WotC puts a stop to online sales of PDFs

kmdietri · Apr 6, 2009

Are there currently any brick-and-morter stores who offer PDF's for sale and download?

I hope they get this figured out in a week 'cause I was all set to buy Arcane Power in PDF.

I got a message after I bought PHB2 online that they had messed up the prices and I had a credit towards my next purchase through RPGnow...

Gravy....

jdrakeh · Apr 6, 2009

Scribble said:
Uhh... did you read their authorized online seller stuff? There aren't any slavish or absurd standards aside from pretty much always maintaining your brick and morter store.

Well, I do think that forcing an Internet retailer to own a brick and mortar retail store is pretty absurd if taken at face value. I mean, it's nowhere near as draconian as the stuff that GW employed, but requiring that an Internet retailer start a completely different business to carry your product via their current business is Lewis Carroll absurd.

Yeah but the current edition stuff is well was drivethru exclusive.

I did not know that.

They already had that stuff in place before, (about Brick and Morter) just through the distributor. Did you read any of the retailer rewards stuff linked to the press release?

Yep. And, as stated above, that stipulation seems pretty silly. I have no doubt that it's designed to cripple Internet retailers given its absurd nature. Again, it's not quite the level of micro-management that GW asserted (e.g., minimum monthly purchases, maximum discount caps, etc) but it's pretty crazy, IMO.

joethelawyer · Apr 6, 2009

I betcha its all related to some anti-illegal filesharing initiative. Check this out...

Press Releases

Piratecat · Apr 6, 2009

Here's why. I just got this press release. It'll be on the news page before long.

WIZARDS OF THE COAST SUES EIGHT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Tolena Thorburn
Wizards of the Coast LLC
425-204-8011
tolena.thorburn@Wizards.com.

April 6, 2009 ‹ Wizards of the Coast LLC today filed three lawsuits in US
District Court for the Western District of Washington against eight
individuals, including named defendants located in the United States, Poland
and the Philippines, for copyright infringement of its recently-released
Dungeons & Dragons® Player¹s Handbook® 2. The lawsuits allege that the
defendants illegally distributed the Player¹s Handbook 2 via free
file-sharing websites and that these illicit uploads resulted in a
substantial number of lost sales and lost revenue to Wizards of the Coast.

³Violations of our copyrights and piracy of our products hurt not only
Wizards of the Coast¹s financial health but also the health of whole gaming
community including retailers and players,² said Greg Leeds, President of
Wizards of the Coast. ³We have brought these suits to stop the illegal
activities of these defendants, and to deter future unauthorized and
unlawful file-sharing.²

The complaint alleges, among other things, that one or more of the
defendants purchased digital copies of Player¹s Handbook 2 and then
illegally posted the copies onto popular file-sharing sites for free access
and download by the general public.

About Wizards

Wizards of the Coast is the leader in entertaining the lifestyle gamer. The
company holds an exclusive patent on trading card games (TCGs) and their
method of play and produces the premier trading card game, MAGIC: THE
GATHERING®, among many other trading card games and family card and board
games. Wizards is also a leading publisher of roleplaying games, such as
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS®, and publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous
New York Times best-sellers. For more information, visit the Wizards of the
Coast website at Wizards of the Coast.

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, Player¹s Handbook, and Magic: The
Gathering are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other
countries. © 2009 Wizards

ShinHakkaider · Apr 6, 2009

It looks like theyre going to be gone from Paizo as well...

paizo.com - Paizo / Messageboards / paizo.com / Website Feedback / WotC halts sales through RPGNow/DriveThruRPG

Honestly, I'm going to check and see if there's really anything I need from an earlier edition and get it NOW.

avin · Apr 6, 2009

While I understand what Wotc is doing I dislike it.

Everyday Wizards is going on a more restrictive direction who, as you can see on this topic and over Paizo, is not doing well for their image.

I'm having that TSR vibe too.

Seriously, they think they can do something against piracy if all big hollywood studios can't?

joethelawyer · Apr 6, 2009

Piratecat said:
Here's why. I just got this press release. It'll be on the news page before long.

Yup. That was my link, above.

Didn't Rouse say a few months ago that they had him chasing down pirate sites or something? And that was a reason for the delay in the GSL? Seems to be somewhat of a priority. And it also explains why no one got a warning. Why let the evil pirates know that it will be harder to get pdf's of books.

Seems someone has a bug up their ass over there about pdf sales. I wonder if they will be sold as pdf's again. 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.

It makes no sense to anyone with a clue, by which I mean ending pdf sales will probably make pirating more widespread and cut off a valuable revenue stream for WOTC, which is why it's probably true that it's all tied to an anti-pirating initiative.

mach1.9pants · Apr 7, 2009

Piratecat said:
Here's why. I just got this press release. It'll be on the news page before long.

So are some of the individuals named employees of the distributors? Otherwise why react now, we had The Rouse on these very boards talking about the PDFs that came out before the books were released! Why has it all 'changed' 4E and other PDFs have been on the torrents forever... I am a bit confused I must say.

Anyway this sort of thing is going to loose them customers (in a righteous fury) and make more pirates (many gamers live on PDFs so they can only get now using scans on torrents)

Well done WotC, I have usually given them the benefit of the doubt but this is the worst PR thingy I have been personally involved in. :hmm:

jdrakeh · Apr 7, 2009

Piratecat said:
Here's why. I just got this press release. It'll be on the news page before long.

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.

Scribble · Apr 7, 2009

jdrakeh said:
Well, I do think that forcing an Internet retailer to own a brick and mortar retail store is pretty absurd if taken at face value. I mean, it's nowhere near as draconian as the stuff that GW employed, but requiring that an Internet retailer start a completely different business to carry your product via their current business is Lewis Carroll absurd.

Maybe, but my real point was it's not a change from what they've been doing since the 90s, and from what I read about their retailer support stuff, it seems kind of far from what you're implying. (I could be wrong, but I just don't see how you're getting to where you are.)

Yep. And, as stated above, that stipulation seems pretty silly. I have no doubt that it's designed to cripple Internet retailers given its absurd nature. Again, it's not quite the level of micro-management that GW asserted (e.g., minimum monthly purchases, maximum discount caps, etc) but it's pretty crazy, IMO.

It hasn't done so since the 90s. Seems like all it is now is that you just have to sign a contract.

The rest of the stuff is basically your store getting perks if you do things klike provide a game space.

The idea was always that the places that are internet only offer such a deep discount that it causes people to move away from the Brick and Morter places, which they felt help the industry. (By providing a place to meet gamers, learn about gaming, and even game.)

Again though, you could be entirely right... I just don't see how you're coming to the conclusions you are, based on the info at hand... If that's been their plan, it seems like they've taken a LONG time to enact it.