Dungeons and Dragons publisher – Wizards of the Coast – has announced that it will no longer be banning NFTs this month. This announcement comes after, what amounted to exceptional backlash from its community online.
It also follows weeks of deliberation about how to strike a balance between reaching a new, younger audience while also protecting its intellectual properties.
For more context, this all comes off the back of the company’s plans to modify its Open Game License in order to address some major issues facing Dungeons and Dragons. More specifically, one of these was countering external companies in their efforts to leverage web3, blockchain games and NFTs.
This move would have put up a virtual wall between D&D and those who would bring the experience to web3. Of course, the move caused outrage online, along with the broad church of the tabletop gaming community.
Dungeons and Dragons – reversing course
While it spent some time contemplating its initial decision, publishers decided to put the matter to its community through a poll before rolling out the update. In a stunning result, 86% of participants responded that they were dissatisfied with the proposed policy, many specifically referencing its restrictions of NFTs.
In a subsequent blog post, the company admitted that the poll was an eye-opener for it and its proposed OGL, but explains how its community’s views are critical to its longer term vision.
As a result, in tandem with massive support of making it free for content creators left the company no choice but to drop its initial plans for the Open Game License.
