WotC puts a stop to online sales of PDFs

Plissken · Apr 6, 2009

I'm 99.9% sure it's because of PDF piracy. People can download all of WoTC's books on PDF AND Dragon and Dungeon magazines by torrent in less than 15-20 minutes. That's what....$800-$1000? I'm sure that's hurting them badly.

Harr · Apr 6, 2009

rogueattorney said:
I don't see anywhere whether the old TSR stuff is effected by this. Paizo, which also sells the old TSR stuff, doesn't have a similar statement up.

If the TSR stuff is effected by this, it'd really suck. It's really the only .pdf's I buy and I could completely see WotC deciding not to make them available again. (There's supposedly no market for OOP D&D products, afterall.)

If they are still available, I think I'm going to buy a parsle full of them that I've been putting off. I've been too complacent, thinking they'll be available forever.

From the WotC forums:

IanB said:
Note that this isn't just on current 4E pdfs. I can't re-download any of my old purchased 1e/2e PDFs anymore either.

You know, by this point you'd have thought someone at WotC would have raised their hand and said something to the tune of "Guys we seriously need to work on getting a better image of ourselves out there," but no not really a big concern apparently..

tmatk · Apr 6, 2009

Obryn said:
I'm more inclined to think it's a financial decision (as in "We'd make more money if we sold them ourselves") than it is a panicky anti-piracy decision because some executive's kid found a pirated PHB2 on 4chan.

-O

I bet you're right, but this move will have no effect. In fact, I bet it increases the amount of books that are pirated; harder to feel bad about downloading a book via bittorrent if their is no way to buy it.

Scribble · Apr 6, 2009

Yeah a while back I remember they had a survey and one of the questions was about interest in discounted books available for purchase on the wizards site.

I think this may be part of that. They have an online "ordering" system that can deliver electronic content. Why share the proceeds with someone else I guess? But we shall see. Perhaps Mr Rouse wil be along to quell any fears shortly?

ProfessorCirno · Apr 6, 2009

...So did we not learn anything from TSR...?

DimitriX · Apr 6, 2009

I think we can just add this to the list of examples of how WotC is becoming more like TSR. It seems like every month WotC gives me another reason to dislike their company. It's already reaching the point to where I don't really want to buy any of their products anymore.

jdrakeh · Apr 6, 2009

Well, after some searching, I assume that all of the hubbub has something to do with this.

WotC Press Release 03/06/09 said:
In conjunction with the Retailer Rewards program, Wizards of the Coast will also release a new Internet Sales Policy on April 6. The new policy will have clear guidelines for online sales of Wizards’ product, and requires that retailers register with Wizards by signing an Authorized Internet Dealer Agreement.

It may be that OBS didn't want to enter into such an agreement. This reminds me a lot of the old GW tactics used to 'support' brick and mortar stores. :erm:

Regardless of who is ultimately to blame for this catastrophic blow to public relations, I know that somebody is going to be losing a few customers over this.

Nymrohd · Apr 6, 2009

I don't see how this affects pirated content. People can and will scan anything (and if there are a lot of people interested on something, it is probably in the net mere hours after release). And whether they decide to sell the PDFs themselves in whatever price, I still cannot like them doing this to people who bought with a certain expectation of service. Is this affecting all online stores though or just RPGNow? Maybe there is a less obvious reason for this.

Lizard · Apr 6, 2009

Uhm... I just checked out Drivethru and RPGNow, and I can buy WOTC products, still.

When does this go into effect?

(I got as far as checkout, I didn't actually try to buy anything, but if you can add them to your cart, I don't see why you can't buy...)

Kzach · Apr 6, 2009

Plissken said:
I'm 99.9% sure it's because of PDF piracy. People can download all of WoTC's books on PDF AND Dragon and Dungeon magazines by torrent in less than 15-20 minutes. That's what....$800-$1000? I'm sure that's hurting them badly.

Then you'd be 99.9% wrong.

I'm positive that the staff at WotC are geeky enough to realise the futility and backlash of such a gesture.