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The reason I ask is because, if it is possible, it might be to their advantage to just release under the OGL. I'm probably wrong, as I'm not a lawyer and no one side has any real data to support whether the OGL has been a good or bad thing, but it seems like a real option now.
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From a company's or individual's perspective, that type of attitude can almost seem defeatist or akin to a threat or extortion. It's like "well, you can't prevent us from taking your game rules and using them for free, so you might as well release it the way we want you to". Some people like to argue about getting rid of DRM by saying "you can't stop piracy, might as well embrace it", or that "you shouldn't charge money for this content because your competition gives it away and you'll lose market share".
Of course, with that attitude, maybe the Federal Government should stop trying to protect money from counterfitting, since "you can't stop the counterfeiters, might as well not spend so much time and effort protecting it", or hell, for health reasons, "why wipe you rear end, it will just get dirty again".
To me, reverse engineering D&D is not worth it. Why bother?
- Assuming there is a GSL, and the conditions are not unreasonable, why not follow those rules, instead of forcing the OGL to be used?
- If it's not licensed at all, why bother? You would be better off just creating your own game and benefiting from total IP ownership and all the protections.
- Or else, support their older game which via the OGL can't be revoked--that way, you prove a point that you won't use a more restrictive license, and have the moral high ground in that case.
And doing something like that would still fracture the playerbase. You wouldn't be helping to "unite people", if that was the point. If somebody tried to reverse-engineer
4e, fans of Wizards of the Coast and
4e, would probably react very hostile towards the "unofficial erstaz knockoff".
And that's not assuming that
WoTC has something up their sleeve and one or more rules have a patent applied or pending, or have applied for trademarks to key game terms. If that was granted, then you'd end up having to fight other legal protections. I personally suspect something like that will happen.