but it’s hard to recommend now.
We’ve also had more faithful adaptations like Duel of the Planeswalkers (one of the last MTG games on console) and MTG: Arena, which attempt to truly digitize the card game while adhering to its social aspect through online trading of your digital cards and multiplayer 1 v 1 battles. However, as Magic: The Gathering grows and new formats like Commander enter the fray, these games begin to feel a little limiting. For new players, they’re also incredibly overwhelming, with terrible UIs and poor onboarding beyond giving you a free starter deck that’s barely competitive and sending you on your way.
Of course, they’re also unbelievably packed with microtransactions, with Duel of the Planeswalkers in particular requiring you to shell out so much money to get through its brutally difficult campaigns. I’m not about to call either MTG: Arena or MTG: Online (the last remaining games set within the Magic: The Gathering universe available) the worst games ever made, but they’re not comprehensive enough to make for truly gripping experiences. This is a huge shame, especially when there is so much potential for not just an all-inclusive MTG game that completely adapts the TCG and all of its complex facets, modes, and more, but also games of differing genres set within the game’s rich and storied world.
Wizards Of The Coast Needs To Make More MTG Games
Image Courtesy of Riot Games
I completely understand why Wizards of the Coast has somewhat settled for Magic: The Gathering: Arena. After all, it is an incredibly successful bad game, one that rakes in a lot of money despite its disappointing limitations, overwhelming onboarding process, expensive microtransactions, and complete lack of single-player offerings. However, it is ultimately unfortunate that the company hasn’t taken the same route as Riot Games when it comes to expanded media set within MTG’s universe.
Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends, has expanded that world into numerous forms of expanded media, including a range of diverse video games that go way beyond the gameplay offerings found in LoL. You can find story-driven RPGs, a fighting game, 2D side-scrollers, and more set within the world of League of Legends. The same can absolutely not be said of Magic: The Gathering. Sure, back in the 90s and early 2000s, Wizards of the Coast made some truly awful RPG-esque titles, and then there’s MTG Puzzle Quest, but the less said about that, the better. However, since then, it has done little to expand upon Magic: The Gathering in video game form.
There are comic books and, of course, the Magic: The Gathering movie on the horizon, but no attempts at offering single-player focused Magic: The Gathering experiences or a more comprehensive adaptation of the TCG in its current form. Apparently, they’re working on a Commander-focused game, and a Diablo-like RPG called Magic: Legends was cancelled back in 2021, but beyond that, WotC has offered us little else.
It is a shame, as, purely anecdotally, of course, there’s no shortage of people asking me for reliable ways to play Commander digitally or for single-player MTG games to while away the hours between game sessions. Unfortunately, unless they’re willing to play a game from 1997 or whip out a Dreamcast to play its adaptation of Magic: The Gathering, I have to tell them no such game exists. I find this to be surprising and endlessly frustrating, especially as there is so much potential here for Wizards of the Coast to do something remarkable, fun, innovative, and interesting. Yet, at least for now, it is seemingly content with leaving a lot of money on the table, forcing us to all turn to unofficial means of getting our MTG fix.
What do you think about the state of Magic: The Gathering’s video games? Leave a comment below or join the conversation below in the ComicBook Forum!