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.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

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

Absolutely not but if you want a discussion about it, if it's even ENworld legal, it goes in another thread. Capitalism are different things. Capitalism is, as @Charlaquin says, about 300 years old. You might stretch it a little further but once you get into the deep middle ages you're definitely out.

 

[Xamnam]

At this point I feel like Linda Codega's next piece is more likely to drop first.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

If this letter is true then those executives are really megalomaniac and stupid, they don't even try the anchoring effect. Should have hired someone from Xbox department, at least those people know how to properly milk gamer dry.

Or the whole 1.1 OLG storm is some kind of 5D chess that ultimate goal is let Microsoft acquire WotC. /j

Well, it does kind of feel like they are taking a page from the Xbox playbook: push out the game pass, make it work on any platform, keep making Xboxes as a loss leader to get the digital purchases and subscription money in for the pass. The pass, meanwhile gives you access to a lot of games, but the big ones all require extra DLC purchases to get the full experience (but in defense of Game Pass I usually find trying a game on it out saves me the time and money of a purchase followed by buyer's remorse).

I think their DDB/One D&D plan is carefully pursuing this model, maybe with some Epic level battle pass monetization planned when it comes to virtual minis and maps down the road.

 

[mamba]

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

sure, but feudalism is basically a less egalitarian form of capitalism, i.e. money still talks, titles can be bought / sold. It’s more a different political system

 

[Charlaquin]

4E actually ended game groups and friendships. I doubt this will have the same negative impact.

Really? I’m already dreading having to inform my regulars that I’m not going to be buying D&D any more. This move will definitely end play groups, and presumably some friendships.

 

[Scribe]

So wait...no message???

 

[Ruin Explorer]

4E actually ended game groups and friendships. I doubt this will have the same negative impact.

Only because we ALL hate this lol.

4E/PF1 was a problem because it SPLIT people. And you can't just blame 4E for that lol, because it takes two to tango. The problem was that a bunch of people liked one more than the other.

There's no huge split here. There are a few people who really don't want to give up on liking WotC/D&D, and some people who are certain nothing bad will happen, but even those people tend to agree if this does go through as written, it'll be very bad.

 

[Parmandur]

Is it sad that my brain instantly knew that was a typo of people lol?

Fat thumbs. My experience with Medieval texts suggests the human brain can fill in a lot of detail from context of a text if need be.

 

[Dausuul]

So wait...no message???

None so far. We may finally have found the first leak that doesn't turn out to be true.

 

[Charlaquin]

sure, but feudalism is basically a less egalitarian form of capitalism, i.e. money still talks, titles can be bought / sold. It’s more a different political system

You’re very wrong about this, but this is not the time or place to discuss it.