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 have a problem with it conceptually, but I found I don't actually like doing it. it changes the relationship at the table in a way I don't like. And I run a lot at cons, so it isn't about playing with randos or serving as an entainer.

The way it changes the relationship is exactly what makes me uncomfortable about it. That, and the fact that it’s part of the gradual commodification of leisure time, which I generally find distasteful. But I don’t blame the DMs for that. It’s a problem with late-stage capitalism, not the people who have to live within it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That's the attitude that I hate the most. There really are rich people that will SPEND MONEY to stop you from getting rich too. Just so they can be the only one.

Even when doing a business deal (like when I buy a comic collection as a retailer) - I try to make it so that everyone benefits (as best I can). My goal is that, at the end, the seller is happy, I'm happy, and the customer who buys it is happy. Why would anyone want anything less? I just don't get it.

Michael Eisner, before he formed Dreamworks, was known as the best agent in Hollywood. I remember an interview as Dreamworks was being formed, when either Time or Newsweek asked his secret.

"I sit down, figure out a good deal for everyone ahead of time, and then open with that. It's really hard for people to argue against a clearly good deal."

That this is seen as some sort of magical secret way that no one else would ever think of says way too much about the business world.

EDIT: Not Eisner. Damned if I can remember who it was, actually, since it doesn't actually seem to be any of the Dreamworks SKG founders.

 

[Reynard]

Worse. My 18 year old and his buddies (18-23).

Or, as we parents of boys that age call them, black holes.

 

[payn]

The only Williams I trust is Ash.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Agree. As much as I want to believe they are stupid, WotC is smart enough to know better than to commit to anything at this point. Whatever announcement we get today (if any) is going to be vague and evasive--it'll be carefully crafted to diffuse backlash and scatter the opposition. They can afford to wait it out, so I think they'll play for time.

I mean, you could be right, but I don't think this would work as well as you think, for two reasons.

1) If you release something solely "vague and evasive" with no concrete at all, it won't get a lot of reporting. That means it's not very effective either as a counter-narrative, nor as a shutdown the existing narrative. A lot of people will go on thinking what they thought previously was true.

2) People have memories. If you are vague and evasive, and then just release the actual thing that everyone thought you would, people will remember, and you'll be the company who lied. And that lying will be worth reporting, because everyone likes to hate a corporation, and corporation that demonstrably lies? That's particularly great.

 

[Velderan]

Kobold Fight Club makes this all a lot easier. I am abashed at how long it took me to try it.

How have I never seen this before? Thank you so much for sharing that! <3

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

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!").

That "email" looks super dubious. I am extremely skeptical of it.

We shall see about a communication later today, which seems likely. So the first leak seems more believable than the second.

The only Williams I trust is Ash.

 

[Dausuul]

People should do what they want, of course, but continuing to play D&D promotes D&D (especially at cons or other public space). Folks should consider that when deciding how far they personally want to go in punishing WotC.

If you're playing D&D at somebody's house, with your own private group that's been doing it for years... you're not promoting anything in any way that matters.

Anyway, I don't care about punishing Wizards. Wizards is a corporation, it doesn't feel pain, and the people responsible for this mess are likely to move on in a few years anyway. What I care about is making Wizards change what it's doing. That means focusing on the metrics I think they're paying attention to (which, according to both the supposed insider e-mail and plain common sense, is D&D Beyond subs), and let the rest slide.

 

[guachi]

You might say that Cocks, Williams, and Lawson are altogether the Unholy Trinity of this particular situation. The buck certainly stops with them writ large.

In a very literal sense the buck may actually stop with them. More like bucks stopping with them if enough people cancel their subscriptions and stop buying product.

 

[ReshiIRE]

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!").

The email is almost certainly real (not necessarily it's claims, but the email being sent) as Linda Codega heard about it and has a report on it going up today.