Paul Beakley I’m not sure licensing is a necessary feature.  I think licensing is correlated, in that lots of licensed properties also have lots of canon, but something like Numenera or Eclipse Phase seem to have the same issue.

This is in contrast to what might be called “High Concept” games like Motobushido, Spirit of ’77, the Warren, even Shadowrun, where there may be a very strange setting/situation premise, but it is well summarized by its elevator pitch, and no further knowledge of the setting is important to overall enjoyment.