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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 5324329" data-attributes="member: 7006">And I think this is why WotC went ahead and created 4E... because they screwed themselves longterm by creating the OGL for 3E.You know why WotC didn't release more products like Weapons of Legacy, or The Book of Nine Swords and whatnot?  Because the other 3rd Party companies already did it.  There was nothing left to create... at least nothing left that would actually generate a continuous stream of revenue.  The 3PPs cannibalized the possibilities WotC had for 3E products.  What if WotC maybe wanted to put out a superhero game using the d20 engine?  No point... Silver Age Sentinels and Mutants & Masterminds already did it.  And you can go down the list of other things WotC might've been able to do... had they not opened it up so other companies could do them first.However... now that they've fixed the problem and created a whole new game with new game engine that isn't open to be used by everybody else... they now have the possibilities to create product all to themselves.  And we're seeing them use it to create offshoots of 4E like the Castle Ravenloft boardgame and Gamma World.  And I wouldn't be at all surprised to eventually see a 4E Modern rpg... a 4E Superheroes rpg... a 4E space rpg and/or board game etc. etc.This is why 4E was an important step for them... because they got back what was rightfully theirs.  3E and the OGL was a godsend at the time because it finally got D&D back on solid footing as a legitimate game and legitimate brand after being crushed under the weight of TSRs mismanagement... but eventually the proliferation of 3PP just made it impossible for WotC to create anything that hadn't already been done in d20 many times before.  But now that D&D had regained a bit of its swagger back (both in the eyes of the industry and the general public), they could bring it back under their own umbrella once more and be the sole proprietors of the D&D mechanics and brand using 4E.</blockquote>

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