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.

 

[Charlaquin]

I don't love companies, but we all know that's how things get made, right? Because they can make money off of them? That doesn't excuse bad behavior, but things don't get made if they don't make money.

They were making plenty of money with the OGL 1.0 in place. The problem here is not that they’re trying to make money, it’s that they are now hurting the community and other creators’ livelihoods in their pursuit of money.

 

[Dausuul]

I wouldn't say it confirms that it's fake, but one thing it has in common with phishing emails is that it plays on people's fears while pairing it with an immediate call-to-action ("quick, deactivate your DND Beyond account so that corporate bigwigs will know you're not happy about the changes to the OGL!").

Also a subject line, and a lot of ASCII characters. Totally sketchy, that.

Come on. I don't say it's for-sure real, we can't know that, but it's just the kind of e-mail you would expect from a disgruntled Wizards employee who was a fan of the OGL (as many of the rank and file are), royally narked off at leadership, and saw the current furor as an opportunity to strike a blow for the things they believe in.

And the call to action is exactly what many people had already figured out: Wizards is going hard on digital, they just laid out big money for D&D Beyond, and every company loves subscription revenue. It's not rocket science to guess that canceling your sub will get their attention. I did it two days ago and I've been urging others to do the same.

It's good to maintain a little skepticism, but the leaks in this whole sorry business have proven true again and again and again, all the way back to November when rumors started circulating that they were going to get rid of the OGL and most of us (certainly including me) were pooh-poohing the idea.

 

[darjr]

Live now, some sort of pre show. Let's Watch WoTC's OGL Response Together! | Roll For Combat #dnd #ogl #opendnd

 

[whimsychris123]

Just unsubscribed. I was gonna wait, but this was important. I can always change my mind if things turn out differently. We'll see how it goes!

 

[Manbearcat]

Alternatively, D&D dies and kills the RPG industry (note: industry, not hobby) with it.

I mean this exactly as harshly as it sounds:

If the TTRPG community is THAT fragile…that lacking in resilience and malleability and resourcefulness…that Hasbro shelving D&D kills the hobby stone dead?

Then we deserve it. Just put us out of our pathetic misery right now.

But I don’t think so. Honestly, I think quite the opposite. I’m confident we’ll be better than just fine. Better than the status quo.

WotC/Hasbro loses. We win.

 

[Composer99]

One thing's for sure, it's not going to be like the pre-game shows on the radio or TV ahead of NHL games.

"Yes, that's D&D VP Dan Rawson we're talking about. Got traded from Microsoft for a first-round draft pick. WotC is clearly hoping he'll help them pick up a championship this season."

 

[ilgatto]

I honestly wonder if this is where we're headed. Not the mass cancellations now, as those always blow over pretty fast due to customers having short memories.

But if DnDone crashes and burns on release due to everyone just choosing to stay on 5e, will Hasbro just throw the DnD brand in the dumpster and end it completely? What happens then?

Well, I guess we just keep on playing.

 

[niklinna]

I mean this exactly as harshly as it sounds:

If the TTRPG community is THAT fragile…that lacking in resilience and malleability and resourcefulness…that Hasbro shelving D&D kills the hobby stone dead?

Then we deserve it. Just put us out of our pathetic misery right now.

But I don’t think so. Honestly, I think quite the opposite. I’m confident we’ll be better than just fine. Better than the status quo.

WotC/Hasbro loses. We win.

(emphasis added)

@Reynard did take the trouble to differentiate industry from hobby.

 

[see]

Considering that even if they rolled back 100% and ammended the current OGL to be super duper irrevocable forever the trust is irretrievably broken.

If they make it super duper irrevocable, who needs trust?

I mean, imagine a scenario (I don't claim it's likely) where they issue an OGL 1.0b that:

1. is explicitly irrevocable,
2. explicitly defines "authorized" in a way that de-authorization can't happen,
3. explicitly declares that the offer is both perpetual and irrevocable,
4. explicitly requires that the Open Gaming Foundation approve of any new OGL versions,

and then release, under that "1.0b" license, not just the original 3rd edition SRD, the D20 Modern SRD, the 3.5 RSRD, and the current SRD5, but also expand the SRD5 with the subclasses/backgrounds/feats from the PHB, plus, heck, they also release an SRD with most of the original 4th edition PHB/DMG/MM.

I mean, at that point, sure, I know Hasbro is likely to be a weasel in the future. Heck, they might go ahead and try to get people to sign a GSL in order to make content for One D&D. But why would I really care?

 

[Charlaquin]

Everyday when I log out from hotmail, I see some weird business thing in the headlines, I don't like the way things are, though that's never meant anything. The system has always been this way, at least since the 80's, and you are right, there are busts, except it always seems to boom again. Let me add, building mansions for the rich tech and entertainment types in California, I never met any of them I would consider good.

The 80s was pretty recent. That’s one of the most insidious things about capitalism, it has managed to convince people that it’s some kind of natural law, rather than a system, created by people, in only the last 300 years or so. Things have, in fact, not always been this way, and they don’t have to be this way forever.