Ginny Di interviews WotC's Kyle Brink

Continuing the D&D executive producer's interview tour, gaming influencer Ginny Di asks a WotC's Kyle Brink about the OGL and other things.

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[mamba]

There will always be gaps. If you destroy the other VTTs, there will be no one left to exploit them.

I get that, my point is that SRD and OGL are not what allows them to use D&D material, so WotC can destroy them just as much without touching the OGL

 

[Justice and Rule]

I get that, my point is that SRD and OGL are not what allows them to use D&D material, so WotC can destroy them just as much without touching the OGL

Sure, but the OGL is the second half, closing the door behind them on other editions. There will be OneDND and no others. And hey, there will be OneVTT and no others.

 

[ValamirCleaver]

I also remain convinced that the interviews are part of the process to protect their most important asset - the Movie. We are all celebrating our victory and in some ways I think the PR campaign looks more like a Hollywood crisis expert was brought in.

I wonder how hard Paramount leaned into Wizbro & told them to quit "screwing around" to keep them from potentially tanking the movie.

 

[mamba]

Sure, but the OGL is the second half, closing the door behind them on other editions. There will be OneDND and no others. And hey, there will be OneVTT and no others.

not much of a concern for WotC though, no more than those VTTs surviving on 3p RPGs.

 

[Justice and Rule]

not much of a concern for WotC though, no more than those VTTs surviving on 3p RPGs.

I'd say they were less flippant than you about it. They have serious targets to reach.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Why? Just look at what happened to Magic, as well as their sky-high projections on how they want to build the brand.

I look at the whole magic issue and I still can't see why everyone is mad at them...

They made a product that has no inherent value and sold it for 1k...

A lot of other companies and people sell stuff with even less value for more...

if people buy that, it is on them. And since exclusivity is the only value that thing has, it needs to be limited and expensive...

if they had wanted to be greedy, they had put out way cheaper trash that is bought by millions of people like all the other magic cards...

 

[mamba]

I'd say they were less flippant than you about it. They have serious targets to reach.

they do, that doesn’t change the fact that the OGL change does not help wrt to VTTs.

I do not believe that anyone considers WotC’s moves to have been well thought out and shrewdly strategic, I certainly do not, in fact quite the opposite

 

[Justice and Rule]

I look at the whole magic issue and I still can't see why everyone is mad at them...

They made a product that has no inherent value and sold it for 1k...

A lot of other companies and people sell stuff with even less value for more...

if people buy that, it is on them. And since exclusivity is the only value that thing has, it needs to be limited and expensive...

if they had wanted to be greedy, they had put out way cheaper trash that is bought by millions of people like all the other magic cards...

If you don't understand why the whole thing about Magic was greed, then I just can't help you there. Just because other companies sell less for more doesn't make it any less about greed, nor does the fact that people will buy those things at those prices not make it about greed.

At the end of the day, it was an attempt to maximize profits and ended up completely messing up the community. That's greed any way you cut it.

they do, that doesn’t change the fact that the OGL change does not help wrt to VTTs.

It helps them with VTTs because it helps drive people to their game by cutting down competitors. It certainly does more to destroy the market behind them than it stops Disney from making an RPG and joining the market.

I do not believe that anyone considers WotC’s moves to have been well thought out and shrewdly strategic, I certainly do not, in fact quite the opposite

I don't think my version is particularly shrewd or strategic, it's just blunt-force attempt to bully the market as hard as they can. It also has the benefit that I don't have to take WotC at their word while they are on their apology tour.

 

[mamba]

I don't think my version is particularly shrewd or strategic, it's just blunt-force attempt to bully the market as hard as they can. It also has the benefit that I don't have to take WotC at their word while they are on their apology tour.

True, it isn’t. My problem is that the ‘WotC is greedy and stupid’ theory did never sit well with me, that move just never made any business sense to me. Too risky with almost no upside, I said so from the start. My problem was that I initially saw no better explanation for the behavior.

The ‘WotC is paranoid’ theory makes more sense to me. It explains their decisions better to me.

It’s not about believing WotC, they have done little to deserve that trust, I am going by my own judgement / conclusions. That does not mean I trust them, it just means that their story makes more sense to me than the alternative that you are going with.

I have no way of knowing whether I am right or you are, and until we do have facts that solve this once and for all, I will have to go with my own analysis.

 

[Justice and Rule]

True, it isn’t. My problem is that the ‘WotC is greedy and stupid’ theory did never sit well with me, that move just never made any business sense to me. Too risky with almost no upside, I said so from the start. My problem was that I initially saw no better explanation for the behavior.

The ‘WotC is paranoid’ theory makes more sense to me. It explains their decisions better to me.

It’s not about believing WotC, they have done little to deserve that trust, I am going by my own judgement / conclusions. That does not mean I trust them, it just means that their story makes more sense to me than the alternative that you are going with.

I have no way of knowing whether I am right or you are, and until we do have facts that solve this once and for all, I will have to go with my own analysis.

I mean, the "WotC is greedy and stupid" is perhaps an oversimplification, but I find it better than the "WotC is paranoid" because that just seems less sensical given the facts. We know that they are trying to push the D&D brand to the stratosphere and we know that the shareholders expect a lot of them. The profit window they are trying to reach is absolutely towering compared to where they are.

To me, it makes more sense that these moves were an attempt to consolidate what they had through their position as a market leader, rather than to protect their share against an enemy that has yet to make any moves or any mention of, well, opposing them. To me, it makes sense that they are trying to maximize their marketspace because to reach the targets they set, they need to. They can't afford a cheaper option or people not moving to their new edition and platform. They need to make sure their VTT is the VTT people are using. Eliminating the others, salting the edition behind them, those make some level of logical sense given the past.

You can have your opinion, but I just don't really see it. It's only been mentioned by Brink and I just see no reason to trust any reason they are saying without real proof, and we very much lack that.