WotC puts a stop to online sales of PDFs

xechnao · Apr 7, 2009

jdrakeh said:
That said, as I mention earlier, this sounds far more like the GW push to 'help' brick and mortar stores by forcing Internet retailers to adhere to slavish, often absurd, standards in order to carry GW stock at all.

Then, after they effectively locked out most online distributors, they turned their sights on those brick and mortar stores they were previously trying to 'help' by forcing them to adhere to the same (or similar) standards.

Sorry to derail but I am really curious why did GW do this? What was there to gain? You mentioned something earlier about IP control but I really fail to understand what this might be about.

WhatGravitas · Apr 7, 2009

joethelawyer said:
Someone without an ounce of sense, but who is in charge, probably asked why they were making it easier for people to pirate books by making a good pdf version that people can easily share.

Isn't that sort of unreasonable, considering that there other new big thing is the DDI which uses PDFs very liberally? Sounds schizophrenic.

Personally, I rather hope that that's some sort of initiative to tie it into the overall DDI scheme. Consolidating their stuff was done before - right before 4E and the DDI plans.

Because it would otherwise mean that you cannot legally get up-to-date PDFs any longer. And PDFs are neat and lightweight. :erm:

Cheers, LT.

Starbuck_II · Apr 7, 2009

jdrakeh said:
Why does that necessitate the pulling of all product from RPGNow? I mean, how could X user buying a product then reposting it elsewhere possibly require the removal of all product from RPGNow? The DRM was apparently good if they could track the PDF back to a RPGNow customer, after all. There is some piece of information that hasn't yet been made public, I suspect.

Because RPGNow decided not to sign the new contract.

If they had they could still sell PDFs of WotC.

I'd write/email, them asking them to sign so you can buy pdfs.

Edit: apparently, it is just WotC.

WotC_Trevor · Apr 7, 2009

Hey all. I wanted to step in and shine a mote of light on the subject. First off, this cesation of PDF sales has absolutely nothing to do with the Internet Sales Policy. I know it's the 6th of April and I can definitely see how the two would appear linked, but the truth is, this is a completely seperate matter.

Unfortunately, due to recent findings of illegal copying and online distribution (piracy) of our products, Wizards of the Coast has decided to cease the sales of online PDFs. We are exploring other options for digitial distribution of our content and as soon as we have any more information I'll get it to you.

PaulofCthulhu · Apr 7, 2009

So, if Piracy is the cited reason for the action, does that therefore mean that there will be no more legal PDF downloads of D&D from this point forward?

GMSkarka · Apr 7, 2009

Typical short-sighted reaction from WOTC, which makes zero sense at all, when you consider the fact that the most widely-spread pirated copies of the 4e products contain printers marks -- which means that their piracy problem pre-dated any purchases.

Speaking as somebody whose entire income is largely dependent on my PDF sales, this really pisses me off.

According to my data on RPGNow and DriveThru, a large chunk of my sales come from multi-product orders which include WOTC products. Now, with WOTC making this decision, those orders won't be there, because those customers won't be there.

The last thing that I, or any other publisher or vendor on the PDF side of the industry needed right now is a massive drop in sales. Thanks, WOTC.

Seriously. Can somebody over there unplug the LawyerTron 5000?

tmatk · Apr 7, 2009

WotC_Trevor said:
Hey all. I wanted to step in and add shine a mote of light on the subject. First off, this cesation of PDF sales has absolutely nothing to do with the Internet Sales Policy. I know it's the 6th of April and I can definitely see how the two would appear linked, but the truth is, this is a completely seperate matter.

Unfortunately, the truth is that due to recent findings of illegal copying and online distribution (piracy) of our products, Wizards of the Coast has decided to cease the sales of online PDFs. We are exploring other options for digitial distribution of our content and as soon as we have any more information I'll get it to you.

Thanks for dropping in Trevor!

I have to say, it's hard to believe you guys just noticed the piracy. Fact is, DnD books have been pirated since, well I think forever!

Fact 2 is, this move will not even put a pin sized dent in the problem, its just making it bigger!

kmdietri · Apr 7, 2009

Piracy wins... well, I mean the theories that Piracy was behind all this that is...

joethelawyer · Apr 7, 2009

WotC_Trevor said:
Hey all. I wanted to step in and add shine a mote of light on the subject. First off, this cesation of PDF sales has absolutely nothing to do with the Internet Sales Policy. I know it's the 6th of April and I can definitely see how the two would appear linked, but the truth is, this is a completely seperate matter.

Unfortunately, the truth is that due to recent findings of illegal copying and online distribution (piracy) of our products, Wizards of the Coast has decided to cease the sales of online PDFs. We are exploring other options for digitial distribution of our content and as soon as we have any more information I'll get it to you.

Called it!!! (along with most of you guys.

)

Voadam · Apr 7, 2009

Cadfan said:
You're giving RPGNow the benefit of the doubt. In a situation where its almost guaranteed that they knew, when they promised you future downloads, that they couldn't actually guarantee that promise.

Why the hard line:

for one company but not the other? Particularly when only one of the companies has made promises to you?

As I said, even if RPGNow promised what it could not guarantee, WotC is taking away the redownloads that we paid for. WotC got paid by us through rpgnow for that access.

Regardless of whether rpgnow is blameless or culpatory here, WotC is taking away our access to legal pdfs we bought and that is why I am angry at WotC.

RPGNow wants to offer them to us, but they are capitulating to WotC.

WotC is taking away our stuff and doesn't want us to have it.

I don't really care what the actual contract was between them, I am more angry at the one whose goal is to take away stuff I paid them for.

WotC was not a naive supplier duped by RPGNOW into offering its products for sale. WotC is the biggest, most sophisticated entity in RPGs. WotC was fine having their stuff advertised for sale as always available up until the day they decided it was not going to be that way and got paid based on that assumption.

Giving WotC the benefit of the doubt on their contract I'm still very angry at them.