Now WotC has taken Dragonlance (merged)

[Olaf the Stout]

First Dungeon and Dragon and now Dragonlance. It could just be a coincidence or (more likely) WotC is about to have a shift in direction. I wonder what is on the horizon?

Olaf the Stout

 

[DonTadow]

First Dungeon and Dragon and now Dragonlance. It could just be a coincidence or (more likely) WotC is about to have a shift in direction. I wonder what is on the horizon?

Olaf the Stout

This is no coincidence, WOTC has not renewed a license in six months. Gencon will tell

 

[LeaderDesslok]

* No renewals on licensed properties
* Dragon and Dungeon discontinued
* A new "Digital Initiative" going into place
* GenCon is no longer the "official" place for WotC news (now it's D&D Experience, run by RPGA if I recall correctly)

I tell ya, it's all building up to something. Fourth edition comes to mind. If it will not have an OGL as most of us believe, perhaps in WotC's mind the way to drag people along is to eliminate any competing OGL properties that they own rights to. That doesn't mean they can't re-establish licenses under a 4th edition with these companies, but it does give Wizards an opportunity to rewrite all the legalese in the licenses without any third party vendors looking over their shoulder as they wonder what's going on. With no multi-year licenses lingering, Wizards is free to introduce 4E any time from 2008 onward; at this point, I'm thinking '08 is looking ripe for the big change.

 

[direheroics]

But if you have a link saying otherwise, I'd be very interested to read it.

Joël

Here's the text of the WOTC RL announcement as posted on the Arthaus/WW/Sword and Sorcery site:

PS -- As can be determined by the date, this was well over a year ago. Since the license reverted to WoTC, both the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft product and redone versions of selected RL novels in trade paperback have been produced.

--------------

Atlanta, GA and Renton, WA; August 15, 2005 — Arthaus Publishing, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. today announced that they have reached an agreement for the reversion of rights to the RAVENLOFT and GAMMA WORLD campaign settings. Wizards of the Coast has tentatively agreed to allow White Wolf, which solicits and sells all Arthaus products, to continue to sell back stock in both lines under its Sword & Sorcery umbrella brand through June of 2006.

This reversion means that the RAVENLOFT supplement Van Richten's Guide to the Mists will not see print. Sword & Sorcery Studios will release the unproofed manuscript (by authors Carla Hollar and Rucht Lilavivat and outgoing developers Jackie Cassada and Nicky Rea) as a free download available at http://www.swordsorcery.com. The manuscript will be available this September.

"It has been a pleasure to publish and work on these two classic properties," said Stewart Wieck, Managing Editor of Sword & Sorcery Studios. "These are icons of the RPG culture, and I think we did them justice, added to their lore, and gave them a fresh treatment for this generation of gamers."

Arthaus Publishing licensed the rights to RAVENLOFT, the gothic horror brand of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®, in 2001 and—under the Sword & Sorcery banner—has released 19 different products in the line over the last four years. Van Richten's Guide to the Mists was to be the twentieth product in the line. Arthaus licensed GAMMA WORLD in 2002 and released six products in the line.

"Sword & Sorcery has done a great job with both lines," said Rich Redman, Wizards of the Coast's Assistant Brand Manager for Licensing. "We never had any doubts that these lines were in good hands."

http://www.white-wolf.com/ravenloft/index.php?articleid=276

 

[rowport]

The only time I've seen moves like this as 'classic' in corporations is when they're trying to trim the fat and make things a nice digestible package for sale.

This feels dead-on to me. Still, the crown jewel for the IP would be the video game rights, which Atari already has, right?

 

[Joël of the FoS]

Here's the text of the WOTC RL announcement as posted on the Arthaus/WW/Sword and Sorcery site:

PS -- As can be determined by the date, this was well over a year ago. Since the license reverted to WoTC, both the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft product and redone versions of selected RL novels in trade paperback have been produced.

--------------

Atlanta, GA and Renton, WA; August 15, 2005 — Arthaus Publishing, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. today announced that they have reached an agreement for the reversion of rights to the RAVENLOFT and GAMMA WORLD campaign settings. Wizards of the Coast has tentatively agreed to allow White Wolf, which solicits and sells all Arthaus products, to continue to sell back stock in both lines under its Sword & Sorcery umbrella brand through June of 2006.

This reversion means that the RAVENLOFT supplement Van Richten's Guide to the Mists will not see print. Sword & Sorcery Studios will release the unproofed manuscript (by authors Carla Hollar and Rucht Lilavivat and outgoing developers Jackie Cassada and Nicky Rea) as a free download available at http://www.swordsorcery.com. The manuscript will be available this September.

"It has been a pleasure to publish and work on these two classic properties," said Stewart Wieck, Managing Editor of Sword & Sorcery Studios. "These are icons of the RPG culture, and I think we did them justice, added to their lore, and gave them a fresh treatment for this generation of gamers."

Arthaus Publishing licensed the rights to RAVENLOFT, the gothic horror brand of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®, in 2001 and—under the Sword & Sorcery banner—has released 19 different products in the line over the last four years. Van Richten's Guide to the Mists was to be the twentieth product in the line. Arthaus licensed GAMMA WORLD in 2002 and released six products in the line.

"Sword & Sorcery has done a great job with both lines," said Rich Redman, Wizards of the Coast's Assistant Brand Manager for Licensing. "We never had any doubts that these lines were in good hands."

http://www.white-wolf.com/ravenloft/index.php?articleid=276

Yes, this is the announcement! (and to me, it's pretty similar to the DL one - doesn't say why the licence has ended).

It doesn't say anything about book sales or licence price. But perhaps AuldGrump was refering to something else?

Joël

 

[direheroics]

I know this announcement! (and to me, it's pretty similar to the DL one - doesn't say why the licence has ended).

But why do you put it to my attention, since it doesn't say anything about book sales or licence price?

Joël

I was simply pointing it out to everyone that no mention of financials was made in the only official announcement of the product lines' ending. Many folks may have never seen the original announcement.

I was backing you up with hard evidence!

 

[Joël of the FoS]

I was simply pointing it out to everyone that no mention of financials was made in the only official announcement of the product lines' ending. Many folks may have never seen the original announcement.

I was backing you up with hard evidence!

Yes, sorry, I saw your answer on the FoS board, understood what you meant, then edited my post here

Joël

 

[Vlad Le Démon]

WotC recovering freedom from Hasbro ?

I'm a Magic the gathering player and a D&D player...
WotC will make something special for the 10th edition of MtG: all the cards will get black borders !
If i add this with all the timeshifted cards from the Timespiral block and the news concerning Dragon, Dungeon and Dragonlance...I'm thinking something will come in the near future...
Perhaps Hasbro will sell WotC to another company or will release WotC from captivity...

 

[Cthulhudrew]

WotC has plenty of smart cookies working there; I do not believe for a moment that no one raised their hand at a meeting and said "Guys? Folks are going to FREAK OUT over this. How about we hit them with our plans right when Paizo drops the bomb?"

WotC Marketing Guy: Hey, just thought I'd let you guys in D&D (design/development) know that we're announcing the cancellation of the license with Paizo this week. Give you a heads up and all.

WotC D&D Guy: You serious? Do you have any idea what kind of a madhouse it's going to be on the boards? I have a Play by Post I'm in- and we're in the middle of the climactic battle against Kyuss! Please tell me you Marketing Guys have some kind of Brilliant Plan (tm) that will at least give the fans something to chew on so they aren't tearing us a new one!

WotC Marketing Guy: Hey- that would have been a great idea, huh?

WotC D&D Guy: Maybe some Designated Online Representative (tm) to put a personal face on things for the online community? You, know, kind of like SKR did back in the day for TSR- he somehow managed to survive the wolves and do well for himself in the end.

WotC Marketing Guy: That sounds like it would have been another good idea. Have you ever thought about coming to work for us in Marketing?

WotC D&D Guy: ...

WotC Marketing Guy: Don't worry- give it a couple of days. Something else will come along and they'll completely forget about this whole thing. That games trade show is coming up, right?

WotC D&D Guy: Yeah, I suppose we'll just have to make the best of it.

WotC Marketing Guy: Good man- that's the spirit. Oh- by the way, there might also be some kind of announcement about the Dragonlance license not being renewed. Just so you know.

WotC D&D Guy: On the bright side, I guess I'll have a lot more free time now that I won't be able to ever go online again...