Once they have enough market share, they will start making all D&D releases “exclusive” to their horrible walled garden. And that means if you want to play modern D&D, your only option is to put up with their abusive business practices.
Due to the nature of DND and the way VTTs work, that’s just but going to be possible. D&d is always going to be maps and encounters and these are always going to be replicable with little to no effort. The sooner WotC accepts the fact that the best source of profits they have are the intellectual properties they actually own. Specifically Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Greyhawk, Spelljammer and the like, the better off they’ll be.
Instead of trying to gate keep the rules of the game which neither logistically nor legally can actually be restricted in the way they want, they ought to be focusing on creating a better source of DND material. One needs look no further than YouTube to find the model that WotC needs to follow to encourage growth and sustainable profits. YouTube doesn’t own the process of making videos nor can it prevent content creators from releasing their videos on other platforms. All they’ve done is create an environment where it’s easier and more profitable for creators to publish in.
Wizards doesn’t even need to own the VTT to control the marketplace. There really isn’t any good reason for them to create a VTT and they aren’t going to make one anytime soon that’s going to compare with the products that are already available. They’d serve themselves and their customers far better if they just fostered a marketplace where user content can easily be shared and published to any VTT available.
Due to the nature of DND and the way VTTs work, that’s just but going to be possible. D&d is always going to be maps and encounters and these are always going to be replicable with little to no effort. The sooner WotC accepts the fact that the best source of profits they have are the intellectual properties they actually own. Specifically Forgotten Realms, Eberron, Greyhawk, Spelljammer and the like, the better off they’ll be.
Instead of trying to gate keep the rules of the game which neither logistically nor legally can actually be restricted in the way they want, they ought to be focusing on creating a better source of DND material. One needs look no further than YouTube to find the model that WotC needs to follow to encourage growth and sustainable profits. YouTube doesn’t own the process of making videos nor can it prevent content creators from releasing their videos on other platforms. All they’ve done is create an environment where it’s easier and more profitable for creators to publish in.
Wizards doesn’t even need to own the VTT to control the marketplace. There really isn’t any good reason for them to create a VTT and they aren’t going to make one anytime soon that’s going to compare with the products that are already available. They’d serve themselves and their customers far better if they just fostered a marketplace where user content can easily be shared and published to any VTT available.