Dungeons & Dragons Looks to Clamp Down on Competition With New OGL | Gaming News And Rumors 2023

A leaked version of Dungeons & Dragons new Open Game License has many worried about the future of the tabletop roleplaying game's ecosystem. For weeks, rumors have swirled

about Wizards of the Coast's plans for the Open Game License (OGL), a license that allows third-party creators and publishers to use Dungeons & Dragons rules and mechanics in

their own work. Last month, Wizards of the Coast released a statement detailing a framework for an upcoming "update" to the OGL, which included a royalty fee for creators who made

more than $750,000 in revenue off of works that used the new OGL. This week, the D&D video channel Roll for Combat and Linda Codega of io9 both reported on a version of the

OGL 1.1 dated in early December. The reported new OGL is significantly more restrictive than the previous OGL and also claims to de-authorize the previous OGL, which means that

publishers like Paizo, Critical Role's Darrington Press, Matt Colville's MCDM, and Green Ronin Publishing, would be forced to opt into the new OGL in order to continue publishing

OGL work. Previous "updates" to the OGL specifically noted that creators could continue to use older versions of the OGL, which seems to be off the table with the OGL viewed by

io9. The new OGL provides Wizards of the Coast with a greater level of control over third party D&D and D&D-derived content, with Wizards able to revoke a license in the

case of clear bigoted content and specifying that NFTs and blockchain technology are not covered by the license. However, the OGL also requires creators to register all OGL

licensed work with Wizards and grants Wizards a "nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sub-licensable, royalty-free license" to use content created under the OGL for any

purpose. Additionally, Wizards also reserves the right to change or terminate the OGL with just 30 days notice.While Wizards of the Coast has yet to release the new OGL publicly,

at least one part of the OGL was confirmed today by Kickstarter executives. The OGL notes that creators who use Kickstarter to fund their projects will only have to pay a 20%

royalty on revenue over $750,000. Kickstarter executive Jon Ritter confirmed that it worked with Wizards of the Coast to negotiate the lower royalty fee for Kickstarter revenue,

hoping to soften the blow to creators on the platform.  Kickstarter was contacted after WoTC decided to make OGL changes, so we felt the best move was to advocate for creators,

which we did. Managed to get lower % plus more being discussed. No hidden benefits / no financial kickbacks for KS. This is their license, not ours, obviously.