WotC puts a stop to online sales of PDFs

[HeinorNY]

Ahahahaha!!!
Well done WW.

Well done indeed.
Unfotunately they pissed off all the 4 guys who paid for the PDF yesterday.

 

[Scribble]

Well done indeed.
Unfotunately they pissed off all the 4 guys who paid for the PDF yesterday.

I know you were making a joke, but I still had to comment:

I once bought a number of books from drivethru, only to have them go on sale a few days later. I wrote them an email and they refunded me the money I paid over the sale price, no argument at all.

So in my book as far as things like this- Drivethru = Excellent Company.

 

[jmucchiello]

This is just a business decision, inline with WOTC's recent trend to bring all their IPs in house and maximize their value to the company.

This I might believe, except...

I am sure within the next couple of weeks, all the 4E stuff will be available to DDI subscribers at a discounted cost.

Why the gap when they are unavailable? If you plan to sell them yourself why not start selling them yourself and then cut off the other retailers. No, I don't think this is part of the current plan except "down the line".

The older stuff might not show up, however, as they might be considered as direct competition to 4E.

Sadly, and most likely, true.

 

[Ycore Rixle]

Just got my free copy of Exalted. I have the hardback already, but nice to have an electronic version. Now to go check out the Pathfinder goodness.

Sigh.

You know, if the original 4E announcement (Chris and Bill's presentation at Gen Con 07) regarding electronic products were even half true, I think the RPG landscape might be a lot different right now.

 

[Kask]

Now for your argument, your argument is that since 4e is low in numbers WotC is going to cut its other cash cows in order to increase the numbers of their newest cash cow? ok i can see how you can get that idea but that is far from the "only logical reason" for them to do this.

My argument was based on my years of experience as a business exec. And, it turned out to be the correct one...

 

[Scribble]

My argument was based on my years of experience as a business exec. And, it turned out to be the correct one...

No it didn't. (Unless you have some unshared information?)

 

[Vorput]

Meh, this whole thing is depressing. Being this disconnected from your fan base is mind boggling.

I suppose it's possible the typical ENworld readers aren't indicative of Wizard's fan base though... perhaps most people will never notice. Still, I can't imagine how this is going to reduce piracy. I remember seeing illegal copies of 3e stuff- and that was before legal .pdfs of it were ever released (I believe). People just unbound their copy and scanned it.

Gonna put off the 4e purchases I was considering until I see how this plays out. It'll be a silent and meaningless protest.

 

[pawsplay]

*cough* *sputter* What the... ?

Is WotC absolutely determined to look like a "behemoth" in the industry? What's next, printing everything on grayed paper so it doesn't mimeograph as well? Selling books with little cardboard wheels you use to answer security questions on DDI?

 

[Scribble]

Meh, this whole thing is depressing. Being this disconnected from your fan base is mind boggling.

I suppose it's possible the typical ENworld readers aren't indicative of Wizard's fan base though... perhaps most people will never notice. Still, I can't imagine how this is going to reduce piracy. I remember seeing illegal copies of 3e stuff- and that was before legal .pdfs of it were ever released (I believe). People just unbound their copy and scanned it.

Gonna put off the 4e purchases I was considering until I see how this plays out. It'll be a silent and meaningless protest.

What I'm thinking is it might not be so much that they're trying to "reduce" piracy so much as they found that piracy increased when they fully entered the pdf market. (And this is a reaction to that.)

Either way it still sucks for me. The guy who wants to buy some D&D pdfs.

 

[Solodan]

Adding fuel to flame:

Unfortunately, I can't blame WotC. I know of a few fellow gamers who use PDF's of WoTC games. I can't name a single one, however, that paid for it to my knowledge. Some have even boasted about their extensive collections of illicitly acquired 3.5 and 4E books.

If we fail to police ourselves, we reap the consequences.