Dungeons and Dragons players crashed the D&D Beyond website recently while mass-canceling their subscriptions in response to an insider leak. This development comes in an ongoing saga surrounding Dungeons and Dragons' recent controversy involving its Open Game License.
The OGL is a two-decade old document that allows Dungeons and Dragons players to create and publish content for D&D if they follow certain loose guidelines. However, credible informants from within Wizards of the Coast recently leaked a draft of Dungeons and Dragons’ new iteration of the OGL. Dubbed the OGL 1.1, the agreement includes restrictions, royalties, and creative control that would strangulate many third-party publishers.
Now, another anonymous insider has shared a shocking email from within Wizards of the Coast. According to the message, higher-ups at Wizards of the Coast are delaying the rollout of the new OGL because of the backlash from Dungeons and Dragons fans. That said, it currently has no intention to change its plans, and is counting on players forgetting their grievances. Evidently, it is looking at the bottom line, and subscriptions to D&D Beyond seem to be one of the quickest ways it can gauge its financial data.
Players heard this message loud and clear, and began flocking to D&D Beyond’s website to cancel their subscriptions and delete their accounts. “DnDBegone” and “StopTheSub” joined OpenDnD as trending on Twitter as players disparaged Wizards of the Coast and parent company Hasbro over its draconian policies. The volume of players on the D&D Beyond website overloaded its servers, causing the Subscription Management page to temporarily crash.
The D&D Beyond page has since been restored, but further outages should be expected by fans wishing to make their voices heard. Thousands of players and content creators have already pulled their support of Dungeons and Dragons via D&D Beyond. Regardless of if Wizards of the Coast can revoke the old OGL, it is clear the bad faith it has earned will take a lot to clear.
Dungeons and Dragons has yet to give a full statement on the evolving situation. A few days earlier, it claimed it would be sharing more soon, but has said nothing since. D&D Beyond also had a Twitch stream planned right around the time this leak came out, which it has since canceled, claiming the event was a holdover of an outdated schedule. The longer Wizards of the Coast goes without addressing these concerns properly, the more players will flock to Dungeons and Dragons competitors like Kobold Press and Paizo.
Dungeons and Dragons is available now. One D&D is in development.