D&D Beyond Cancellations Changed WotCs Plans

Gizmodo has revealed that the partial OGL v1.1 walkback yesterday was in response to the fan campaign to cancel D&D Beyond subscriptions, with "five digits" worth of cancellations. However, the site also reveals that management at the company believed that fans were overreating and that it would all be forgotten in a few months.

In order to delete a D&D Beyond account entirely, users are funneled into a support system that asks them to submit tickets to be handled by customer service: Sources from inside Wizards of the Coast confirm that earlier this week there were “five digits” worth of complaining tickets in the system. Both moderation and internal management of the issues have been “a mess,” they said, partially due to the fact that WotC has recently downsized the D&D Beyond support team.

Yesterday's walkback removed the royalties from the license, but still 'de-authorized' the OGL v1.0a, something which may or may not be legally possible, depending on who you ask.

Cancelled D&D Beyond Subscriptions Forced Hasbro's Hand

Swift consumer action prompted Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast to to scrap licensing updates. The players aren't done yet.

gizmodo.com

 

[Voadam]

The unreleased FAQ position on de-authorization is interesting. Sticking to that position is big. 5e or other WotC SRD based OGC support will not have a safe harbor that is considered safe until that gets resolved. I hope the cancellations continue so WotC drops that aspect. WotC issuing a revision of the OGL that is like the 1.0 OGL but makes explicit that WotC cannot deauthorize or terminate the OGL would make the OGL safe from the WotC deauthorization attempt threat.

 

[Voadam]

Anybody have numbers on roughly how many DnDBeyond subscriptions there are?

 

[darjr]

Your LOCAL group has 2000 members? Where do you live?!?

yea.

We've had folks like James Introcaso do local AMA's as well.

I need to start that up again.

 

[Hurin88]

However, the site also reveals that management at the company believed that fans were overreating and that it would all be forgotten in a few months.

As a wise man once said, '...it is the doom of men that they forget.'

Never forget that WotC has revealed its true alignment. They're not primarily interested in fostering a creative community. They are a business seeking to maximize profit for shareholders. That's fine, but when they do it in a Chaotic Evil way, we should remember.

 

[ZeshinX]

I sometimes wonder if WotC/Hasbro are using this as some kind of playtest for a new game called Manure & Mines, because they sure have walked into (deliberately) a field filled with manure and mines, and are stepping in/on ALL of said manure and mines.

 

[MockingBird]

Anybody have numbers on roughly how many DnDBeyond subscriptions there are?

You might can make an educated guess based off the number of "survey submissions" they claimed a couple months back. I can't recall the number off the top of my head. Guess that could get us close.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Anybody have numbers on roughly how many DnDBeyond subscriptions there are?

We don't.

Beyond was quoted as having 10m registered users a year or two ago, and more recently by WotC as having 13m registered users.

But there's never been anything said about how many subscriptions, or whether they're normal or master tier.

You might can make an educated guess based off the number of "survey submissions" they claimed a couple months back. I can't recall the number off the top of my head. Guess that could get us close.

They only got 40k submissions, with 13m registered users. That means 0.28% of registered users did the survey.

I suspect they have a lot more than 40k subscribers.

 

[MockingBird]

They only got 40k submissions, with 13m registered users. That means 0.28% of registered users did the survey.

I suspect they have a lot more than 40k subscribers.

Ah you're right, I forgot that bit.

 

[Von Ether]

Can someone confirm, I thought those numbers became like at least $1 million in subs lost in a week.

 

[darjr]

Well they will soon have 5 figures less subscribers soon.

 

[darjr]

Can someone confirm, I thought those numbers became like at least $1 million in subs lost in a week.

Seconded. I can't math right now.

 

[Voadam]

Beyond was quoted as having 10m registered users a year or two ago, and more recently by WotC as having 13m registered users.

Yeah I am one of those. Accounts are free and I got the spelljammer bestiary thing.

But there's never been anything said about how many subscriptions, or whether they're normal or master tier.

Yeah, how many are paying anything and how many of those are canceling would be the bottom line numbers of biggest impact I would expect.

 

[overgeeked]

Can someone confirm, I thought those numbers became like at least $1 million in subs lost in a week.

It'll be hard to gauge as we don't have precise numbers on the lost subs nor their value. There are multiple tiers of subscription, so that's one variable. There were "5 figures" of cancelled subscriptions, which translates to between 10,000 and 99,999 cancellations, so that's the second variable. If it's 10,000 subs lost and $5 a sub, you're looking at $50,000 lost. If it's 99,999 subs lost and $20 a sub, you're looking at almost $2 million. So it's really up in the air.

ETA: Looking at the actual sub models from DNDBeyond. They're $3 and $6/month. Average that to $4.5. The "5 figures" averages out to 54,999.5. The math on the averages equates to $247,497.75. Even if it's 99,999 and they're all top tier subs, it's only $599,994.

 

[Reynard]

Well they will soon have 5 figures less subscribers soon.

Fewer.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The economy is not only raw materials, services and products. It is also the trust by customers and business partners, and the prestige for a job well done, these latter one cannot be bought or sold but must be earned on their own merits.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Further confirmation that WotC really, truly expected 3PPs to actually sign those sweetheart deals.

Some may have done so for all we know. Speculation at this point on the matter, in the absence of further evidence, amounts to a wild guess.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Fewer.

I approve this message.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I hate it when players over eat.

That's like literally every in person session - potato chips, pizza, cookies, etc etc etc
I hate myself the next day - unless we did in fact defeat the lich/greater demon/dragon

 

[darjr]

Actually maybe also folks with free accounts wanted deletion. I dunno what that might mean.

 

[MockingBird]

Actually maybe also folks with free accounts wanted deletion. I dunno what that might mean.

That would still hurt them I would think?