Also, I totally understand the sentiment of the folks that want stuff cheaper, or to have the book and online purchases be more intertwined, but having worked in publishing and software for 20+ years - there is no way they could have done that with their current setup.
If anyone cares:
WOTC is not a software development house. To actually make robust, scalable stuff these days, you need someone with a 'core competency' in it, or else it looks good to a certain point then all falls apart horribly. The D&D crew are writers, game designers, and merchandisers. It's a completely different realm.
I bet they contracted this stuff out to Curse because it not only made it possible, it reduced their risk - and seeing the fates of the other times they've tried online plays, it was a wise move. From some 'demo' versions I've seen, they're going all-in on the streaming / Critical Role / fandom vision, which is probably the only digital vision daring enough to get built.
Repurposing content from books into an online application tedious and labor-intensive. It's also very front-loaded, and has to be done a quickly as possible, which means a big balloon of expenses up front. You have to fund that somehow, so my bet is the cost of each book's purchase is literally funding that work. And that has to be good enough for someone to use on it's own.
Then, on top of that, it has to be structured in a way to drive the user interface of a live, 6-person video stream, and that's where it probably gets devilishly complicated. (If anyone remembers, this is why 4E was so grid-based; they were building an online system to make Diablo-style collaborative play possible. The combat had to be really regimented for that. That edition didn't last, and now we're in a looser style of play that is less grid-based and more open.)
So, don't think that the pricing is based on 'how can we screw people over as much as possible'. The current people helming D&D love the game too much for that, and they're seasoned professionals. (And, if you want that kind of money there is no way in HELL you are in pen and paper role playing games!) You have to look at each component - and how it's priced - as a balance of making sure the right amount of money is coming in to fund each piece of work, mitigate risk, and make each part of it engaging enough that the audience will be patient enough to see it all through.
If anyone cares:
WOTC is not a software development house. To actually make robust, scalable stuff these days, you need someone with a 'core competency' in it, or else it looks good to a certain point then all falls apart horribly. The D&D crew are writers, game designers, and merchandisers. It's a completely different realm.
I bet they contracted this stuff out to Curse because it not only made it possible, it reduced their risk - and seeing the fates of the other times they've tried online plays, it was a wise move. From some 'demo' versions I've seen, they're going all-in on the streaming / Critical Role / fandom vision, which is probably the only digital vision daring enough to get built.
Repurposing content from books into an online application tedious and labor-intensive. It's also very front-loaded, and has to be done a quickly as possible, which means a big balloon of expenses up front. You have to fund that somehow, so my bet is the cost of each book's purchase is literally funding that work. And that has to be good enough for someone to use on it's own.
Then, on top of that, it has to be structured in a way to drive the user interface of a live, 6-person video stream, and that's where it probably gets devilishly complicated. (If anyone remembers, this is why 4E was so grid-based; they were building an online system to make Diablo-style collaborative play possible. The combat had to be really regimented for that. That edition didn't last, and now we're in a looser style of play that is less grid-based and more open.)
So, don't think that the pricing is based on 'how can we screw people over as much as possible'. The current people helming D&D love the game too much for that, and they're seasoned professionals. (And, if you want that kind of money there is no way in HELL you are in pen and paper role playing games!) You have to look at each component - and how it's priced - as a balance of making sure the right amount of money is coming in to fund each piece of work, mitigate risk, and make each part of it engaging enough that the audience will be patient enough to see it all through.
