Dungeons & Dragons Announces Changes to OGL, Some Third-Party Creators Must Report Revenue and Potentially Pay Royalties
Wizards of the Coast has announced its plans for the future of the Open Gaming License (OGL), the document that allows third-party publishers to make and sell Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks and supplements. After months of rumors and speculation, Wizards of the Coast announced its plans to regulate future third-party material. According to Wizards, the OGL will be updated in early 2023 and will require all third-party creators who make more than $50,000 in revenue off of OGL material to report their revenue to Wizards of the Coast. We will note that it is likely that Wizards is releasing a revised OGL document, as the nature of Open Gaming License means that it cannot be replaced. Additionally, creators who make more than $750,000 annually off of OGL material will be required to pay royalties starting in 2024. Wizards noted that this royalty should impact less than 20 "creators," which include major publishing companies like Kobold Press and Ghostfire Gaming.
"The 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," Wizards of the Coast wrote in a blogpost explaining the change.
The news should quell rumors and fears that the OGL would be totally replaced or done away with, although many third-party creators will likely be apprehensive of the prospect of reporting their earnings to Wizards of the Coast annually. Adding a royalty fee will also tamp down on large-scale Kickstarter projects made for Dungeons & Dragons - it's unclear how large the royalty percentage will be, but the costs will potentially be passed to the consumer via higher pricing. For reference, Hasbro reported net revenues of over $6 billion in 2021 and had an operating profit of $763.3 million, with Wizards of the Coast having an operating profit of $547 million.
"The OGL is not going away," Wizards of the Coast stated. "You will still be able to create new D&D content, publish it anywhere, and game with your friends and followers in all the ways that make this game and community so great. The thousands of creators publishing across Kickstarter, DMsGuild, and more are a critical part of the D&D experience, and we will continue to support and encourage them to do that through One D&D and beyond."
