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A Warning for Hasbro Shareholders

Started by RPGPundit, January 10, 2023, 10:49:13 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Effete

Quote from: Corolinth on January 11, 2023, 07:41:59 PM
If Hasbro wants to get salty about the usage of "hit points", they're going to have to explain to a judge why they never tried to sue SquareEnix, or several other large video game companies.

It wasn't Hasbro I was talking about. It's all the people on this forum shaking in their boots, afraid of facing a lawsuit. As if their indy game that might sell a hundred copies is even going to show up on Hasbro's radar when companies like Kobold Press are firing warning shots across their bow.

GeekyBugle

Quote from: Effete on January 11, 2023, 11:07:08 PM
Quote from: Corolinth on January 11, 2023, 07:41:59 PM
If Hasbro wants to get salty about the usage of "hit points", they're going to have to explain to a judge why they never tried to sue SquareEnix, or several other large video game companies.

It wasn't Hasbro I was talking about. It's all the people on this forum shaking in their boots, afraid of facing a lawsuit. As if their indy game that might sell a hundred copies is even going to show up on Hasbro's radar when companies like Kobold Press are firing warning shots across their bow.

Do you understand they could just talk to KS, DTTRPG, etc and have it so you can't fund/sell your shit?
Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

― George Orwell

danskmacabre


GeekyBugle

Quote from: Rhedyn

Here is why this forum tends to be so stupid. Many people here think Joe Biden is "The Left", when he is actually Far Right and every US republican is just an idiot.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

― George Orwell


Effete

#20
Quote from: danskmacabre on January 11, 2023, 11:13:26 PM
An official post from Wotc has landed.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1410-ogls-srds-one-d-d

So their response to people's concern is... everything anyone who actually read the leak already knows? WTF? That addressed NONE of the concerns people actually have. WotC is so fukken tone-deaf, they don't even know why people are upset. Either that, or they're playing stupid.

What gets me is this part.
QuoteThe OGL needs an update to ensure that it keeps doing what it was intended to do—allow the D&D community's independent creators to build and play and grow the game we all love—without allowing things like third-parties to mint D&D NFTs and large businesses to exploit our intellectual property.

This shows that they fundamentally do not understand what the OGL was "intended" to do (or they are lying to you and gaslighting you because they think you're stupid (and let's face it, for half their fans that's probably true)). The OGL was intended to be an open source license, NOT just an outlet for DnD fans to make DnD material. You could make an entirely original ruleset, then source it through the OGL 1.0a. What Hasbro/WotC is trying to do is pull back and make the OGL a DnD exclusive license. Fine! Let them. They can lie in their bed like they lie on their website.


Edit - Oh, that was an old post... well, I guess I'm the goose too.

Chris24601

Quote from: danskmacabre on January 11, 2023, 11:31:59 PM
Quote from: GeekyBugle on January 11, 2023, 11:30:17 PM
Quote from: danskmacabre on January 11, 2023, 11:13:26 PM
An official post from Wotc has landed.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1410-ogls-srds-one-d-d

On December 21st 2022.

Oops, lol.  Should of read the date.
Yup. That was their sugarcoated sales pitch before news of the content dropped and well before the full text of the leaded document was released.

As of a few minutes from now it will officially have been a week since the full text leaked. WotC's only reply was now two days ago by the time most people will read this and was a grand total of "We know you have questions about the OGL. Please stand by."

And every day since the full leaked document release has had new announcements of third party creators and fans abandoning the WotC ship and the news has spread well beyond the ttrpg blogosphere and even the EFF has weighed in on 1.1 being a bad deal and potential threat to other open licenses.

It's NOT getting better for WotC the longer they stay silent. They have to realize that.

Then again maybe the scale of the catastrophe is just that overwhelming and the compounding nature of it is outpacing their PR department's spin machine. Like day one it would have been "well its out there, prepare a statement of our inevitable victory" and day two is "crap, some mid-sized names are jumping ship, make a statement about how the small companies will have to capitulate eventually" then "crap, a bunch of big names are stating they're pivoting to release their own non-OGL systems" then "crap, almost every 3pp is GONE!" then "crap, a bunch of DDB subs are cancelling and saying OGL1.1 is the reason."

My feeling is they have no idea what to do. They literally never expected this degree of backlash because it just doesn't happen in the Microsoft ecosystem they previously operated in... third parties couldn't just walk away and create their own operating system in a matter of weeks to run their programs on.

So my gut says they are just bunkering down right now (and maybe decides whose head(s) should roll) until they think the peak backlash has passed so they can finally make a statement when conditions aren't changing for them by the hour.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Thorn Drumheller on January 11, 2023, 10:34:31 AM
Good vid pundit. I have no place to share it as I hate social media...but excellent non the less. LOL

Thanks!
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Howard

Even the Libertarians are weighing in...

quote: Why the Tabletop Role-Playing World Is Furious About Changes to Dungeons & Dragons' Open Game License

https://reason.com/2023/01/12/why-the-tabletop-role-playing-world-is-furious-about-changes-to-dungeons-dragons-open-game-license/

KindaMeh

Well, I guess today Hasbro stocks dipped a smidge, but somehow despite everything they've been on an upwards-ish trajectory for even the past 5 days or so. I think Pundit is right, though. Ultimately one must heed legality and the lessons of history and they are doing neither. I actually learned a fair bit about the history of the hobby from this video, so much appreciated both in that sense and as it stands in opposition to the immoral BS WotC and Hasbro are pulling.

Spinachcat

I doubt the OGL kerfluffle can affect Hasbro's stock long term.

According to WotC's early announcements, 6e will be a "walled garden" and investors love that. The more the company can control their customer base, the more profits. Also, the promise of more "digital" focus always makes investors tingle.

As for the Woke D&D movie, we'll see how the audience responds, but the real money would be made on streaming since theater attendance was killed by the shamdemic.

Also, you'll see the 3PP signing the OGL for 6e...but via new subsidiaries. Too much money on the table for small press publishers, especially those who have 100s of 3e & OSR & 5e titles that could easily be tweaked during the 6e playtest and launched during the first weeks of 6e's launch. 

Quote from: GeekyBugle on January 11, 2023, 11:10:23 PM
Do you understand they could just talk to KS, DTTRPG, etc and have it so you can't fund/sell your shit?

KS has a problem. If KS becomes the bulldog for WotC, then Gamefound becomes the new kewl hotspot for RPGs.

Same issue for DTTRPG. They already have the DM's Guild as their "Official" D&D area separate from OGL products. If DriveThru becomes a bulldog, then you'll see a new PDF / POD site rise.

Personally, I hope KS and DT go full bitch for WotC.

Let it all burn.

Frey

Even The Guardian is reporting on the D&D debacle (and it's the 6th most read article today):

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2023/jan/12/dungeons-and-dragons-wizards-of-the-coast-ogl

The headline ('People are leaving the game': Dungeons & Dragons fans revolt against new restrictions) will probably scare someone at Hasbro.

Ghostmaker

Quote from: Frey on January 13, 2023, 07:31:41 AM
Even The Guardian is reporting on the D&D debacle (and it's the 6th most read article today):

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2023/jan/12/dungeons-and-dragons-wizards-of-the-coast-ogl

The headline ('People are leaving the game': Dungeons & Dragons fans revolt against new restrictions) will probably scare someone at Hasbro.
And mind you, they're not leaving RPGs -- they've leaving for competitors.

Paizo's website actually crashed the other night from all the traffic.

This is fucking hilarious and I am so glad we have ringside seats.

THE_Leopold

Also, bear in mind, Hasbro has not released 4th quarter earnings yet.

https://investor.hasbro.com/financial-information/quarterly-results


Hasbro has to answer for the Holiday season as well as the disaster that was MTG's $999 box set of dupe cards.  Tack on this hit to the DNDBeyond portal with massive unsusbscription and now the news hitting 'normie' outlets the Hedge Fund's will demand answers on the earnings call when the report is released and there's a 'blip' on the earnings for WOTC.

NKL4Lyfe

Ruprecht

Quote from: Corolinth on January 11, 2023, 07:41:59 PM
If Hasbro wants to get salty about the usage of "hit points", they're going to have to explain to a judge why they never tried to sue SquareEnix, or several other large video game companies.
Hit Points came from a navy war-game according to legend. If anyone finds such a gam, combined with the use of hit points throughout the hobby (including the computer side) for half a century, well it doesn't seem they'd have much of a case.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing. ~Robert E. Howard