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WotC stops selling PDFs (seppuku?)


RosenMcStern

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Your reasoning is perfect, save for one detail. Music and MMORPGs are products you enjoy while being online. Pen and paper RPGs are not. I do not think the comparison between Hasbro and Blizzard can stand up. Whatever their new platform's characteristics are, it will not work similarly to Battle.net or Steam. Okay, it is a fact that we two are a sort of exception to this rule because we play online a lot these days :D , but most players go tabletop and read their dead tree copies in bed (or worse), not online.

Point taken, but let me clarify that their web portal is not a replacement for their physical books, but a replacement for the digital distribution of their books. They are betting that most purchasers of PDF files have ready access to a computer (duh!), probably a laptop they can take with them (as we both do) and access to the internet pretty much wherever they game (likely, especially if people have 3G cards - of which I don't have one of but since you have 3 can you send me one? :) ). On a plane is about the only place I can think of that I ever use a computer where I don't have access to the internet. But then with D&D Insider I don't need my computer to access the content I am subscribing to - any computer with web access will do (or phone, or i-pod, etc).

In the end, I think they have left a wide, albeit niche-shaped, gap for the other systems to thrive on, by pissing off their indie supporters and challenging the supremacy of the big online companies without having the strength or experience to do so. Remember, Hasbro has literally f***ed up the best PC game franchises of history with its insane policy after acquiring Microprose (Falcon 4, X-Com, Master of Magic, etc. etc.). Let me be doubt that it will do better this time with WotC.

Well I hope this does boost other systems, because I play and support other systems. I suspect Mongoose will get some support because both MRQ and Traveller are OGL, and maybe some other popular systems. Maybe, hopefully some talent will come BRP's way. Some people will say "no way in hell' to their D&D insider. But I don't think it is suicide, or even directly targeted at their competitors. They are not challenging the big online companies, they have just decided to play a different game. The question is will their customers play with them?

Ahh Microprose, how I miss thee. And Thank thee DosBox, for allowing me to revisit those days when six-pixel 4 color trains actaully used signal towers and the treasure fleet was worth hunting... I used to have a c:\games AND a c:\MPS directory.

WOTC is not the same as Hasbro though. MTGO was never going to work either - "who in their right mind would pay the same for digital objects as for real cards?" They make a lot of money off of MTGO. WOTC has succeeded with risky web endeavors before.

The system makes sense if one intends to play the roleplaying game in ques-

tion for a year or two only, but it becomes quite expensive if one intends to

stick with it and use it for five years at least: 5,- USD per month over those

5 years are 300,- USD, probably a lot more than buying the printed books one

really wants to have would cost.

Two books a year at $30 each comes to $60 a year or $300 over five years. I spend way more than that. Plus for a subscription you get access to ALL the rules from ALL the books, not just ones you purchased. No fluff or pictures, but all the crunch, plus the subscription includes Dragon and Dungeon magazines, character generates, GM tools, and other stuff.

Plus the beauty of subscriptions are that though you spend $300 over five years, who actually misses $5 a month (actually, the $5 rate is if you pay for a whole year, it is $8 monthly). Many people will continue paying even while not playing.

Edited by Rurik

Help kill a Trollkin here.

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Two books a year at $30 each comes to $60 a year or $300 over five years. I spend way more than that.

So do I, but until now never for a single system. :)

Those 60,- USD per year are the equivalent of the PDFs of three rulebooks

or five supplements, and I do not remember that I ever bought more stuff

for any one system in a year.

And I can keep those PDFs indefinitely, they do not suddenly disappear if I

decide to cancel a subscription, or if the company I pay for that subscrip-

tion ceases to provide that service (or ceases to exist).

So, while that system may be interesting for others, it is definitely not in-

teresting for me.

"Mind like parachute, function only when open."

(Charlie Chan)

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I really think this is all a move to try and control the market more.

Way back when 3.0 came out and the whole OGL thing started, I commented that it was an attempt to try an restore D&D as the dominant system as the game was faltering. I mentioned that with all the third party companies going 3E, WotC was able to eliminate many competing RPGs, or al least slow them down, and that one day WotC would "pull the plug on 3E" in an attempt to regain the kind of dominance that TSR once enjoyed in the RPG world.

I don't think anyone here qualifies as a "typical" gamer. We are all familiar with several systems, including "relics" such as BRP. THe "typical" gamer isn't familiar with many systems other than d&D/d20.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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Whoah, back up a sec partners ...

The $5000 license was only for those companies that wanted to

have access to the license and SRD before it was publicly released

and were allowed to release products 5 months before publishers

who did not buy the early release kit..

As of June 6, 2008, the 4E GSL and SRD are free. Not sure why

people think it still costs $5000 ...

The main reason a number of publishers chose not to join in were

that the 4E GSL was more restrictive - especially the requirement to

no longer publish under the 3.X OGL. That requirement has also been

dropped - publishers no longer have to worry about supporting 3.X OGL.

The GSL does mention that you cannot mix & match 4E GSL and 3.X OGL

in the same product.

Not defending WotC/Hasbro here, just correcting some misinformation.

-V

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I do not think the comparison between Hasbro and Blizzard can stand up.

I agree with you but Hasbro seems to think it does. As Bob Dylan said "Time will tell who has fell and who's been left behind..."

Personally, 4th ed D&D left me cold so I've said goodbye to WotC as far as my limited purchasing power is concerned anyway.

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Maybe they will redo D&D into a 5th Edition, and bring back 2E in it. It would make me happy LOL.

Overall, I dont think this will affect D&D at all. D&D fans are loyal and are going to buy from them anyway. They will sale their PDFs through their web site, but only to members who have an account, so you will have to pay the $5 monthly to just shop with them.

And it will make money.

Overall, however, I really detest PDFs. Id actually rather carry 60 pounds of books and have them in my hands during a game then to carry lap top with the PDFs on them.

Id rather get a little execise then strain my eyes and go blind by the time Im 50.

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The main advantage of selling pdf's is the easy access to the market. You don't need to hope that rpg-, book-, toy-, or online-stores order and present your products if you are selling pdf's. You just need to load them up and they are instantly and easily accessible for everyone. Small companies don't have that luxury otherwise. For example, getting Chaosium monographs in Germany is simply too much work and too costly.

WotC doesn't really need these advantages, since they are basically present everywhere. What do they really gain by offering pdf's? In principle you have a platform that can be used to distribute stuff that doesn't sell good enough to justify print runs (like adventures or small/exotic sourcebooks). They have their online-platform for these things and every rulebook is easily available for a good price at amazon or every shop that sells rpgs.

They have little to lose, but potentially increase the interest in the online-presence. Additionally, it's pretty easy to reverse the policy in a year or two, if feel like pdf's are more important than they thought. It's not like they have to make additional investments to produce pdf's - they just need to upload them again and they are instantly in the same position where they were a couple of days ago.

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...it's pretty easy to reverse the policy in a year or two, if feel like pdf's are more important than they thought. It's not like they have to make additional investments to produce pdf's - they just need to upload them again and they are instantly in the same position where they were a couple of days ago.
Minus some good will:ohwell:

But your point is well taken. As clear market leader, WotC's business drivers are a little different than for everyone else. I also suspect that once the PDF furor dies down, there will be little damage to WotC's core customer base.

Bathalians, the newest UberVillians!

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I also suspect that once the PDF furor dies down, there will be little damage to WotC's core customer base.

I agree with you there, I don't think this decision will hurt WotC much. I do see it as inidicitive that Hasbro are not making sensible decisions with regard to WotC and eventually that will lead to a major problem.

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