Dungeons & Dragons Coming To iOS Later This Year As Wizards Of The Coast Teams Up With Playdek

A new partnership between mobile game publisher Playdek and Wizards of the Coast, famed creator of Magic: The Gathering and other tabletop games will bring Dungeons & Dragons to the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch later this year. Playdek will be developing officially sanctioned and licensed titles that bring various Wizards of the Coast tabletop experiences to iOS devices, with the first such efforts slated to go live sometime in 2013.

The full details of the arrangement weren’t shared in an official release announcing the news, in which Playdek CEO just said that it was “thrilled to to work with Wizards of the Coast” in order to “re-create this compelling entertainment in a mobile form.” Playdek has a solid reputation, though: it created the Penny Arcade card game for iOS devices that takes a lot of cues from Wizards of the Coast classics like Magic: The Gathering.

Speaking of Magic, that’s a title that already has an iOS offering from previous Wizards of the Coast efforts not involving Playdek. Magic 2013 is a freemium title with virtual decks that can be purchased in-app which Wizards of the Coast released last year. On its own, the company (which is owned by Hasbro) has also released iOS games based on its popular Kaijudo franchise, but we’ve yet to see an officially blessed Dungeons & Dragons property hit the App Store.

If there can be said to be a definitive name in digital tabletop games, it’s definitely Carlsbad, Calif.-based Playdek. In addition to the Penny Arcade game mentioned above, the company’s Ascension series has been lauded with accolades and positive reviews. Playdek was founded in 2011 by Jeff Garstecki, Gary Weis and Joel Goodman, all vets of Sony Computer Entertainment America and THQ’s Incinerator Studios. The company has raised $1.56 million in funding to date from a seed round and an Angel round, with investors including Greycroft Partners.

The partnership with Wizards of the Coast might be a perfect storm of Playdek’s digital tabletop genre choices and the source material that holds a special place among its core target audience. Definitely looking forward to tracking the progress of this new partnership.