D&D Taps Outside Studios for New Official Content

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In one of the more structurally significant announcements at Gen Con this year, Wizards of the Coast confirmed a new publishing partnership program that will see official Dungeons & Dragons content produced by outside studios.

The news isn’t a total surprise, as there have been signs that D&D was headed in this direction, including an April 2026 job posting looking for a lead to manage second-party publishers. The goal is to meet the growing demand from fans for new content for established D&D settings – a gap, which the internal Wizards of the Coast team is unable to fill.

The initial roster of second-party D&D studios includes Ghostfire Gaming (who will be producing materials for Ravenloft), Visionary Production & Design (who will be taking on Eberron) and Kobold Press (who will be developing new content for the Forgotten Realms).

Below, we take a closer look at why Wizards of the Coast is making this strategic shift and what it means for the future of D&D.

Why is Wizards of the Coast bringing on partner studios for D&D?

In a private, closed-door press conference held prior to this year’s Gen Con, D&D Executive Producer Greg Bilsland explained that Wizards of the Coast had launched the new partnership as a way to address the lack of new content for established D&D settings.

“Players shouldn’t have to wait decades for D&D to return to a setting. We should be making it easier to adventure in those worlds,” Bilsland said. “The problem is, of course, we only have so many people on the D&D team and supporting all of our settings wasn’t feasible. Until now. At Gen Con we’re going to be announcing new partnerships with several amazing studios that are going to be supporting our settings with official content.”

During the press conference, Wizards of the Coast also confirmed that all releases from these new studio partnerships will be available in both physical and digital formats, and described this as “just the beginning” of an ongoing partnership model, with plans to continue working with second-party studios on a yearly basis, regardless of which settings are in the spotlight that year.

What is Ghostfire Gaming making for Ravenloft?

Ghostfire Gaming, the studio behind the popular third-party gothic horror setting Grim Hollow, will be producing an official Ravenloft supplement that Wizards says will include both gameplay options and adventure content.

An exact release date has not yet been confirmed, although Wizards of the Coast did indicate that the supplement is intended to bridge the gap for Ravenloft fans following this year’s Season of Horror and the release of the recent Ravenloft: The Horrors Within sourcebook.

What is Visionary Production making for Eberron?

Visionary Production & Design has already published third-party D&D 5E and 5.5E Eberron content written by setting creator Keith Baker and released under the Open Game License. This includes the recent Exploring Eberron supplement (which was first published on DMsGuild and later ported over to D&D Beyond) as well as Frontiers of Eberron: Quickstone (which was released exclusively on DMsGuild).

The studio’s first official release as part of the new second-party publishing program will be an Eberron adventure featuring the Lord of Blades, a fan-favorite villain from the setting. The new Eberron adventure will be arriving in 2028. It’s not clear if Keith Baker will be involved in any of the content development.

What is Kobold Press making for the Forgotten Realms?

Kobold Press, which is best known for Tales of the Valiant and a significant library of unofficial third-party D&D 5E and 5.5E supplements, will be producing a series of new adventures set in the Forgotten Realms. An exact release date and what the content will consist of was not confirmed by Wizards of the Coast.

It’s worth noting, however, that this isn’t the first time that Kobold Press has published official D&D materials. In fact, the company was contracted out to produce the 2014 Hoard of the Dragon Queen supplement, which was the first official campaign for D&D 5E.

Final Thoughts

Over the past few years, Wizards of the Coast has been producing new D&D content at a sluggish pace, with roughly 3-5 new books a year. This new partnership program represents a potential way to overcome this lack of new content for established D&D settings, by effectively licensing out official support to studios that already have deep expertise (and fan trust). If it works as intended, it could mean a much steadier stream of official content for settings that have historically gone years between releases.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story in the days ahead and will update this page with new information as it’s made available.

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