Paizo Paizo Updates Pathfinder/Starfinder Licenses

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Paizo has announced an update to the third party and fan content licenses for Pathfinder and Starfinder. They are making three major changes:

• The Pathfinder and Starfinder compatibility licenses are being merged into one Paizo Compatibility License. The compatibility licenses allow a this party publisher or creator to use a logo on their product in order to indicate compatibility.
• The Pathfinder and Starfinder Infinite community content publishing platform is being put on hold until Starfinder 2E is released in about a year. More specifically, creators will not be able to publish mechanical content (rules) on the platform, although they can still publish lore, fiction, and art. This is because Pathfinder has now been divested of the Open Gaming License, as will Starfinder 2E, and the ORC license is not compatible with it, so the platform will be updated to use a new license.
• Finally, the Fan Content Policy is a replacement for the Community Use Policy. It's more generous than its predecessor, allowing creators to sell merchandise (dice bags, shirts, plushies, and so on) using Paizo's IP as long as those items are made and sold by the creator and not mass produced or sold en-masse via an print-on-demand platform.

There's more nuance to these changes, of course. You can read them in more detail on the Paizo Blog.

 

[Velderan]

paizo.com - Community / Paizo Blog

So it looks like they're walking back the changes to the Community Use Policy since they were pretty unpopular. The Fan Content Policy that was supposed to replace it will remain and be clarified better on what types of things people can make and sell using their IP.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

The license change was aligning Paizo with the industry standard used by most other ttrpg companies.

To keep the CUP in addition to the FCP based on customer feedback is a great move for fans, and far more than Paizo should be expected to give.