Wizards of the Coast fully retreats from D&D license changes after community outrage

In a blog post published Friday (opens in new tab), Wizards of the Coast announced that it is fully putting the kibosh on the proposed Open Gaming License (OGL) 1.2 that threw the tabletop RPG community into disarray at the beginning of this month.

Instead, Wizards will leave the previously enshrined OGL 1.0 in place, while also putting the latest D&D Systems Reference Document (SRD 5.1) under a Creative Commons License (thanks to GamesRadar for the spot).

The OGL controversy timeline in brief

• The original OGL was put in place with the third edition of D&D in 2000, and allowed other companies and creators to base their work off D&D and the d20 system without payment to or oversight from Wizards.
• A draft of a revised OGL 1.1 leaked early in January (opens in new tab), which proposed royalty payments and creative control by Wizards over derivative works. This immediately incited a backlash from fans.
• Wizards backpedaled (opens in new tab), introducing a softer OGL 1.2 that would still replace the original, and opened the community survey cited in today’s announcement.