Hasbro’s publisher of D&D reverses license changes that upset fans

On Thursday, the company announced that it would be releasing the “core D&D mechanics” through a Creative Commons License. That “lets us give everyone those core mechanics. Forever.” wrote Kyle Brink, the executive director for Dungeons & Dragons, in a post on Thursday, calling it a “decision we can never change.”

It’s a pivot for Wizards of the Coast following backlash over potential changes to the company’s “Open Gaming License”, the agreement which allows third parties to use the company’s rulesets and even creative content in their own products. 

For decades, companies were able to use Wizards’ property free of charge, producing their own games that, at times, outsold the original product. In January, Wizards released a leaked version to its updated agreement. It suggested that Wizards wanted back control over the properties they had based. Dungeons, Dragons. 

Fans and creators complained, with some tabletop gaming publishers swearing off Wizards of the Coast and D&D forever, likely forcing Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast to hurriedly backtrack on Thursday.

Hasbro didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment.

What is an Open Game License?

Dungeons & Dragons This is a tabletop game for role-playing that was published first in 1974. The game allows players to create their own characters, in custom adventures designed according to the D&D ruleset and using a common set of settings, quests, and monsters. The modern role-playing game was influenced by the game and inspired other tabletop games.

Wizards of the Coast bought D&D’s original developers in 1997. Two years later, Hasbro bought the publisher. Hasbro bought the publisher two years later. Magic: the Gathering and was the first Western publisher to publish the Pokémon Trading card game. 

In 2000, Wizards of the Coast released the “Open Game License,” which allowed third parties to use elements from the game, like gameplay mechanics or creative content, in their own products.

With the OGL, Wizards of the Coast presented itself as a supporter of innovation and creativity—while also ensuring that the company’s core product stayed at the center of the tabletop gaming community. Austin Walker, IP director for studio Possibility Space and host on the tabletop gaming podcast Friends at the table, According to the Washington Post that while many of D&D’s core concepts weren’t copyrightable, the OGL allowed the Wizards to “capture a lot of the creative energy” in tabletop gaming. 

What has changed?

Wizards of the Coast has spent much of the past six months preparing for the latest revamp to its game, titled “One D&D.” But while the company might have hoped gamers would be more interested in changes to the gameplay, people were more interested in changes to how the game might be licensed to creators.

The new OGL has been leaked, according to io9, suggested that Wizards of the Coast wished to regain control of third party uses of its property. The agreement, as it was drafted, would cancel all existing agreements. Publishers will need to renegotiate any previous agreements in order to continue selling their products. This agreement severely restricted the creations of creators, restricting them to tabletop games and not other media such as videos or games. All creators would have to register their works with Wizards of the Coast, and grant it an “irrevocable” license to their creations. The most successful creators would also have to pay royalties.

Independent publishers are already uncomfortable with Wizards of the Coast. They have decided to abandon Wizards of the Coast. Paizo, which produces the highly successful Pathfinder games through the OGL, said it had  “no interest whatsoever” in the new agreement.

Instead, Paizo said it would develop a new license that would be “open, perpetual, and irrevocable,” that would “unquestionably keep alive the spirit of the Open Game License.”

Fans threatened to boycott the film’s premiere Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, distributed by Paramount and based on the D&D property. The film will be released on March 31. 

‘We rolled a 1’

Wizards of the Coast attempted to stop backlash and did so by engaging in damage control. 

Wizards of the Coast stated that the reason for the changes had not been explained well on January 14. “It’s clear from the reaction that we rolled a 1,” Brink wrote in a statement, referring to the dice rolls used to determine success or failure in tabletop games. 

But fans remained unhappy by Wizards’ half-hearted acceptance of responsibility. “You’re going to hear people say that they won, and we lost because making your voices heard forced us to change our plans. These people will only be half-right. They won—and so did we.” Brink wrote. 

When that failed to quell fan anger, the company’s tone became more apologetic. “We are sorry. We got it wrong,” Brink wrote on Wednesday, apologizing for being “disruptive to creators” and “being silent for far too long.” Brink promised that the company would be more transparent about potential changes, and pledged that the new license would not include royalty payments nor affect ownership. 

Thursday’s release of the new draft agreement redresses several fan complaints. These include financial reporting, royalty payments, financial reporting, revoking permissions for content previously approved.

‘Killing the golden goose’

Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast are both facing tougher economic times. Hasbro reduced its full-year revenue projection for 2022 in October. They now expect flat or slightly negative revenue growth due to lower consumer spending and higher inflation. The company’s most recent quarter saw a 15% decline in revenue to $1.68 Billion, which is 15% less than the previous year.

Wizards of the Coast is said to have cancelled several video games based on its properties, including one based upon Dungeons and Dragons earlier in January.

Fans of other Wizards’ properties are unhappy with the publisher’s business decisions. Magic: the Gathering Some players complained that the company was printing too many cards. Fans were particularly unhappy with the company’s “30th Anniversary” set, which sold for a whopping $1000. 

In late November, Bank of America downgraded Hasbro to “underperform”, citing complaints from fans that the company was overprinting cards. Bank of America warned the company was “killing the golden goose”, and suggested shares might fall by up to a third. (Cynthia Williams, president of Wizards of the Coast, later said during a UBS event that there was no evidence it was reprinting cards, and that high prices for cards on the primary and secondary market were instead proof that the company wasn’t meeting demand).

The COVID epidemic saw prices for trading cards rise because of increased interest from both players who were unable to travel and speculators looking to make a profit from rare cards. The Pokémon Company printed nine billion cards in 2021 to bring down sky-high prices.

Hasbro shares fell 4.1% on Thursday. The shares of the toy company have fallen by 37.3% in the last year.