No 4th Edition

[slaunt]

I do not see the need for a 4th edition of the game at this time. Maybe in another 5 or 10 years. If and When it comes outs, i do not plan on picking it up. I Already invested my money in Third Ed, and i dont want to put forth any money into buying another version of the game when the current one is still perfectly playable.
*sigh*
i'm just upset at the possibility of my current game being outmoded.

Slaunt

 

[Umbran]

I do not see the need for a 4th edition of the game at this time.

The need is very simple - as time goes on, the market saturates with products for the current edition. People have what they need, and don't buy any more. Sales dry up, and profit falls.

Falling profits is bad for a company. Products that don't make enough profits don't get made at all. So, on a business level, they pretty much need to put out a new edition every once in a while, to juice up the sales.

You, as an individual gamer, may not need it. But eventually, the publisher does.

 

[DM-Rocco]

The need is very simple - as time goes on, the market saturates with products for the current edition. People have what they need, and don't buy any more. Sales dry up, and profit falls.

Falling profits is bad for a company. Products that don't make enough profits don't get made at all. So, on a business level, they pretty much need to put out a new edition every once in a while, to juice up the sales.

You, as an individual gamer, may not need it. But eventually, the publisher does.

The FR books are a perfect example of this. God knows that no one person needs so many books about one world, but they made them anyway.

Why? Cause they be greedy.

Sure they have many employees mouths to feed, but seriously, they have gone over board.

 

[Munin]

I've been giving some thought to the business model over at peginc.com, and it makes for an interesting comparison to WoTC.

As I'm sure most of you know, they released a core rulebook, Savage Worlds, and then a revised edition. After that, it's mostly been plot-point settings: Evernight, 50 Fathoms, Rippers, Deadlands Reloaded and so on.

For the GM, it's great. For players, it's easy. And they seem to be doing pretty well for themselves, despite the dire situation with the d20 market.

Just a thought.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

The FR books are a perfect example of this. God knows that no one person needs so many books about one world, but they made them anyway.

Why? Cause they be greedy.

No. Because people will buy them.

I should know - I'm one of those people.


Really, no one is forced to buy these books. And yet they continue to make them, which to me implies that there are enough people out there who are interested in them to make them profitable.

A company produces something people want, and makes a profit in the process. If that's "greedy", then all corporate behavior is "greedy"...

 

[Umbran]

Why? Cause they be greedy.

Dude, they run a business. Businesses exist to make money. If they don't make money, they cease to be. It is not greedy to want to have your basic income.

Sure they have many employees mouths to feed, but seriously, they have gone over board.

If you don't sell books every year, you die - and all those employees have no more paychecks. So that means either selling completely new books, or new copies of the books you've already produced.

Perhaps you're overestimating how well an old product will continue to sell. How big is the entire gaming audience? Two or three million people? How many of them will buy any particular book? After maybe a couple tens of thousands, you've pretty much saturated the market with a given book. You'll not sell that many more. So, you need a whole new book.

The new books have ot be about something. It only makes sense to have some of them be about stuff you already know folks are interested in.

 

[smootrk]

Business is Business. Everyone must face reality. If D&D ever becomes unpopular, and does not continue to produce sales and profits, then we will all be forced to make due without continued support because the companies will stop production altogether... apparently to the delight of some.

Although I do not relish the thought of spending again, I do hope that all the product lines continue to produce materials and profits for the companies involved. In all likelyhood, I will become much like Diaglo, supporting a 'defunct' game for a period of time, likely skipping an edition or two (much like I essentially skipped the 2ed game).

New editions will likely drive continued development, not stymie it. It will be interesting to see what developments present themselves, even if I do not use the new edition.

 

[Lanefan]

4e will come at some point, of that there's no doubt.

WotC's expectations for profit from the line are probably artificially high, based on results from when 3e came out; the number of ever-less-useful things they're churning out of late speaks to trying to maintain an unrealistic bottom line. The gravy train runs a bit longer with 4e release.

But, if WotC - or whoever has the D+D brand after them - lowers their profit expectations to a more reasonable level, the long term will look much more promising. There's profit to be made in the game, unless you're run like 1990's-era TSR, but if profit x is there for the taking and you try to squeeze for profit x+y, things don't always go well.

I wonder...how many of us will end up buying some 4e product simply out of loyalty to the game and brand, with or without intention of ever using it?

Lanefan

 

[Aaron L]

If that's "greedy", then all corporate behavior is "greedy"...

Well...

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

I was almost ready to give a rumored 4e a chance until i heard the Miniature news, then i was like no.
But really had the 4e been what 3.5 was to 3e then i would have given it a chance. A fully compatible system with a few tweeks and upgrades but at the same time not making old book obsolete.
But with all of this miniature crap going around i think im going to stick to only Forgotten Realms products (for 4e), and 3rd party books if they continue to be 3.5 usable.