WotC to Revise D&D 4th Edition GSL and SRD
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Dragon Snack
First Post
Good news AND comedy gold, all in one thread!
A) All available evidence (from inside and outside of WotC) suggests that not only is 4e selling very well, but that month on month it's outselling 3.5, 3e and 2e.
B) For it to be a PR blunder is an entirely subjective opinion and would also require vast numbers of people to say that they're not going to buy 4e solely because of the GSL. I've not seen that, and I doubt you have either. Moreover given the above sales, that PR blunder can't exactly be vast.
Mostly though I just found it a cheap attempt to make a snarky comment that doesn't actually have any supportable evidence behind it (I'll give you PR blunder, but not vast). The tiresome '4e is selling badly' as so much independent argument against it that it's gone into pure fantasyland (it might well be selling badly in A store/X stores but globally it's selling very well).
Glyfair
Explorer
And honestly, this is exactly the outcome I hope for. I was never a Necromancer Games fanatic. I had strong respect and bought more than my fair share, but wouldn't specifically search out their products.
However, looking at all the 3rd party companies that were considering putting out 4E products, they were the only ones that excited me. I hope I get to finally see the 4E "Wizard's Amulet", even if it is too late to fill that exact same role.
Jack99
Adventurer
They are logical conclusions if you ignore the sales of 4e.
4e is doing well. Exceedingly well, according to Mr. Bill Slavicsek. Considering the fast sell-out of the biggest first print ever, and that they are all-ready in their 3rd print, it might just be true. Considering the fact that the core books were ranked higher than ever on several best-seller lists, which are based on actual buys by customers, it might just be true.
Of course, due to your intense dislike of 4e, you actually rather believe that they failed and that it is all a cover up.
Which is more likely. That the employees and bosses of a public company lie about figures, about the size of their print runs, and somehow manage to trick several reputable bestseller lists into "giving" their books a good spot high up on the list, or that you are wrong, and that 4e, despite that you don't like it, does quite well.
Cheers
Wisdom Penalty
First Post
Darrin -
You've personally lambasted WotC for the GSL, and justifiably so. Why now are you negative when they've (apparently) listened to the community and (hopefully) intend to make changes?
I understand it may be difficult to (potentially) lose an item on your List of Things to Bitch About, but surely there will be aspects of the new GSL that will prove equally open to complaint.
Patience, lad. Patience.
WP
Fifth Element
Legend
I think the main problem is you presented a false dichotomy (or trichotomy, if you include your "A+B" option). You gave only two possible reasons, whereas there are many more, as subsequent posts demonstrate.
Darrin Drader
Explorer
No company is going to admit that their own product is not selling well. To do so is suicide for the product line. Companies will tell people how well their product is doing right up until the week before the product is canceled. You cannot take the self professed success of a product or line at face value from any company.
There's evidence here and all over the internet that shows that up to 50% of the current player base has no intention of switching to 4E. Assuming that those numbers are real (and I'm not going to bother debating whether or not you can believe the validity of internet polls) then if there's something they can do to get more people to switch, it would be wise to consider that option. Making the license more open lowers the barriers preventing publishers from porting their existing brands to 4E, therefore potentially bringing in players who are loyal to those publishers and product lines.
There's no supportable evidence that I'm wrong either, and it was neither cheap nor was it an attempt. It was free and it was pure speculation, and as people like to speculate about things they have no real information about around here, there is nothing indicating of "bad reasoning or logic" at all. In fact, in this thread's twin, other people came to exactly the same conclusions on their own. Are they equally guilty of bad reasoning and logic?
4E could very well be selling badly. We don't have access to their sales data. We do not know what how many copies it has to sell for Hasbro to consider it a success. Since we don't have access to this information, it's ridiculous to point to any one piece of information and proclaim it a success or failure at this point.
Say it with me, "Dear Mods, merge these threads!"
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Interesting that:
Goodman Games and Mongoose are already in.
Pazio is committed to 3.75, so they're out no matter what.
Green Ronin is off doing non-D&D material.
Basically, IMO, we are left with the Wizards changing the GSL for Necro, and only for Necro. Bummer that it had to happen a week after they lost the APG.
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Interesting that:
Goodman Games and Mongoose are already in.
Pazio is committed to 3.75, so they're out no matter what.
Green Ronin is off doing non-D&D material.
Basically, IMO, we are left with the Wizards changing the GSL for Necro, and only for Necro. Bummer that it had to happen a week after they lost the APG.
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