I haven't thought this through beyond the 5 minutes it took to type this, but...
Yeah, seriously, what if Paizo goes 5e? It's not as crazy as it sounds. How many more non-AP books does Pathfinder have in it? If Paizo goes 5e:
1. 5e customers can use new Paizo products with 5e, which is now by far the current D&D favorite. All those 5e players who want to buy a bunch of books like they did for 3e and/or 4e? Now they're your customers. They'll buy your APs and your system books. You're also tapping into a potential boom in 5e content coming from 5e SRD and Guild.
2. 5e rules are more elegant than Pathfinder rules. More designed to be house-ruled. They're the perfect way to roll out Pathfinder 2, or whatever.
3. You can publish errata-ed, enhanced, and otherwise improved and revised hardcover versions of your old PF APs.
4. Similar to #2, if you're already looking to re-boot and start over with a fresh line, 5e is the perfect excuse. It would be much easier to sell existing PF customers on switching to 5e than to sell them on D&D 3.8 or whatever.
Cons
1. A lot of Paizo fans are going to oppose this, obviously. (but a PF fan opposed is countered by a 5e fan who would buy in)
2. It won't be 3e any more. Some people like all that crunch.
I guess it all hinges on 4: if you're already looking to re-boot. Put another way, it may not be time to do that now, or maybe Paizo never plans on doing a re-boot, but if they ever do, doing it 5e would make a lot of sense.
Yeah, seriously, what if Paizo goes 5e? It's not as crazy as it sounds. How many more non-AP books does Pathfinder have in it? If Paizo goes 5e:
1. 5e customers can use new Paizo products with 5e, which is now by far the current D&D favorite. All those 5e players who want to buy a bunch of books like they did for 3e and/or 4e? Now they're your customers. They'll buy your APs and your system books. You're also tapping into a potential boom in 5e content coming from 5e SRD and Guild.
2. 5e rules are more elegant than Pathfinder rules. More designed to be house-ruled. They're the perfect way to roll out Pathfinder 2, or whatever.
3. You can publish errata-ed, enhanced, and otherwise improved and revised hardcover versions of your old PF APs.
4. Similar to #2, if you're already looking to re-boot and start over with a fresh line, 5e is the perfect excuse. It would be much easier to sell existing PF customers on switching to 5e than to sell them on D&D 3.8 or whatever.
Cons
1. A lot of Paizo fans are going to oppose this, obviously. (but a PF fan opposed is countered by a 5e fan who would buy in)
2. It won't be 3e any more. Some people like all that crunch.
I guess it all hinges on 4: if you're already looking to re-boot. Put another way, it may not be time to do that now, or maybe Paizo never plans on doing a re-boot, but if they ever do, doing it 5e would make a lot of sense.