The interview with the Mr. Leeds has not been particularly illuminating, but I want to give the man some credit for at least saying something/anything and some new things can be gleaned from it. Perhaps most importantly, the interview contains an admission that piracy was not the only thing responsible for pulling the PDFs - it was also a strategic business decision.
Here is the relevant quote:
Question:
Answer:
He then goes on to talk about piracy thus deflecting attention and ENWorld doesn't pursue the matter of the other reasons...
This shows that the piracy argument for pulling PDFs was bogus to begin with even in the eyes of WotC. Taking what Mr. Leeds is saying at face value (I am not sure I can do that with WotC any more after their numerous blunders over the past two years or so, though I have done so before), I am willing to interpret it thusly: The part of the policy of not offering new products as PDFs could indeed be part of their anti-piracy fight. The part of their policy that pulled existing PDFs - well, that has nothing to do with fighting piracy and is motivated by other aims. Now the question is what are these other strategic business reasons.
Anyway, to reiterate, as far as I am concerned, this is a clear admission that the initial 'piracy-is-the-reason' statements were misleading (through omission - piracy could be responsible for not offering new PDF products, but not for pulling old ones) and there are clearly other reasons behind the decision. This is what most of us have long pretty much known anyway, because to think that pulling existing PDFs that have already been 'released' by the pirates off the market will decrease piracy of those products is not just stupid, it is terminally stupid... and Wizards of the Coast, although it might miscalculate reactions of fans, is not actually stupid.
With that out of the way, what could be the real reasons for WotC's decision to pull existing, already pirated PDFs off the market? I have provided a sampling of what some of those possible 'other reasons' might be on other threads. Here is a brief summary of some possibilities:
1) Bringing electronic sales in-house and thus getting the full cut of the profits. The initial 'blame it entirely on piracy' statements and doing it at the time of the lawsuits may have been an attempt to deflect potential rage of customers at the cutting out existing distributors (if so, than WotC has clearly miscalculated, but that is in retrospect) by blaming the decision on piracy. WotC has now stated that it will not sell any PDFs in the future, but that does not matter, since it may sell other formats (perhaps some e-book formats) and leaving legitimate PDFs on the market and selling them through other distributors would compete with that.
2) Switching to a service-based model of distribution of these products. A subscription-based model that would allow access to a library of electronic materials online would provide WotC with a constant revenue stream. This could be part of the DDI or a separate product and it could enable the purchase of access to a single product or a section of the library (which could be organized by types of books, by campaign worlds, by editions and so on - so somebody might subscribe for access to all Forgotten Realms products, for example) or even the entire library, so long as the customer pays his subscription and is connected to the net.
3) Eliminating the competition with older editions with 4E by removing PDFs of out of print products. Blaming it on piracy and the removal of 4E PDFs could have been to mitigate customer anger and clouding the issue - after all PDFs are not an important revenue stream, so it might have been perceived as worthwhile to sacrifice 4E PDFs to avoid the charge of crushing the competition of older editions being leveled (if so, it was an obvious miscalculation, but again this is in hindsight).
4) Scaring the GSL companies off the market by showing that WotC has no qualms about terminating contracts abruptly and capriciously, so they cannot rely on WotC's goodwill and reasonableness not to do so to the GSL. If WotC succeeds, it will have achieved a fully closed 4E, but without having to actually pull the GSL directly (or not release it at all), which is an action that would probably generate great consumer outrage (I would guess vastly more than the PDF issue).
There might be other potential reasons too, but these four immediately come to mind. Also, a combination of some or all four of these could play a role.
Personally, I think that reasons 1 or 2 are the most likely to be responsible for the decision to pull the existing PDF products off the market. It could even be that WotC will offer both alternatives - some more secure format downloads or the possibility to purchase online access to a book or a library of books, perhaps through a subscription. Flash or something like that could be used for the online books. Indeed, I think some customers might very well find some of these possibilities quite attractive and valuable, if for example a subscription to an online library of products was competitively priced. WotC would, in turn, gain a steady revenue stream even from customers who are not part of 4E and if this was a part of a DDI subscription, some of those might even be converted to 4E after they see all the online tools available for it.
I find reason 3 to be plausible too, perhaps in combination with reason 1 or 2 or both, but not as likely. Still, WotC could be killing legal avenues of obtaining older edition products (4E is after all still available in print). After all, saying that older edition products will be available in the future in the other format gives a lot of leevay as to when they will be available and the delays can be indefinite (this is not unknown among WotC's digital initiatives).
Reason 4 is the least likely, I think, but given the GSL fiasco, I did feel the need to include it as a possibility, especially in light of the fact that regardless of WotC's intent, WotC has indeed shown the GSL companies that any notion that they can rely on WotCs goodwill or reasonableness not to abruptly and capriciously pull a contract is actually false.
Thoughts, comments, what do you think?
Note 1: For not making PDFs of their new products, I accept their rationale of fighting piracy, as that might indeed make piracy more difficult.
Note 2: For me personally I will certainly not be buying any subscriptions - in fact that would be the quickest way of them permanently losing me as their customer for their electronic products, no matter how great a product they create, no matter how good 5E might be. I want to own the products I pay for and not lose them when I cease to subscribe to something. Mind you, they wouldn't automatically lose me as a customer altogether - if they produced products I still wanted to buy in print format (say an excellent 5E), I would still buy them, but I wouldn't touch their electronic offerings.
Here is the relevant quote:
Question:
ENWorld said:
Answer:
Mr. Leeds said:
He then goes on to talk about piracy thus deflecting attention and ENWorld doesn't pursue the matter of the other reasons...
This shows that the piracy argument for pulling PDFs was bogus to begin with even in the eyes of WotC. Taking what Mr. Leeds is saying at face value (I am not sure I can do that with WotC any more after their numerous blunders over the past two years or so, though I have done so before), I am willing to interpret it thusly: The part of the policy of not offering new products as PDFs could indeed be part of their anti-piracy fight. The part of their policy that pulled existing PDFs - well, that has nothing to do with fighting piracy and is motivated by other aims. Now the question is what are these other strategic business reasons.
Anyway, to reiterate, as far as I am concerned, this is a clear admission that the initial 'piracy-is-the-reason' statements were misleading (through omission - piracy could be responsible for not offering new PDF products, but not for pulling old ones) and there are clearly other reasons behind the decision. This is what most of us have long pretty much known anyway, because to think that pulling existing PDFs that have already been 'released' by the pirates off the market will decrease piracy of those products is not just stupid, it is terminally stupid... and Wizards of the Coast, although it might miscalculate reactions of fans, is not actually stupid.
With that out of the way, what could be the real reasons for WotC's decision to pull existing, already pirated PDFs off the market? I have provided a sampling of what some of those possible 'other reasons' might be on other threads. Here is a brief summary of some possibilities:
1) Bringing electronic sales in-house and thus getting the full cut of the profits. The initial 'blame it entirely on piracy' statements and doing it at the time of the lawsuits may have been an attempt to deflect potential rage of customers at the cutting out existing distributors (if so, than WotC has clearly miscalculated, but that is in retrospect) by blaming the decision on piracy. WotC has now stated that it will not sell any PDFs in the future, but that does not matter, since it may sell other formats (perhaps some e-book formats) and leaving legitimate PDFs on the market and selling them through other distributors would compete with that.
2) Switching to a service-based model of distribution of these products. A subscription-based model that would allow access to a library of electronic materials online would provide WotC with a constant revenue stream. This could be part of the DDI or a separate product and it could enable the purchase of access to a single product or a section of the library (which could be organized by types of books, by campaign worlds, by editions and so on - so somebody might subscribe for access to all Forgotten Realms products, for example) or even the entire library, so long as the customer pays his subscription and is connected to the net.
3) Eliminating the competition with older editions with 4E by removing PDFs of out of print products. Blaming it on piracy and the removal of 4E PDFs could have been to mitigate customer anger and clouding the issue - after all PDFs are not an important revenue stream, so it might have been perceived as worthwhile to sacrifice 4E PDFs to avoid the charge of crushing the competition of older editions being leveled (if so, it was an obvious miscalculation, but again this is in hindsight).
4) Scaring the GSL companies off the market by showing that WotC has no qualms about terminating contracts abruptly and capriciously, so they cannot rely on WotC's goodwill and reasonableness not to do so to the GSL. If WotC succeeds, it will have achieved a fully closed 4E, but without having to actually pull the GSL directly (or not release it at all), which is an action that would probably generate great consumer outrage (I would guess vastly more than the PDF issue).
There might be other potential reasons too, but these four immediately come to mind. Also, a combination of some or all four of these could play a role.
Personally, I think that reasons 1 or 2 are the most likely to be responsible for the decision to pull the existing PDF products off the market. It could even be that WotC will offer both alternatives - some more secure format downloads or the possibility to purchase online access to a book or a library of books, perhaps through a subscription. Flash or something like that could be used for the online books. Indeed, I think some customers might very well find some of these possibilities quite attractive and valuable, if for example a subscription to an online library of products was competitively priced. WotC would, in turn, gain a steady revenue stream even from customers who are not part of 4E and if this was a part of a DDI subscription, some of those might even be converted to 4E after they see all the online tools available for it.
I find reason 3 to be plausible too, perhaps in combination with reason 1 or 2 or both, but not as likely. Still, WotC could be killing legal avenues of obtaining older edition products (4E is after all still available in print). After all, saying that older edition products will be available in the future in the other format gives a lot of leevay as to when they will be available and the delays can be indefinite (this is not unknown among WotC's digital initiatives).
Reason 4 is the least likely, I think, but given the GSL fiasco, I did feel the need to include it as a possibility, especially in light of the fact that regardless of WotC's intent, WotC has indeed shown the GSL companies that any notion that they can rely on WotCs goodwill or reasonableness not to abruptly and capriciously pull a contract is actually false.
Thoughts, comments, what do you think?
Note 1: For not making PDFs of their new products, I accept their rationale of fighting piracy, as that might indeed make piracy more difficult.
Note 2: For me personally I will certainly not be buying any subscriptions - in fact that would be the quickest way of them permanently losing me as their customer for their electronic products, no matter how great a product they create, no matter how good 5E might be. I want to own the products I pay for and not lose them when I cease to subscribe to something. Mind you, they wouldn't automatically lose me as a customer altogether - if they produced products I still wanted to buy in print format (say an excellent 5E), I would still buy them, but I wouldn't touch their electronic offerings.
