Dungeons & Dragons OGL 1.1 Controversy Lead to Subscription Cancelations
Latest leak regarding Dungeons & Dragons OGL 1.1 changes controversy causes fans to cancel their D&D Beyond subscriptions.
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| Dungeons & Dragons OGL 1.1 Controversy Lead to Subscription Cancelations |
Newly revealed proposed changes for tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons' license by publisher Wizards of the Coast has led to controversy and massive fan-backlash against their parent company Hasbro, Inc earlier this week.
Entire community of fans and creators are penning open letter to WotC in protest, asking them not to change Open Game License. After a recent leak from an insider, fans are cancelling their D&D Beyond subscriptions to send a message.
A planned change to OGL would heavily restrict D&D community and therefore, WotC is facing some major backlash from fans. An insider recently shared future plans of the publisher, which led to mass cancellation of D&D subscriptions.
While fans were protesting online with #OpenDnD letter against OGL 1.1 changes, insider leaks suggest that Wizards of the Coast is planning to delay these changes due to latest fan-backlash and has no plans to cancel them for D&D fans.
Twitter user DnD_Shorts shared a leaked insider message, detailing Wizards of the Coast's plans for D&D.
Huge leak from an insider @Wizards
— DnD_Shorts (@DnD_Shorts) January 12, 2023
It's what we feared: the higher ups despise us, the D&D community, and see us only as an "obstacle to their money".
Subs on D&D Beyond are all WotC care about, so I've cancelled mine. Let your voice be heard #opendnd #StopTheSub pic.twitter.com/LhaBM4tGML
Apparently, WotC takes decisions based on how it would impact their bottom line and they are looking at D&D Beyond subscriptions to estimate public opinion, thus prompting fans to cancel DnD Beyond subscriptions using #StopTheSub.
OGL 1.1 rules are largely negative for both creators and players, allowing WotC to take 25% of creators' sales earning and not profit. Moreover, parent company will have rights to reproduce or resell creator content without paying them.
Going forward with OGL 1.1 changes also means that D&D community will no longer be able to host virtual tabletops anymore. Despite denying these issues, WotC only made vague response to address public outcry and people are upset.
Dungeons & Dragons fans already expressed their opposition to OGL 1.1 with #OpenDnD letter and are now cancelling subscriptions. WotC may actually listen to public demand if cancelation controversy led to any major financial impact.
