That Wizards of the Coast was working on 5e was no news. That they have announced it, is. Most of the revealed direction is pretty predictable if you have been reading Mearls' and Cook's web postings. Clearly, they want to broaden their customer base by recapturing players of Pathfinder and older editions. It looks to me like they are trying to move in the direction of an Open Playtest, but are not willing to commit themselves to the behemoth task that a truly open one would entail.
In all of the media coverage of this so far, the lack of mentioning Paizo's connections to the developments seems pretty ignorant or disingenuous in the reporting, making the coverage look more like ads for Hasbro than true reporting. (Chalk up another victory for business and another defeat for knowledge in the game of journalism.) Articles linked below.
WOTC's annoucement.
NYTimes article.
Forbes article.
