Yes: Wizards of the Coast announced on January 27, 2023, that it would leave the original Open Game License, OGL 1.0a, in place and unchanged. It also made the entire D&D System Reference Document 5.1 (SRD 5.1) available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0), giving creators a second licensing option for that material. The decision followed strong community opposition to a proposed OGL revision, but it did not make every D&D character, setting, logo, or other brand asset free to use.
What Wizards decided
In a January 27, 2023 announcement, Dungeons & Dragons executive producer Kyle Brink wrote: “We are leaving OGL 1.0a in place, as is. Untouched.” Wizards did not replace it with the proposed OGL 1.2. Brink also said the company was making the entire SRD 5.1 available under a Creative Commons license. Wizards’ announcement reported more than 15,000 responses to its OGL survey and said the survey showed 89% dissatisfied with deauthorizing OGL 1.0a, 88% did not want to publish tabletop RPG content under OGL 1.2, and 90% would have to change some aspect of their business to accommodate OGL 1.2.
Those percentages were results reported by Wizards from its survey, not an independent representative poll of all D&D players or publishers. They document the responses Wizards cited when explaining its decision, but do not by themselves establish how the wider player base felt.
How the OGL controversy unfolded
January 13: Wizards described its proposed goals
In a January 13 update, Wizards said its goals for revising the OGL included addressing uses it characterized as hateful or discriminatory, web3, blockchain and NFT uses, and focusing the license on individual creators and the community rather than major corporations. That update preceded the final decision by two weeks. Read the January 13 update.
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January 27: the original license stayed
After the proposal drew strong opposition, Wizards announced that OGL 1.0a would remain unchanged, made SRD 5.1 available under CC-BY-4.0, and closed the OGL 1.2 survey. Contemporary coverage documented organized boycotts and social-media campaigns, as well as increased interest in competing games and support for Paizo’s planned Open RPG Creative License. Those reports describe the backlash and its context; they do not establish a precise financial loss or prove a single cause for Wizards’ reversal. GeekWire’s January 27 report covered the response.
What creators can use today
Wizards’ current SRD page lists SRD 5.1 under both OGL 1.0a and CC-BY-4.0. A creator using SRD 5.1 material can choose either license and must follow that license’s terms, including its applicable notice and attribution requirements. The same page presents later SRD releases separately under Creative Commons and currently includes SRD 5.2.1; the January 2023 announcement about SRD 5.1 should not be read as the license status of every later document without checking its own terms.
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OGL 1.0a
OGL 1.0a remains an option for SRD 5.1 material. Its text includes its own notice, attribution and identification provisions. Creators should consult the actual license rather than assume its requirements are identical to Creative Commons. Read the SRD 5.1 and OGL document.
CC-BY-4.0
Wizards’ SRD FAQ describes CC-BY-4.0 as allowing commercial use and adaptations with attribution. Wizards also says that once a document is published under CC-BY-4.0, it is permanently available under those terms. That is Wizards’ explanation of its licensing, not an independent legal opinion. Check the license and the current SRD page for the exact terms and required attribution.
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What the SRD license does not cover
An SRD is a reference for rules material included in that document, not a blanket grant to reproduce every part of D&D. A character, setting, logo, story element or other brand asset is not automatically covered just because SRD 5.1 has a Creative Commons option. Wizards directs creators to its separate Fan Content Policy for streaming, fan art, cosplay and other fan content; those uses are not governed by the SRD’s OGL or Creative Commons licensing route.
For a specific publication, first identify whether the material you want to use is actually in the relevant SRD, then read the full text of the license you intend to use. This article explains the published options, not how a court would apply them to a particular work.
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