After almost 10 years of turning a D&D franchise into a full-fledged franchise, Travis Willingham, CEO at Critical Role, has declared that the company's plans to create a videogame are now an 'active pursuit.'

Critical Role began as a simple D&D livestream on Geek and Sundry in 2015. Since then, the company has grown to be a massive corporation, producing TTRPGs and TV shows, with millions of dollars in funding. It's now focused on videogames. According to a recent Rolling Stone interview, CEO Travis Willingham reveals that the crew is "actively pursuing" the videogame industry. Willingham plays Grog Strongjaw both in the animated series and livestreamed shows.

"We have had the necessary conversations over the last few years to figure out how we can do this smartly. It's a separate enterprise from what we do at Beacon, Twitch or YouTube. It's also separate from the animated shows.

"And hopefully we'll have some really exciting news to share, maybe by the end of this year, or maybe at the start of 2025, right in time for our 10th anniversary."

Matthew Mercer's cautious approach to the subject in an interview with Dicebreaker almost exactly a year ago was far more confident. He said that it would only be possible if "all the stars align". He wasn't entirely wrong in his caution. While Critical Role has made a lot of merch and started its own charity, it also has its own publishing division.

The Critical Role cast includes a number of well-known videogame voice actors. You may have heard Marisha Ray play Jaina Proudmoore or Liam O'Brien portray Illidan Stormrage. Matt Mercer's list of credits is so long that it's impossible to mention them all. He's starred in Persona 5, Overwatch and League of Legends. They are probably well aware that a Critical Role game could be a disaster if they don't take care.

As I said then, I think it's also more likely than ol’ Mercer thought, given the almost instant funding their TV series received. Amazon has continued to greenlight their series for four seasons. It turns out I was right. The Critical Role people are talking as if they have something concrete on the horizon:

Willingham explains that the collaborations with partners were just a way to test out how it felt. "You know, the interactive space is undergoing a lot of change right now. We've seen studios weather the storms, and he says that his crew is "trying" to be smarter and figure out how they can fit into this larger ecosystem.

It's hard for us to predict what game we will see. Critical Role can always license another official D&D with Hasbro. (Mystra knows that they're keen), but my Insight Check tells me that they may try and spin something out of Daggerheart. It's a card-based game, after all. I can see how its systems could make for a solid, turn-based, tactics game. Or maybe they won't start small and will just go full steam ahead with an ambitious CRPG. More news is expected in 2025 but I think we'll still be waiting for our turn.