Magic: Legends artwork without the logo

[Update]: Undaunted by Magic: Legends' downfall, Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro have opened up a new PC and console gaming division.

The Diablo inspired Magic: Legends released into Open Beta a little while ago to some fairly negative reception, and for good reason. With overly restrictive classes, a noticeable lack of polish and gameplay that simply didn't manage to capture Magic: The Gathering's spirit, Magic: Legends ended up being one of those games I played for 30 minutes before deciding enough is enough.

This ended up being a fairly common sentiment, to the point that all discussion surrounding Magic: Legends seemed to fade away within a mere few days of release. As such, it should come as little surprise to hear that the developers are now pulling the plug on the project in its entirety.

"It is with heavy hearts that we announce Magic: Legends will be shutting down on October 31, 2021," reads the brief announcement. "All players who spent money in-game across Arc and the Epic Games Store during the Open Beta will be refunded their full purchase amounts. Servers will remain open for play until closing day, however we will be closing the Zen Shop effective immediately."

"Our vision for Magic: Legends missed the mark, but we are proud of what we achieved. Thanks to Wizards of the Coast, we got to bring the expansive Magic: The Gathering Multiverse to a wide audience and explore new angles within the established ARPG genre. We learned several valuable lessons along the way, and we will use them to improve Cryptic’s future development efforts."

I can only hope that once the next Magic: The Gathering spin-off gets released it'll be helmed by someone that knows and loves the universe. After all, it's an incredibly rich and exciting one full of fan-favorite characters and locations. It can be used to create pretty much any genre of games, from strategy to action RPG, so I really do hope that Magic: Legends and Dark Alliances' failures will not put a stop to such games being made in the future.

Whatever the case may be, I'll make sure to let you know if Wizards of the Coast announced anything. Until then, you can read a tiny bit more about Magic: Legends closure over at the official website.