The D&D community has shown hobbyists how to cancel Games Workshop if they try something like the OGL or worse.
First, we’re not saying to boycott buying Games Workshop products from retailers, and we always encourage hobbyists to vote with their hobby dollars on what matters most to them.
Now, after the Dungeons and Dragons community uproar, Warhammer hobbyists can easily see how to cancel or effect change from Games Workshop for whatever reason in the future.
D&D OGL Has Shown Us How to Cancel Games Workshop
If you haven’t heard about what’s happening with D&D, Wizards of the Coast was supposed to roll out OGL 2.0 in January 2023 with an FAQ requiring some larger concert creators to pay a fee to WoTC for, well, creating content.
Then this leak hit the internet, allegedly from WoTC/Hasbro, about the metrics they were looking at and how they perceived players.
According to this leak, WotC doesn’t actually care about the player base, just that they buy more. Perhaps more importantly, they are looking at D&D Beyond (DDB) subscriptions and how many people have canceled them recently as a metric, perhaps to acceptance of this new policy.
As you can see from the letter, this leak says WotC has never talked about the players in a way other than the bottom line, which is a little disturbing to hear when you play ANY game. You’d hope the people making it have some of your interests in mind.
So, how did the D&D community respond? Well, from the looks of it, they dropped the hammer on Wizards of the Coast.
In light of recent events, cancelling our @DnDBeyond subscriptions didn’t feel sufficient
We have also formally withdrawn from all licensing negotiations with @Wizards / @Wizards_DnD / @Hasbro#OpenDnD pic.twitter.com/KQJInksmAY
— The Rook & The Raven (@therooktheraven) January 13, 2023
Many of the D&D community banded together and canceled their subscriptions to D&D Beyond (a paid service). This sent a serious message to WotC as it affects their bottom line and is a tangible way that D&D players proved their point.
So many people canceled their DDB accounts at once that it allegedly shut down the unsubscribe page. And guess what? It seems to have worked…
Wizards of the Coast In Full Retreat:
On Friday, January 13th WoTC issued a statement saying, in essence, that it will not require creators to pay a royalty and that content previously created for 5th edition D&D will “remain unaffected.”
When we initially conceived of revising the OGL, it was with three major goals in mind. First, we wanted the ability to prevent the use of D&D content from being included in hateful and discriminatory products. Second, we wanted to address those attempting to use D&D in web3, blockchain games, and NFTs by making clear that OGL content is limited to tabletop roleplaying content like campaigns, modules, and supplements. And third, we wanted to ensure that the OGL is for the content creator, the homebrewer, the aspiring designer, our players, and the community — not major corporations to use for their own commercial and promotional purpose.
Driving these goals were two simple principles: (1) Our job is to be good stewards of the game, and (2) the OGL exists for the benefit of the fans. Nothing about those principles has wavered for a second.
That was why our early drafts of the new OGL included the provisions they did. That draft language was provided to content creators and publishers so their feedback could be considered before anything was finalized. In addition to language allowing us to address discriminatory and hateful conduct and clarifying what types of products the OGL covers, our drafts included royalty language designed to apply to large corporations attempting to use OGL content. It was never our intent to impact the vast majority of the community.
However, it’s clear from the reaction that we rolled a 1. It has become clear that it is no longer possible to fully achieve all three goals while still staying true to our principles.
This is pretty crazy to see the whole community affect such a change all at once. So, how does all this pertain to other large profit-driven gaming companies like Games Workshop going forward?
What Could Happen to Games Workshop?
Well, as it so happens, GW also has a paid service for customers, and it’s something they really care about, according to thier most recent financial report. Yup, we’re obviously talking about the always-polarizing Warhammer+ Plus.
This comes from the GW investor page.
Warhammer+ Plus is so important to GW that they put the numbers in the report for the first time in three such reports (to date). Currently, there are 115,000 subscribers; they even mentioned the associated revenue and costs and talked about the growth.
This is something they have put a ton of money into (£2.4 million) in just the last six months alone.
So what if a large percentage of users cancel at the exact same time? It could really make GW think twice about whatever move they made to upset so many people at the same time!
While we don’t think anyone should ever boycott buying Games Workshop products from retailers, it is interesting to see the D&D player community coming together to affect change by hitting a large corporation exactly where it counts.
Now, through Games Workshop’s own admission, hobbyists know exactly how to effect change (or even cancel) Games Workshop in the future because of just how big an impact disrupting the Warhammer+ Plus platform could make to their bottom line and financial reports.
GW’s Current Woes With Pricing and Rules Development:
- GW is Not in Charge of Warhammer Anymore
- $200 Kits From Games Workshop Canceled the Last CEO
- Games Workshop Takes a Very Passive-Aggressive Stance
- Proof Playtesting Warhammer is a Myth
What do you think about D&D players canceling simultaneously, and how do you think you could effect change or even cancel Games Workshop now?
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits In 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
Bio: Virginia restless, miniature painter & cat dad. He blames LEGOs for all this, as there was something about those little-colored blocks that started it all. Spikey Bits started with Rob trying to stay motivated to hobby on his backlog of projects and share his knowledge with others during the early blogging era.
Scale model hobbyist in the 80s, miniature wargamer, and trading card player ever since. He’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy since 5th Edition, but Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and minatures made of both pewter and resin.
