The Wheel of Time is slated to receive an open-world roleplaying game, hoping to build on the success of the novels' adaptation into a television series, which just recently aired the finale of its third season. Game adaptations of The Wheel of Time have been few and far between since the novels rose to prominence in the 1990s, but this latest venture appears to be the most ambitious yet.

According to Variety, an open-world Wheel of Time RPG is being developed by Iwot Pictures' new in-house game development studio, Iwot Games. Iwot expects development to take three years, meaning it could be released as early as 2028, and wants to release the game for both consoles and PC. Iwot CEO Rick Selvage told Variety, "It’ll be everything with the Wheel of Time. Everything that is covered in the books, as well as all the backstory elements of it. [...] it’ll be the entire Wheel of Time world, it’s not going to be limited to one area or another or a particular age."

What We Know About The Wheel Of Time Game

Open-World RPG From Iwot Games

The Wheel of Time's open-world RPG sounds ambitious, but all that's currently known about it is general overtures. As Variety points out, the Wheel of Time mythos is gargantuan, featuring "more than 2,750 named characters," spread across a variety of in-universe societies and cultures. A game encoming "the entire Wheel of Time world," as Selvage puts it, could potentially be truly enormous.

While gameplay details remain scarce – or nonexistent, considering its apparent pre-production state – there is some promising talent leading the Wheel of Time game. Iwot's new game studio is helmed by Craig Alexander, who has previous experience at Warner Bros. Games, Electronic Arts, and Activision, and has notably been in lead positions for games like the still-running The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online.

The Wheel Of Time Gets Another Opportunity For An Adaptation

Prime Video's Series Has A Mixed Response

Iwot is clearly interested in turning The Wheel of Time into a major franchise, with Selvage mentioning a "transmedia strategy," following a positive reception to the Prime Video series' third season. While things are looking up for the Wheel of Time television series, it was off to a more rocky start, with general sentiment surrounding its first and second seasons not quite as enthusiastic. The upward trend is a positive sign, though, especially with how revered the core 14-novel saga is in the fantasy genre.

An open-world RPG is a chance to expand the series' reach even further, though the three-year development window sounds too optimistic. Game development timelines only continue to balloon as the medium grows more sophisticated, and open-world games are notorious for taking a long time in the oven. Especially when dealing with a rich, expansive world like this, there is a lot that goes into creating a deep RPG experience with a satisfying world to explore. Considering it's coming from a brand-new studio as well, The Wheel of Time RPG has an uphill battle ahead, even if the idea is promising in itself.

Source: Variety