Wizards of the Coast (WotC) officially declare the original Dungeons & Dragons Open Gaming License (OGL) will not be deauthorized.The developer walked back plans to deauthorize the OGL 1.0a in favor of a new license which would give them greater control over third-party creators. Posting to Twitter, the company stated, "Over the past few weeks you, the community, have made your voices heard. And we've listened. OGL 1.0a will remain untouched AND the entire SRD 5.1 is now available under a Creative Commons license." A blog post on D&D Beyond detailed the plans further.
As far as how the walk back impacts WotC's plans to control what content third-party creators can make for DnD, Dungeons & Dragons Executive Producer Kyle Brink said, "We wanted to protect the D&D play experience into the future. We still want to do that with your help. We're grateful that this community is passionate and active because we'll need your help protecting the game's inclusive and welcoming nature. 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."
The WotC Controversy and Dungeon & Dragons' OGL
Earlier in the month, WotC's updated OGL leaked online. Allegedly, several third-party content creators who manufacture DnD supplies under the original OGL received the update with an attached contract to sign, though WotC refers to the leaked document as a "draft." The new OGL would severely limit what businesses could produce, add massive royalties to those making over $750,000 and open the door to WotC manufacturing and selling third-party creators' products as its own.
Wizard of the Coast and official Dnd resource D&D Beyond's initial responses to fan outcry over the update caused players to declare they'd jump ship to other TTRPGs like Pathfinder. WotC eventually backtracked on several inclusions in the OGL update, including royalties and the open window to make and sell products from third-party creators. Most recently, the company insisted it would still deauthorize OGL 1.0a but replace it with a Creative Commons License.
Wizards of the Coast's updated Creative Commons with the Systems Reference Document (SRD) are available to read from the D&D Beyond blog post.
Source: Twitter, D&D Beyond