Cryptic, Wizards of the Coast aren’t worried about ‘D&D Next’ hurting Neverwinter MMO

Neverwinter hit its open beta phase Tuesday. The upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game from developer Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment is one of the few major Dungeons & Dragons games in development during this generation of gaming.

This transmedia project — not only is Neverwinter part of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, it’s also a book series from author R.A. Salvatore — is also coming out during an interesting time in D&D history. Neverwinter (originally scheduled to debut in 2012) is coming out while the 4th Edition of the tabletop game is winding down and the upcoming edition, dubbed “D&D Next” for now, is in playtesting.