Wizards of the Coast, the studio behind the beloved card gameMagic: The Gatheringand the popular roll playing gamesDungeons and Dragons,has instituted a work from home policy in response to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Wizards of the Coats’s corporate offices are located in Renton Washington, just outside of Seattle. The State of Washington has been hit especially hard by the Coronavirus. As of the time of writing, there are 22 confirmed deaths in Washington from the virus and that number is expected to rise. Wizards of the Coast is not the only Washington based gaming company that’s taking action.Destiney 2developerBungie has also asked its employees to work from home, in orderto mitigate the risk of spreading the virus.
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Wizards' announced the new policy on Twitter today. Not only is it asking its employees to stay home, Wizard’s is also canceling its regularD&DandMagicstreams. This is bad news for anyone looking forward to watching a stream of theupcoming Mythic Odysseys of Theros campaign, but obviously the employee’s health must come first. While Wizards' did not mention the Coronavirus by name in the tweet, the disease is clearly the motivating factor in its decision.
The global outbreak of the Coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the games industry. Esports events and gaming meet ups have been canceled across the globe.Even TwitchCon was canceled because of the virus. While Wizards of the Coast is not shutting down, this will surely have some effect worker productivity.
If the outbreak continues to worsen, there will be more companies following Wizards example. There have already been massive economic consequences from the outbreak, and the games industry has been hit particularly hard.Dozens of game companies have suffered their worst losses in 10 years, and this may just be the beginning. If more companies send their workers home, the economic problems will only be exacerbated.
While these are clearly dark times, things are far from hopeless. For gamers who want to use their skills for good, TheUniversity of Washington has created a video game to help fight the virus. This game could provide useful information leading to a vaccine for the virus.
