WotC puts a stop to online sales of PDFs

[Bleoberis De Ganis]

Right, since WOTC haven't learned from TSRs mistakes we may as well start down this line.

Who do you think will buy up the D&D brand when WOTC go bump?

Who would you like to buy D&D?

 

[Mottokrosh]

Who would you like to buy D&D?

Paizo. Bring on 5th edition!

 

[jgbrowning]

Just got back to the comp.

OK that makes perfect sense.

He forgot...

5. Perhaps, technically WotC can't do what they did, but what PDF retailer in their right mind would risk the chance of never regaining WotC's PDFs to sell by being a stickler for the contract and irritating WotC over 30 days of sales? Reality trumps contractuality every time and you don't piss off your biggest seller unless you know with a certainty that you'll never be able to do business with them again.

joe b.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

You know, you and Mistwell can keep repeating that mantra as much as you want, but those of us here who aren't sock puppets aren't buying it.

Have a nice day.

I think there have been enough mod warnings in this thread - I've threadbanned you. Everyone should know this - personal attacks are not acceptable.

 

[D.Shaffer]

Someone once gave me some advice...never make a final decision (Or post on the internet) when drunk, tired, or angry. When you do, you're not exactly thinking straight and tend to see issues where they dont really exist.

I really think people need to cool off a bit as I'm seeing some mighty huge jumping to conclusions going on here. At the very least, give WotC time to at least DEFEND themselves before lynching them.

All due respect? Where have you been for the past several years? Under a rock?

You obviously never bought D&D 3.0 (only go get 3.5 crammed down yer throat), Dragon & Dungeon (only to have them discontinued), listened to the WotC propaganda about their DDi "we'll give you a discounted PDF of D&D4 books that you purchase" or several other interesting business decisions made by WotC over the past...what? 9 or 10?....years.

Whoa. Hang on there. WotC NEVER promised cheap PDF's on 4th ed books. They mentioned at one point that they were LOOKING INTO IT as an option, but they then later stated they didnt find it feasible. We ended up having a much more open form of the DDI Compendium/Character builder because of it. Let's keep it to being upset over stuff they've actually done, here.

 

[Urizen]

As a past owner of a brick and mortar store (different hobby - aquarium not gaming), I applaud WOTC for shutting down PDF purchases. Now if they could just do something about Amazon, we might be able to save at least a few places people can go to talk to, and game with, actual live humans, and also save those live humans' jobs.

Live humans?

What, do you think OBS ( or any PDF publishing company for that matter) is run by some heartless AI that twists it's digital whiskers at the thought of putting a brick and mortar store out of business??

OBS is run by people. Good people, and they took a big monetary hit yesterday, losing one of their largest clients. This is definitely going to impact them, and it will impact publishers of PDFs, as the customer base shrinks.

I hope they don't have to let anyone go because of this.

 

[Fenes]

Someone once gave me some advice...never make a final decision (Or post on the internet) when drunk, tired, or angry. When you do, you're not exactly thinking straight and tend to see issues where they dont really exist.

What decision? WotC decided for me that they did not want my business anymore. I did not get any say in that, it was their decision.

 

[Dausuul]

You know, I buy into your premise, and yet I'm still upset at Wizards of the Coast.

Here's the thing. If I am the representative of a company that sells something made by company X, and company X says, "stop selling our stuff," I am going to immediately ask for a grace period, for grandfathering support for existing purchases, etc. Even if those things are not contractually obligated I am going to ask for them anyway, out of goodwill for my customers. If company X doesn't allow consideration for my (our) customers, or gives me a paltry few hours to notify customers, then I'm going to think poorly of company X, even if it was their right to do what they did.

I think that's important. Customers have a right to perceive companies as they see fit. We may not even like or agree with how some people view other companies. But those people have that right. And in this case, people perceive Wizards of the Coast to have handled this harshly and to the customer's detriment, and even if they are legally allowed to do it the customer can be upset with them anyway.

What's more is that WotC should have known this. This is PR 101. Bungling this is just another reason to shake heads in dismay.

Well spoken. You have the legal right to cheat on your girlfriend. Doesn't mean she won't be justified in dumping you for it.

 

[Bleoberis De Ganis]

They believe the lack of sales of Player's Handbook 2 is through piracy, but it has been said everywhere that people are either not taking up 4E and many who did have got bored and gone elsewhere, so I think this is more likely a reason.

3rd edition has sooo many pirated copies all over the internet if you put a search in google for legitimate sites (if any of those exist anymore on account of WOTC closing one a second) you will get torrent site links popping up as well with pdfs on them, and 3rd edition sold really well. It wasn't such a problem because people wanted them.

They are getting upset about illegal 4E pdfs because their sales are doing badly. The two things are probably not related (not to the point it is worth spending money on lawyers.)

I'll just state I love 4E and they have done a really excellent job in their design of a good many elements of the game. But instead of just fixing what was broken and introducing some fantastic new aspects they have, for some reason, thrown any logic out of the window, neglected any depth, and broken some other parts leaving the whole thing feeling hollow, shallow and implausible.

I'm not a grognard, I love new rules and improvements. I'm the kind of person who can't wait for 5E, I'm just not so sure I want WOTC and Hasbro to be the ones making it and the way they are playing it I think my wish will come true.

Perhaps the next company who gets it should not use an acronym. TSR, WOTC, coincedance?

Actually it is isn't it. I'm just being silly.

 

[CharlesRyan]

The problem isn't WotC. The problem is Hasbro's lawyers. [. . .] I think when legal issues, (GSL, Piracy lawsuits) come up, WotC gets put into "Order 66" mode and their hands are tied.

I doubt this very much, for a couple reasons. First, because WotC does have its own legal department, and second because a policy change like this, including the decision to take legal action, would be Brand-led, not Legal-led.

[I know the "Hasbro corporate suits" boogeyman is one of the intarwebs' best-loved and most enduring myths, but in 99.9% of businesses, Legal is a support service, not a policy font.]