Yeah, I'd think if anything this will encourage piracy of WotC products.
WotC puts a stop to online sales of PDFs
Yeah, I'd think if anything this will encourage piracy of WotC products.
Bagpuss
Legend
When the only other alternative is no PDF copy at all how attractive do they need to be?
Sunderstone
First Post
add some Star Warsy Imperial theme miusic, add a dash of Princess Leia....
"... The more you tighten your grip, the more customers will slip through your fingers..."
Nothing bad tends to last forever, hopefully WotC will sell off D&D sooner rather than later. WotC's idiotic bullying tactics never fails to amaze me.
"... The more you tighten your grip, the more customers will slip through your fingers..."
Nothing bad tends to last forever, hopefully WotC will sell off D&D sooner rather than later. WotC's idiotic bullying tactics never fails to amaze me.
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catsclaw227
First Post
You did NOT go there, did you.....
Please don't make comparisons between a corporation decision to (legally) no longer sell THEIR product and and the real, sad and quite devastating issue of spousal abuse.
That's not the only alternative.
Print books.
DDi.
A potential customer of Player's Handbook II might rank his options as follows:
1) Wizards quality PDF copy of PHB2
2) Print copy of PHB2
3) Pirate PDF copy of PHB2
4) DDi access to PHB2 rules.
Now, if the pirates provide #1 for no cost, that customer goes with that. But with that option gone, it's on to actually buying the PHB2 (as the customer doesn't like the quality of the pirated PDF as opposed to the professionally created one).
Obviously, this is one of many permutations - there are plenty of people who would reverse 2 & 3, and only stopping piracy altogether will get rid of that option!
I don't know how big the pdf market is - I would guess an order of magnitude smaller than the print market at the very least - but when access to better-quality PDFs also eats into the print share of the market, it gets a lot more serious for Wizards.
Cheers!
Bagpuss
Legend
Are not an alternative, they are not transportable, searchable, you can't copy or paste from them.
While the Character Builder is available off line it doesn't have all the information in it, it certainly is of little use for a DM preparing an adventure.
The Compendium is much more useful in that regard but is only available online, still does not contain all the information a DM might require, so isn't really a true alternative (especially if you take into account the different payment methods one off compared to ongoing subscription).
That's 4E. For 3E material there is:
Buy second-hand print copy.
Download pirated pdf.
Neither alternative makes WotC any money. Stopping the sale of 3E material was not done to battle piracy.
Brown Jenkin
First Post
This is what I am having trouble wrapping my mind around. What could possibly be that important?
There is zero chance that suing 8 people will stop piracy or even reduce it. The RIAA sued thousands with no success. The D&D pirate market it not supplied by just 8 people. So this can't be it.
There is zero chance that suing 8 people will deter others. The RIAA sued thousands with no success. People will keep pirating and will keep downloading So this can't be it.
The only vaguely plausible thing that I can think of as to why this could be so important as to loose PDF sales money, and other sales money due to bad PR is that somehow these 8 people are super rich and that WotC somehow thinks that the money they can recover in a lawsuit is more than the cost of lost sales and lawyer fees.
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
WotC's silence on this subject is deafening. Have there been any new press releases, statements, or explainations on their site? (It's blocked here at work.)
