What stops WotC from *also* selling 3.5?

[Desdichado]

I have to wonder if the same reasons WotC do not do this is also why automobile companies do not do this, ever notice the mad rush to sell off last years models every year?. In business you never want your older product being a direct competitor to your current product and that is exactly what would happen there. The difference here I think is the business model does not take into account the depth at which gamers fall in love with editions.

This may be neither here nor there, but automobile companies don't do that, and they don't really worry about older models competing with their new ones. It's more a question of limited resources in terms of factory lines--you can't really make, say, a 2011 Focus and a 2012 Focus at the same time, because, well you can't use the same stamping presses or assembly process for each--they're too different. They don't rush to sell out their pipeline so it won't compete with the new product, they just stop making them according to the production schedule as part of the lead-in to the new launch.

Also, automobile companies don't sell directly to consumers anyway... they sell to dealers. So there's a whole different model of demand there. Now, dealers do tend to want to clear the lot of older models to make room for new ones, but that's usually because new models sell more and are more profitable for them, so of course they want to clear the lot to make room for as many as they can. Again; it's not worrying about cannibalization of model years so much as it is limited resources on which to put cars, and wanting to put the more profitable, newer models out there as much as possible.

 

[Deepfire]

This may be neither here nor there, but automobile companies don't do that, and they don't really worry about older models competing with their new ones. It's more a question of limited resources in terms of factory lines--you can't really make, say, a 2011 Focus and a 2012 Focus at the same time, because, well you can't use the same stamping presses or assembly process for each--they're too different. They don't rush to sell out their pipeline so it won't compete with the new product, they just stop making them according to the production schedule as part of the lead-in to the new launch.

Peugeot does this with great success - the sell their Peugeot 207 AND the pre-model 206 at the same time - the 206 cheaper than before, which is possible I guess because all presses and manufacturing are beyond their break-even-point. La gamme Peugeot

 

[Desdichado]

Sure, they all overlap in terms of sales to customers from dealers, because there's a reasonably long pipeline of manufactured cars waiting to be sold. And when new models are starting to hit the pipeline, the outgoing models get incentives, rebates, cash back and whatnot. Again; in an attempt to clear the pipeline and the dealer lots to make room for the new ones.

I find it hard to believe that they're actually manufacturing both models at the same time, though. If that's the case, then Peugot must have more factory floor space than they know what to do with. Which doesn't make much business sense.

 

[slwoyach]

While widespread and long-term publication of previous editions would eat into 4e sales, a one-time print and dump would give them a quick injection of money. Virtually every old 1e and 2e gamer would run out to buy a new release of their favorite PHB/DMG and then would have very little interest in anything else. So they could get a one time boost probably about every ten years.

 

[Aeolius]

Instead of selling 3.5e, imagine what would happen if they gave it away. What if WotC declared most of 3.5e as Open Content, then revised the d20 SRD to include the wealth of material from other 3.5e supplements?

Would it hurt 4e? Would it hurt Pathfinder? Would Paizo be tempted to absorb the new information, thus releasing scores of new books and becoming bloated just in time for a simplified 5e to be released?

 

[Deset Gled]

While widespread and long-term publication of previous editions would eat into 4e sales, a one-time print and dump would give them a quick injection of money. Virtually every old 1e and 2e gamer would run out to buy a new release of their favorite PHB/DMG and then would have very little interest in anything else. So they could get a one time boost probably about every ten years.

This idea actually sounds feasible to me. You wouldn't do all the editions at once, though. You would have special, limited edition, XX year anniversary release for each edition. Space them out strategically so there's a few years between each one.

 

[GregoryOatmeal]

I'm almost positive the answer is "No, there is not that much." Most of the demand for 3.5E has been swept up by Pathfinder. Like it or not, Wizards has committed itself to 4E. It can go forward to 5E, but back to 3E is no longer a viable option, if it ever was.

I don't think that ship has sailed. If Paizo can profit off of 3.5 splat books and adventure paths then WOTC can too. They created it and own it. PF shows an entire market exists that is big enough to independently support a profitable game based on what is essentially a desire to play 3.5. Many PF gamers just wanted 3.5 to go on and switched over because it was the closest thing to 3.5 still in print with support. Many other 3.5 gamers never switched to PF because they didn't want to deal with a minor edition change. That latter demographic is big and completely unserved. The longer WOTC ignores the 3.5 crowd the more likely they are to make the switch to PF and develop brand loyalty to Paizo and their IPs.

Also the PF crowd can still buy 3.5 materials. They are D&D players that like WOTC brands (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk). And people are attracted to the D&D brand - for many Pathfinder is still considered the "off-brand". And 3.5 has a much larger install-base - people that already bought a 3.5 PHB. The only reason WOTC wouldn't have a natural advantage competing here is because they may have alienated the 3.5 fans and damaged their brand.

I don't really believe that 3.5 and 4E would compete with each other since they are very different games and it's pretty obvious now that they serve different demographics. No matter how hard 4E tries it won't be picking up 3.5 fans. It's hard to imagine a 3.5 fan was going to buy 4E books rather than PF (or no books), but now won't buy the 4E books because 3.5 came back into print.

If WOTC wants to expand their customer base this seems like the most obvious way to do it. 3.5 players just want to keep playing 3.5. It's really easy to identify what they want and WOTC is the only company that can give them that product.

 

[WheresMyD20]

I think that avoiding brand confusion is one of the primary reasons for only having one edition at a time. If there are two or more incompatible games called "Dungeons & Dragons" on the market at one time it can make it difficult for new or casual players to identify the products they actually need.

Back when 4e Essentials was released, WotC said that it was difficult for new players to figure out which product to buy next - and that's with only one version of the game on sale. Imagine if they had to wade through all the 3.5 books as well as the 4e books!

WotC also mentioned back around the 4e Essentials release that store employees at big chain stores were confused and had a hard time helping customers pick out which D&D books to buy. Having both 3.5 and 4e available would only compound that confusion.

Back in the 80s when D&D and AD&D were on the market at the same time, product confusion was mitigated to some degree by the fact that the games were somewhat compatible. It was fairly easy to use an AD&D book with D&D and vice-versa. This wouldn't be the case with 3.5e and 4e on sale at the same time.

The only way I can see having two very different editions on sale at the same time is if one of them gave up the "Dungeons & Dragons" brand name. Something along the lines of taking 1e + the Greyhawk setting and releasing them together in one core rulebook and calling it "Greyhawk Adventures RPG" with no mention of the D&D brand name at all... or maybe just a small advertising blurb on the back cover that said something like "Rules based on the classic AD&D game system!"

 

[jasper]

now it would be nice if the older versions were available on Kindle. But I still wouldn't pay more than $5 each. And that would just be a mad impulse buy. And as others have stated. I occasionaly bought D&D stuff by accident when 1E was king.

 

[SSquirrel]

Reasonably priced pdfs and print on demand options like lulu (or does drive thru offer POD now?) would be a positive thing for older editions. Make sure the 4E stuff is in one section and that the older editions have notices plastered on that say these are older editions of D&D and are incompatible w/the current edition of the game. They are on sale for nostalgia purposes. Announce in December that they will go on sale January 1st and will be on sale for one full year. If things go well, they make money from the products sold and 4E sales don't dip further, they will continue.

Here are where problems develop. The TSR days had art done on a royalty basis. This means that if they wanted to reuse all of that old art, the artists would be due royalties for their work. WotC had already done away with the early days of Magic's royalty system several years back, so I'm sure they won't want to bring that back in D&D. So there is one large angle people tend to not consider when talking about selling pdfs of the old work.

I don't think having online pdf and POD options would dilute the brand or cause them any real troubles. I do think that trying to do physical printing and sell those would be the worst idea imaginable. There is limited shelf space in stores and they would have to choose what to stock. That will just mean that the 4E section would be smaller or else other game companies would suffer and their product space would be reduced. That doesn't help anyone.