Rumours: WotC Announcement Today; Insider Email Reveals Plans

There's a couple of rumours going round today. I cannot verify either, but I'm reporting them as most of the recent OGL rumours have proven true.

First -- it is rumoured that today at 3pm ET Wizards of the Coast will make some kind of video statement about the current Open Game License situation. This rumour came from the folks at Roll For Combat who were the first to break the draft OGL scoop.

[[UPDATE -- This didn't happen!]]

Second -- an email has been circulating from an anonymous WotC insider. Again, I must reiterate I cannot myself verify this, so read this with that in mind, but the email says:

Hi,

I'm an employee at WotC currently working on D&Dbeyond (DDB) and with D&D business leaders on the health of the product line. If you want I can provide proof of this.

I'm sending this message because I fear for the health of a community I love, and I know what the leaders at WOTC are looking at:

-They are briefly delaying rollout of OGL changes due to the backlash.
-Their decision making is based entirely on the provable impact to their bottom line.
-Specifically they are looking at DDB subscriptions and cancellations as it is the quickest financial data they currently have.
-They are still hoping the community forgets, moves on, and they can still push this through.

I have decided to reach out because at my time in WotC I have never once heard management refer to customers in a positive manner, their communication gives me the impression they see customers as obstacles between them and their money, the DDB team was first told to prepare to support the new OGL changes and online portal when they got back from the holidays, and leadership doesn't take any responsibility for the pain and stress they cause others. Leadership's first communication to the rank and file on the OGL was 30 minutes on 1/11/23, This was the first time they even tried to communicate their intentions about the OGL to employees, and even in this meeting they blamed the community for over-reacting.

I will repeat, the main thing this leadership is looking at is DDB subscription cancellations.

Hope your day goes well,

P.S. I will be copying and pasting this message to other community leaders.

If both rumours are true, I guess at 3pm ET today we'll find that out.

 

[Ghost2020]

Speaking of which, I am beginning to wonder if One D&D will support print media at all at this point.

I would wager you'll get the core books in print for 6th ed next year, and maybe a few releases here and there, but the majority of their releases would be on DDB. That's how I'd do it anyway.

I also would have invited 3pp to create content that gets its first release on DDB and then 3-6 mos later it gets the print or 'public' release.

 

[dragoner]

Wotc is only looking at their bottom line for this quarter, that is how business is done. If they can change an agreement, and pick up a few million, they will do it. Corporations are not your friend, it's a mistake to ever think so.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Sorry to add fuel to the fire but I think we were most definitely heading for disaster as it became more "mainstream" to attempt to make a living off a game that was initially intended to simply be a pastime or hobby. I'm not looking for people to start throwing a snit but I feel this opinion needs to be voiced. Certainly, the initial publishers, writers, artists, etc deserve to make a profit. There is a lot of work that goes into making this product that we all know and love.

Where I simply draw the line however is people thinking they can run a game and charge for this. Seeing this as acceptable behavior very well could have had a influence on the higher ups that if the consumer can do this, why can't we? Is DMing a lot of leg work? Of course it is. I've DMd for YEARS. I'm not discounting this. But this is my HOBBY which I ENJOY. I LOVE doing the prep and leg-work. Sometimes too much. Doesn't mean I should start charging lonely shut ins for this service.

This is an egregiously bad take.

 

[Kannik]

Another (funny?) angle on all this is that last year Fandom posted their first takes at a license for Cortex Prime, with similar kinds of language (we own anything you make, you can't only make X/Y/Z, we can change this anytime, etc -- though it was even sillier since it very much seemed like they took a website/electronic gaming license as a starting point and it had a bunch of items that made little sense in the RPG context) and, no surprise, it didn't go over well. So it's not like there was no forewarning (or foreshadowing!) for how this kind of thing would go. But that would require the Hasbro folk to actually be in touch with the community they claim to serve...

(Note that A) a new version of the license came out that was much more proper and B) Cortex Prime has been sold now and I'm not sure if the license agreement still applies or if they revised it... or at least if they've revised it yet.)

 

[Ibrandul]

"Loss leaders" doesn't mean "consistently and persistently best-sellers on Amazon."

WotC getting rid of physical media at this point or even the foreseeable future is just catastrophizing, and not anything based on logic.

And I said I think they will keep printing the books for 6e. But I'm convinced the current leadership sees the fact that D&D can be played by six people for years, with a one-time total expenditure to WotC of not-very-much money, as a major flaw in the brand's business plan.

If you think that those customers should rightfully be paying you for the privilege of continuing to play the game, then yes, the books become loss leaders of a kind, no matter how profitable they are when considered in isolation of your grand vision for a new profit structure. It's not entirely illogical. That's the way these people think.

But this is probably a conversation best saved for another time and place. Right now there are more pressing concerns!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Wotc is only looking at their bottom line for this quarter, that is how business is done. If they can change an agreement, and pick up a few million, they will do it. Corporations are not your friend, it's a mistake to ever think so.

no one thinks they are.

All actors in a society have moral obligations, however, and it is reasonable to hold leaders in a community responsible for upholding theirs.

 

[eyeheartawk]

Print books aren't going anywhere, for one they're an impulse buy at Target, a way to get people in. For another, tons of people who buy the physical books ALSO buy the same content on DDB. So why not take the money for the same thing twice if you are Wizards?

 

[Rabulias]

But I'm convinced the current leadership sees the fact that D&D can be played by six people for years, with a one-time total expenditure to WotC of not-very-much money, as a major flaw in the brand's business plan.

But isn't this true of board games? Not everyone needs to buy a copy of Clue to play the game.

 

[eyeheartawk]

This is a good point. I think there IS an issue with print media in the sense of what consumers think a book should cost. Designer John Wick (not the movie character) has an interesting video about that where he compares the prices of Call of Cthulhu editions.

The same John Wick who ran two hugely succesful Kickstarters, and understood the print business so well he completely ran out of money before printing most of the books owed and had to gey bailed out by Chaosium.

That John Wick?

 

[Haplo781]

Considering that even if they rolled back 100% and ammended the current OGL to be super duper irrevocable forever the trust is irretrievably broken. So damn the torpedoes, you know? The damage is already done.
We'll just have to make our own non corporate d&d now.

With blackjack and hookers?