Statement on OGL from WotC

Wizards of the Coast has made a short statement regarding the ongoing rumors surrounding OneD&D and the Open Gaming License. In a short response to Comicbook.com, the company said "We will continue to support the thousands of creators making third-party D&D content with the release of One D&D in 2024. While it is certain our Open Game License (OGL) will continue to evolve, just as it has since its inception, we're too early in the development of One D&D to give more specifics on the OGL or System Reference Document (SRD) at this time."

Dungeons & Dragons Clarifies Support for Third-Party Material as New Edition Draws Near

Wizards of the Coast has responded to rumors of changes to the Open Game License and System [...]

comicbook.com

It's not clear what WotC means when they say that the OGL will 'continue to evolve' -- while there have been two versions of the license released over the years, each is non-rescindible so people are free to use whichever version of the license they wish. Indeed, that is written into the license itself -- "Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License."

During the D&D 4th Edition era, WotC published a new, separate license called the Game System Licence (GSL). While it was used by third party publishers, it was generally upopular.

 

[Incenjucar]

Corporate speak has the purpose of maintaining the validity of the statement given the realities of business while minimizing financial risk if things change and the statement gets used as a weapon by critics. It would be a bad choice to use non-corporate speak specifically because of this conversation. Panicking fans did this to themselves.

 

[Oofta]

Corporate speak has the purpose of maintaining the validity of the statement given the realities of business while minimizing financial risk if things change and the statement gets used as a weapon by critics. It would be a bad choice to use non-corporate speak specifically because of this conversation. Panicking fans did this to themselves.

I sincerely doubt that 99% of the people who are actively playing D&D even know about this, or that they care if they do. Just because clickbait works, it does not mean there's a widespread panic.

Of course the response was written in corporate speak. WOTC is a corporation. Because they didn't always do that we're still hearing how 5E is supposed to be the ultimate modular game a decade later.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Corporate speak has the purpose of maintaining the validity of the statement given the realities of business while minimizing financial risk if things change and the statement gets used as a weapon by critics. It would be a bad choice to use non-corporate speak specifically because of this conversation. Panicking fans did this to themselves.

This is exactly what people predicted would happen if WotC made a statement to address the "controversy", and why many of us expected that WotC would just stay silent and not deign to acknowledge the matter.

 

[Blue Orange]

They're taking no action. The statement doesn't say they will get rid of the OGL, it doesn't say they won't.

Probably they're weighing revenue loss from people making their own stuff against (1) bad blood with fans, many of whom are very internet-savvy (2) the greater difficulty in stamping out 'bootleg D&D' since the old 'T$R lawsuit' days (3) the risk of an OSR-like alternative popping up that has just enough difference to survive a copyright lawsuit.

 

[Morrus]

They're taking no action. The statement doesn't say they will get rid of the OGL, it doesn't say they won't.

They can’t.

 

[Incenjucar]

Probably they're not even thinking about it because they have something important to work on and they'll send an email to legal three months before launch to see of they need to update anything before things go live.

 

[Reynard]

They're taking no action. The statement doesn't say they will get rid of the OGL, it doesn't say they won't.

Probably they're weighing revenue loss from people making their own stuff against (1) bad blood with fans, many of whom are very internet-savvy (2) the greater difficulty in stamping out 'bootleg D&D' since the old 'T$R lawsuit' days (3) the risk of an OSR-like alternative popping up that has just enough difference to survive a copyright lawsuit.

None of that makes any sense in the context of a robust 5E 3rd party ecosystem, even allowing for the blatantly wrong idea that WotC could end the OGL if they wanted to.

 

[LordEntrails]

But to answer your question, here's a 3PP concerned about changes to the OGL under One D&D, from three months ago: One DnD: OGL Going Away in 6e

See below...

The statement doesn't say they will get rid of the OGL, it doesn't say they won't.

Let me reiterate what Morrus said. THE OGL CAN NOT BE TAKEN AWAY, EVER. BY ANYONE.

Just like once something becomes Open Content or Public Domain, it can never NOT be Open Content or Public Domain. That is the power of releasing something like that. It goes into a perpetual legal state that means it stays there.

One D&D might not have an SRD, and it may not update (or coincide with an update) to the OGL. But the OGL 1.0 and 1.0a will ALWAYS exist and be available to anyone who wishes to use them as written.

 

[John Lloyd1]

Probably they're not even thinking about it because they have something important to work on and they'll send an email to legal three months before launch to see of they need to update anything before things go live.

This is 100% where I think they are at!

 

[Blue Orange]

See below...

Let me reiterate what Morrus said. THE OGL CAN NOT BE TAKEN AWAY, EVER. BY ANYONE.

Just like once something becomes Open Content or Public Domain, it can never NOT be Open Content or Public Domain. That is the power of releasing something like that. It goes into a perpetual legal state that means it stays there.

One D&D might not have an SRD, and it may not update (or coincide with an update) to the OGL. But the OGL 1.0 and 1.0a will ALWAYS exist and be available to anyone who wishes to use them as written.

Good to know, thank you. Thank God!