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.

 

[mamba]

Well, yeah, but was that a boycott of WotC, or just people not embracing the new edition of D&D?

not sure what the difference is, they lost those people either way

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Is it common for them to cancel streams at the last minute?

It isn't, no.

But if I saw that chat? I might run away too lol.

 

[Ghost2020]

Makes me wonder if certain people were fed the twitch time so that they could weed out the leaker?

I get that that does sound overly dramatic.

 

[Charlaquin]

capitalism has existed since we invented money, in fact before that even, there is nothing recent about it

This is absurdly misinformed. Have you just never heard of feudalism?

 

[rgard]

Can we do the history of capitalism in its own thread?

Radical concept.

 

[Parmandur]

I’ll have to take your word for it that it was more intense, but I don’t think the similarities are that strong. The OGL wasn’t being ended, D&D just wasn’t using it for the new edition. People upset about the GSL were still ultimately upset about what was going on with D&D specifically, and the OGL offered them an out from D&D. Here, we’re upset about the effect this move will have on the RPG ecosystem outside of D&D, and concerned that the OGL won’t be able to offer an alternative any more.

Some aspects are different, as are all historical situations. However, speaking as someone who was around and watching at the time, it was much the same.

 

[jgbrowning]

Similar in many ways, and the vibe is the same. Not as intense as 2008, actually.

To me, it seems like this is significantly more intense to me.

joe b.

 

[Michael Linke]

This is absurdly misinformed. Have you just never heard of feudalism?

Yeah. Capitalism as we know only goes back to the 19th century.

 

[timbannock]

Bets on press release instead?

I was shocked they'd even float the idea of a video in the first place, prerecorded or otherwise. Especially if it's a stopgap to buy time before release/revision.

 

[Parmandur]

Is it common for them to cancel streams at the last minute?

Dunno, don't watch it. But theybnormally have a little show on Thursday afternoons, I think 0eoppe just made an assumption there would be something.