Paizo Reverses Course, Re-Instates Community Use Policy

Paizo announced on Thursday that they are reversing course on the plan to replace the long-standing Community Use Policy with a new Fan Content Policy. The policy change was announced in July that swapped the two policies around for the use of Paizo intellectual property.

From the blog post:

In July, we terminated Paizo’s longstanding Community Use Policy and replaced it with a new Fan Content Policy. This was an error, and we’re taking steps to rectify that today.

We are reinstating the Community Use Policy as it has existed for over 15 years, with a few minor updates and clarifications intended to make using the policy even easier. We have removed both the Approved Products List and Community Use Registry and clarified some elements that were previously in FAQs or simply not addressed (like being able to use our art and logos in black and white products). We have not changed the permissions granted by the policy. The specific language in the Community Use Policy declaration you need to include in your project has changed to reflect a new URL for the policy on paizo.com, and we have added the provision that you provide contact information somewhere on your product in lieu of the now-removed registry. This change will allow existing Community Use Policy projects to continue to operate as they have for over a decade.

We still fully intend to provide additional permissions for community creators to monetize their creations under limited circumstances. For the time being, the Fan Content Policy allows this, and we’re making no changes to that policy today—it exists alongside the Community Use Policy. With the Community Use Policy restored, we can refine the Fan Content Policy to more clearly define what commercial uses are allowed under what conditions and using which elements of our intellectual property. We will make our intended revisions and updates to the Fan Content Policy and let the community know when the new version is available.

Paizo’s community is the foundation of our success, and we deeply appreciate all of the hard work and passion you bring to our spaces. We apologize for this misstep and look forward to a long, bright future for community projects inspired by our work. Thank you for all of your outreach, feedback, and difficult conversations throughout this process. And above all, thank you for being a part of our community.

 

[pete284]

Yet another good example of Community action forcing companies to listen to their customers, who ultimately keep them in business.

 

[TheSword]

Yet another good example of Community action forcing companies to listen to their customers, who ultimately keep them in business.

So it isn’t just WotC that do this kind of stuff? Is this going to be held against Paizo for the next two years like it was against WotC?

Someday folks will realize that big companies acceding to their fans demands is a good thing [for fans - edit]

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

So it isn’t just WotC that do this kind of stuff? Is this going to be held against Paizo for the next two years like it was against WotC?

Someday folks will realize that big companies acceding to their fans demands is a good thing.

The thing is -- when Wizards did this, few people applauded the fact they were listening to people. We forget that that was still when people wanted to tank the D&D movie as payback.

Paizo does it, and it's a case of 'what good corporate citizenship!' There's still plenty of hate towards Wizards over it.

 

[Nylanfs]

There's a difference between a company restricting access to it's IP (but not the system) and a company attempting to burn down an industry it made and profited from.

In this case I honestly didn't think that they gamed out all the possible consequences for replacing the CUP because they were focused on PF2R and didn't realize the knock-on effects to old and existing PF1, PF2, & SF1 products.

 

[TheSword]

There's a difference between a company restricting access to it's IP (but not the system) and a company attempting to burn down an industry it made and profited from.

In this case I honestly didn't think that they gamed out all the possible consequences for replacing the CUP because they were focused on PF2R and didn't realize the knock-on effects to old and existing PF1, PF2, & SF1 products.

Hair splitting and giving the benefit of the doubt.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

So it isn’t just WotC that do this kind of stuff? Is this going to be held against Paizo for the next two years like it was against WotC?

Putting aside the fact that what WotC did with the OGL was significantly more egregious than what Paizo did in this scenario.

Paizo put something out publicly, immediately opened communications channels with major players with concerns (The pf2 Foundry team, for example), then put out a retraction and correction directly addressing those concerns.

WotC started by trying to hide their change by putting it out in with NDAs and publicly posting erroneous or misleading information, the only direct communication was with people at WotC acting as anonymous sources to journalists, and they doubled-down on their decision twice before finally conceding to community outrage.

 

[WayneLigon]

Hair splitting and giving the benefit of the doubt.

It's going to take WOTC years to live down what they tried to do to the OGL and other things they've done just in the last couple of years, if they ever can - which I sincerely doubt. They are very close to that swaggering snarky attitude TSR had back in the day, supposedly safe and secure in being the Big Dog, and believing the Big Dog can do whatever it wants.

Paizo has not done anything remotely close so, yeah, they get a pass for the occasional stumble.

 

[Cergorach]

Someday folks will realize that big companies acceding to their fans demands is a good thing.

I don't agree with that.

Business should never do what their fans demand. They should do what is good business. The customer isn't always right, more often the customer is wrong, very wrong. Alienating their customer base is bad business, going back on that change is good business. That it's also what fans demanded, is a nice coincidence though...

And I fully expect that some of the fanbase will keep reminding everyone what Paizo did is pretty darned similar of what WotC did and that they aren't the 'fan' competition to WotC/D&D that many fans like to paint them as 'saints'. I'll certainly remember.

Paizo makes money from making products in formats that people want, are not insanely expensive and safe them time. I haven't been buying physical Paizo products for over a decade. They sell actual PDFs, they price the rulebooks at 1/3rd of the physical book price ($20 for each of the core rulebooks) other books in PDF depend on the product. And they have awesome VTT products for Foundry VTT. And let's not forget all the nice Humble Bundles that attract potential customers...

 

[TheSword]

I don't agree with that.

Business should never do what their fans demand. They should do what is good business. The customer isn't always right, more often the customer is wrong, very wrong. Alienating their customer base is bad business, going back on that change is good business. That it's also what fans demanded, is a nice coincidence though...

And I fully expect that some of the fanbase will keep reminding everyone what Paizo did is pretty darned similar of what WotC did and that they aren't the 'fan' competition to WotC/D&D that many fans like to paint them as 'saints'. I'll certainly remember.

Paizo makes money from making products in formats that people want, are not insanely expensive and safe them time. I haven't been buying physical Paizo products for over a decade. They sell actual PDFs, they price the rulebooks at 1/3rd of the physical book price ($20 for each of the core rulebooks) other books in PDF depend on the product. And they have awesome VTT products for Foundry VTT. And let's not forget all the nice Humble Bundles that attract potential customers...

I’ve updated to say ‘good for fans’