D&D 5E So why no PDFs? Is their fear of piracy -that- bad?

[GSHamster]

My bet is that WotC knows that they will need to price the PDFs at roughly the same price as the paper books. This is to avoid cannibalizing book sales, as well as recouping the R&D costs. People costs are much higher than material costs, and the marginal cost of a book is pretty low.

However, if they do that, that will just create a firestorm of controversy, and overall sales of books and pdfs will not be much higher than selling books alone. So they may as well just not bother.

 

[Paraxis]

Can someone explain what kind of special insight WoTC has the Paizo doesn't? Because I keep seeing people defend and make excuses for why they don't provide pdf's or that if they did the pdf would be ridiculously expensive, but Paizo manages just fine.

Example.
One of their newest books, Monster Codex.
Hardback copy 39.99
PDF copy 9.99
All the game mechanic non-fluff bits FREE on the SRD.

Pathfinder doesn't seem to be hurting for sales, so maybe just maybe WoTC should try and emulate a successful business model in the same field selling pretty much the same product.

Paizo supports local stores, I see plenty of Pathfinder books coming in and selling to my local store all the time.
Paizo products get pirated all the time, even though all the crunch information is free, pirates still want pdf copies and so you can find them online with ease.
Paizo still seems to make a good deal of profit.

So when their competition has a free digital offering and 1/4 price pdf's, it is hard to look at WoTC's free slimmed down rules offering and quirky not full copy digital offering and say they are doing a good job on this issue.

 

[Bugleyman]

Can someone explain what kind of special insight WoTC has the Paizo doesn't?

I don't think they have any special insight. I think they're just wrong. In fact, in the wake of the 4E PDF fiasco, I'd go so far as to call it hubris.

But no biggie...there is no shortage of other PDFs to spend that money on.

 

[Morrus]

Can someone explain what kind of special insight WoTC has the Paizo doesn't? Because I keep seeing people defend and make excuses for why they don't provide pdf's or that if they did the pdf would be ridiculously expensive, but Paizo manages just fine.

Example.
One of their newest books, Monster Codex.
Hardback copy 39.99
PDF copy 9.99
All the game mechanic non-fluff bits FREE on the SRD.

Pathfinder doesn't seem to be hurting for sales, so maybe just maybe WoTC should try and emulate a successful business model in the same field selling pretty much the same product.

Paizo supports local stores, I see plenty of Pathfinder books coming in and selling to my local store all the time.
Paizo products get pirated all the time, even though all the crunch information is free, pirates still want pdf copies and so you can find them online with ease.
Paizo still seems to make a good deal of profit.

So when their competition has a free digital offering and 1/4 price pdf's, it is hard to look at WoTC's free slimmed down rules offering and quirky not full copy digital offering and say they are doing a good job on this issue.

In fact, they should go one step further and just sell Pathfinder instead. Then they'd be exactly the same as Paizo! We wouldn't even need two companies!

But more seriously: WotC thinks it has a better way of doing it, and that way is some way off in the future yet (as is the rest of the actual game). Maybe they're right and maybe they're wrong, but I have no issue with giving them chance to try it. We can armchair general all day, call them stupid, repeatedly announce how many dollars of ours they won't have, but that's about as far as it goes. They'll try their way, and if it works, it works; if it doesn't, they may try something else. Or not. Or maybe they'll be releasing PDFs anyway in due course, and we're just greedy and impatient. Who knows?

But companies trying to do stuff differently to their competition is a good thing for the consumer. Sometimes it works out for them, sometimes it doesn't. But if every company did exactly the same thing, we'd all still be using 1990s dumbphones and driving 1920s cars. Give 'em a chance, eh?

 

[DEFCON 1]

Can someone explain what kind of special insight WoTC has the Paizo doesn't? Because I keep seeing people defend and make excuses for why they don't provide pdf's or that if they did the pdf would be ridiculously expensive, but Paizo manages just fine.

There's no special insight. It's no big secret why the don't sell PDFs. They - don't - want - to.

Simple as that. Paizo's business *isn't* their business. If Paizo's business says selling PDFs at $10 is good for them... they do it. If WotC decides selling PDFs of their core books isn't good for them... they don't do it.

You know why I think they don't sell PDFs of their core books? Because they know you want to play it. You keep demanding it... so obviously you WANT to play D&D 5E. So if you want to play it *that* badly... you're eventually going to play it in the form and format they have decided is best for their business. Either buy the books or subscribe to Dungeonscape.

If you refuse those two options... then it seems they're quite happy to let you play Pathfinder and get PDFs to your heart's content. But every time you come on wondering why they won't make a 5E PH PDF that you can buy and that you "want to give them your money"... it tells them your resolve is getting weaker. And eventually you *will* give them your money. But it's going to be in the manner that is best for their business.

 

[Jester David]

Can someone explain what kind of special insight WoTC has the Paizo doesn't? Because I keep seeing people defend and make excuses for why they don't provide pdf's or that if they did the pdf would be ridiculously expensive, but Paizo manages just fine.

The difference is that WotC is a CCG company while Paizo is a TTRPG company.
WotC has 200 employees, but only 15 work on D&D. Very literally 95% of the company is focused on MtG, which has very different needs and requirements. Putting out cheap PDFs that count as the official content for Magic would be silly. Even expensive PDFs would dramatically cut into sales.
Really, if the management spend relative time on D&D and Magic, one with a 40 hour workweek will spend a little less than 30-minutes per day on D&D. That's not really much time to really get to know the nuances of a product line, consider the competition, and the needs of the fan base.

 

[Paraxis]

There's no special insight. It's no big secret why the don't sell PDFs. They - don't - want - to.

Simple as that. Paizo's business *isn't* their business. If Paizo's business says selling PDFs at $10 is good for them... they do it. If WotC decides selling PDFs of their core books isn't good for them... they don't do it.

You know why I think they don't sell PDFs of their core books? Because they know you want to play it. You keep demanding it... so obviously you WANT to play D&D 5E. So if you want to play it *that* badly... you're eventually going to play it in the form and format they have decided is best for their business. Either buy the books or subscribe to Dungeonscape.

If you refuse those two options... then it seems they're quite happy to let you play Pathfinder and get PDFs to your heart's content. But every time you come on wondering why they won't make a 5E PH PDF that you can buy and that you "want to give them your money"... it tells them your resolve is getting weaker. And eventually you *will* give them your money. But it's going to be in the manner that is best for their business.

You assume people who want pdf's don't purchase the physical product. Many people including myself want both! Shocker I know inconceivable right. I have given them money for the Starter Set, the PHB, the MM, HoTDQ, and pre ordered the DMG. I would also like to give them more money for PDF copies of all those books.

My question is, who doesn't want more money?

 

[trentonjoe]

Two thoughts:

1. WOTC's goal is to make as much money as possible. To do this need to do two things: 1. Create a product people want to buy and 2. Maximize sales $$.

2. There are basically three types of customers. One people who will buy only books, people who will only buy PDF's and people who buy both. If you price a book at X and a PDF at .5X they probably don't think there will be two times as many sales in PDF format to make up for the lost revenue of book sales.

 

[trentonjoe]

You assume people who want pdf's don't purchase the physical product. Many people including myself want both! Shocker I know inconceivable right. I have given them money for the Starter Set, the PHB, the MM, HoTDQ, and pre ordered the DMG. I would also like to give them more money for PDF copies of all those books.

My question is, who doesn't want more money?

You would and I would too but there aren't enough of us (In WOTC opinion) to make up for the people who would ONLY but the PDF. There would literally need to be TWICE as many people who buy both book and pdf then people who just buy the PDF for them to maximize revenue. I don't believe that is true.

 

[Mistwell]

Can someone explain what kind of special insight WoTC has the Paizo doesn't?

There is more than one way to do things. And WOTC as a company has done incredibly well. In the midst of a recession, while competition like Mattel and much of the other portions of Hasbro were shrinking, WOTC managed to grow. I think they have done well enough as a company to have earned some room to try something new out. The hyperlinked PDF idea sounds great to me, way better than a standard PDF.