This is something I worry about. There's only so many partners, and these are not idle companies. And without an OGL there's not a lot of new partners stepping up. Paizo has a lot of 3PP, but most are digital only; getting into the business of physical books is risky, even with Kickstarter. I can think of two Pathfinder companies that have moved to books (Legendary Games and Dreamscarred Press, the former also just starting to do some 5e work).
There's only so many partners and likely an overlap in schedules, as making an AP likely takes longer than the 6 months between books. For example, if Kobold Press was planning to write the spring AP but had to drop out, Green Ronin would be busy with
Rage of Demons. That means it's up to Sasquatch Games, who *just* finished work on an AP. It's a lot to commit to.
It does mean putting unannounced projects on hold and delaying other works. And there's the loss of freedom, as you're telling someone else's story in someone else's world. After a bit you might want a break to tell your own stories in your personal sandbox.
Plus, the products are a big ol' advertisement for the 3rd Party. Everyone who bough
Princes of the Apocalypse got a taste of the power of a Sasquatch, and might be more willing to check out Primeval Thule and future products. The storyline books are making these companies household names, and eventually they might "outgrow" D&D or the desire to tell adventures in the Forgotten Realms. I imagine the licensed adventures sell better than anything else they release, but that doesn't mean they make that much more money, as profits are split two ways (assuming there's profit sharing at all, and the studio isn't just paid a one-time fee, which is likely). Once they reach a certain amount of fame, selling their own stuff might make them more money despite selling fewer copies.
[MENTION=22424]delericho[/MENTION] gives a good breakdown:
WotC find some other company. There are many who would jump at the chance to work for them, though it's a real question whether there are many who are "good enough" (as defined by WotC).
This is the tricky one. There's three d20 companies we know capable of doing books of the quality WotC expects. Well, four if you add Paizo. Everyone else works with other systems or lacks the quality. Necromancer Games and Goodman Games do good stuff, but mostly work with cheaper paper and black-and-white art. I'm not sure they're up to it.
I suppose they could also try Peregrine Press or Monte Cook Games. But they seem focused on their own stuff and not 3rd Party products for other systems. And I've said Margaret Weis Productions might be a decent choice as well, being a former licence partner, but they might have also left their d20 days far behind. Tapping them might mean a weaker product as you're asking someone to write for an unfamiliar ruleset.
WotC offer Green Ronin/Kobold/Sasquatch/whoever more money. Enough to persuade them to delay an in-house project and give priority to their work.
This is asking the publisher to delay the release of products sold via Kickstarter, which doesn't look good. Backers can be somewhat forgiving, but if they learned you put aside the book they paid for for more work that's some negative publicity right there. That might easily cost them future backers.
I think we might have seen a variant with this.
Out of the Abyss is out in September not August, and was not ready for GenCon. And the
Sword Coast Adventurer's Handbook isn't ready for the start of the season. I get the slight impression, Green Ronin might have prioritized DragonAge and the FantasyAge stuff, getting that stuff out for GenCon.
This is just some off-hand speculation really. If told otherwise, I wouldn't be surprised: I imagine the teams are very different. But it does make sense to prioritize the stuff that you get a higher percentage of and is going to grow your own brands rather than content that's just licensed.
WotC do the job in-house. It's not like they don't have someone who can do the work, it's just that they're busy on other things.
I really don't think WotC has the staff.
First, they're doling other work that's not going away. It's doubling the workload with no raise or other compensation, and it would mean a drop in communication with other licence partners and the like. WotC has no shortage of other freelancers they could call, and the WotC staff could "self-freelance" by working on the project in their off hours. But that only works for writing, and to a lesser extend editing. The art team would still have to do all their work during normal hours, since they need the computers and software. Writing a book is only half the work.
So this seems less likely.
This does lead to another option: have the 3PP hire more staff. Tap more freelancers to do the work. Normally just hiring more people is financially unlikely, as the studio only has so much disposable cash at one time, but an influx of loot from WotC would solve that problem.
It's not ideal as WotC is licencing Green Ronin to get Green Ronin, to get their A-list talent, not their B-team. And it likely stretches the artists and editors, as there are likely fewer of those on call. Mixing and matching the team would be a likely compromise, replacing *some* of the A-talent and named on the in-house product with other freelancers and moving them onto the D&D book. And there's still some key staff and jobs that cannot be freelanced: art directors, people working on layout, the management types.
