Pathfinder 1E Paizo sets price of Pathfinder RPG PDF at $9.99!!!!!

[Hunter In Darkness]

Well first off I have no FLGS or LGS. 2nd it really is a product they do not carry so pricing a product they do not have is really a non issue

Myself I do not use pdf however a cheap core PDF will push more harbacks as people might pick up a 10 buck pdf to check it out before dropping 50 bucks on a book they are unsure of. Also the more copys in any form out there the more likely people are to spend money on other products such as AP, and chronicles and so forth. Which is good for Paizo and LGS's alike.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Well first off I have no FLGS or LGS. 2nd it really is a product they do not carry so pricing a product they do not have is really a non issue

A possible reason that it wouldn't be carried is because they can't compete with the prices. A possible reason the FLGS or LGS does not exist is because of the fact they can't sell material if it's available considerably cheaper as PDF.

But I am reminded of the Goodman post/article recently, where he said that WotC did a lot for gaming stores with their policies and Paizo is attracting more people to their online store and away from the gaming store.

In the end, I am not sure I should ... well, care? I don't go to my (F)LGS, though I do order online in a FRGS (Friendly Remote Gaming Store) that is a FLGS to others.
I take from the prices that Paizo is making its primary income from its subscriptions, and the Pathfinder book might be a kind of "loss leader" at best. It stands to wonders how much money WotC does with DDI and if they could do something similar, or if there are structural differences?

I am tempted to buy the PDF for 9,99, just to say what it's all about. I bought Exalted 2e or Changling for a way higher price without ever expecting to play it, too.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I really cannot fathom this way of thinking. Please tell that a FLGS owner to his face.

I mean, is there at least a "cooldown" period, meaning that the .pdf is not immediately available? That would allow traditional sales to go on for a while, and then the cheap .pdf gets published.

Please note that i don´t begrudge anybody his cheap Pathfinder .pdf. But at first glance, this looks good for players and DMs and horrible for FLGSs.

There are good FLSG that could be hurt by this.

Paizo needs to make some 'direct marketing only' promotional items that aren't available online. Free RPG day stuff is great. Missing that and getting it online for free in many instances? That cuts down the need to actually go to the store.

 

[aboyd]

What the FLGS might not realize is that with a $9.99 core book PDF, Pathfinder just went from the game that is "interesting, I'm sure some other guys will play it" to "yeah, I'll try that out."

In other words, Paizo is selling the razor cheap so that it can sell a huge volume of razor blades. The FLGS might get caught flat-footed by the upswing in demand due to this. So they'll need to think about whether they want to get on board even despite the pricing.

 

[Treebore]

There are good FLSG that could be hurt by this.

Paizo needs to make some 'direct marketing only' promotional items that aren't available online. Free RPG day stuff is great. Missing that and getting it online for free in many instances? That cuts down the need to actually go to the store.

IF LGS' are going to cry about this, and I am sure they will, then they better cry about all the content WOTC gives away for a pretty small sum every month, of their leading sellers, presumably. Then they should complain about WOTC undercutting them by selling through places like Amazon. Complaints about things that really hurt their survival.

If they are going to cry about PDF's, a sales revenue that WOTC and Goodman both say is so small as to barely be worth paying any attention too, then they are crying about something that doesn't effect them at all, or might possibly cost them a sale or two.

Considering how Goodman described things the PDF deal Paizo is offering might lose 1 out of 100 stores a single sale. Lousy salesmanship costs them far more sales. So maybe they should put their energy towards fixing that, rather than complain about something that all evidence says is highly unlikely to cost them a single sale.

 

[Windjammer]

A possible reason that it wouldn't be carried is because they can't compete with the prices. A possible reason the FLGS or LGS does not exist is because of the fact they can't sell material if it's available considerably cheaper as PDF.

Yes, remember how the Pathfinder Beta didn't sell any copies when the PDF was released for FREE? Oh boy, dark times, one FLGS closing down after the other, and each of them saying "nope, we're not stocking books which are available for free as PDFs - because NO ONE would ever buy them!".

/sarcasm out.

The $9.99 PDF serves a clear purpose. People get it and if they decide they like it they WILL buy the pricey hardcover, believe me. While WotC makes a good effort to contract US printers, the quality of ink/colouring/paper in used/etc. in their book is on occasion mediocre to intolerable, and their PDF sales (at full pricing) have been modest at best (this being the clear reason why pulling them off the market hasn't hurt them - see also Joe Goodman's comment on that).

Paizo, on the other hand, prints their stuff in China and anyone who EVER bought something in the Pathfinder product line can tell you - these things are W O W !!! The print quality (coloration, resolution, you name it) is amazing - nothing your own printer at home will even remotely match (these not being exactly sentiments when I first received my copy of Keep on the Shadowfell). Print copies of Paizo's FREE stuff still fetches solid sales on Ebay - a measerly 16-page adventure they gave away freely on FreeRPGDay fetches ten dollars - or, sometimes, not just solid but perverse prices: the Beta RPG could be bought on Amazon market place for $125 when people learned that the Beta print run had been SOLD OUT. And yes, these copies SOLD OUT too.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Awesome.

As for the stores, if they still don't understand that a PDF sold is not a hardcopy sale lost, I don't know what to say.

 

[Rechan]

So much hate in this thread.

 

[AllisterH]

So much hate in this thread.

I don't think it is hate per se.

I think it is the simple realization by Paizo and its fans that they don't really NEED the gamestore. Basically, the health of the game store should not be a factor in pricing etc.

Honestly though...this _WILL_ push gamestores further away from Paizo. While many on this thread truly believe that PDFs do not take away physical sales, many of the game store owners truly believe the opposite.

And since, like many things in this industry, there's no independnet organization that tracks these things, each side is going on what their personal experience is.

 

[jaerdaph]

$9.99 is a great price - thank you, Paizo! I tend to buy most of my games as PDF only now - no green house gas emissions given off, no cutting down trees or wasting other natural resources just to print and ship it to me, be that to the FLGS or my house directly. I buy a lot more ebooks and magazines for the same reason. I'm not saying I'm perfect at it, but I've really been trying to reduce my carbon footprint the last few years. Every little bit helps.

The True20 Adventure Roleplaying, Revised Edition PDF is also $9.99. I wonder if ten bucks is the new benchmark for core rules PDFs?