Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast has announced that it won’t deauthorize the new OGL, scrapping its controversial plans outlined in the draft version of OGL 1.2. After receiving three weeks of backlash from the D&D community, the publisher decided to leave the OGL as it is, untouched.
The D&D Open Gaming License has turned into a controversy among the player base after Wizards of the Coast announced its plans to change the structure of the license with legal protections. The company received constant pressure from the community due to it being against the spirit of OGL.
The American role-playing publishing company Paizo released its own OGL shortly after, which gave third-party creators more control over their derivative works. Wizards of the Coast then had to back off from controversial licensing rules included in its OGL, promising that it will be shaped according to community feedback.
After two weeks of radio silence, Wizards of The Coast has issued a statement regarding its D&D OGL, saying that it will remain in place, untouched. According to survey results, 88% of playtesters don’t want to publish their works under OGL 1.2, whilst 90% of them would recommend changing some aspects of the OGL. It was also revealed that 89% of playtesters are dissatisfied with deauthorizing the license. In order to address the mounting concern from the community, Wizards of the Coast will leave the D&D OGL as it currently is.
“We wanted to limit the OGL to TTRPGs. With this new approach, we are setting that aside and counting on your choices to define the future of play.” Wizards of the Coast said. “We are leaving OGL 1.0a in place, as is. Untouched. We are also making the entire SRD 5.1 available under a Creative Commons license. You choose which you prefer to use.” The company published a PDF of SRD 5.1 with the Creative Commons license, which you can find in its blog post.
Wizards of the Coast won’t be able to alter or revoke the license, as its openness also means there is no need for a VTT policy.