WotC puts a stop to online sales of PDFs

Firos · Apr 8, 2009

As above.

Nagol · Apr 8, 2009

ainatan said:
Are you serious?
Gleemax.
DDI.
The kitchen table in your PC thing.

Well, I am assuming the evil villain was capable of learning from his previous failures, yes.

I think I'm assuming a reasonable level of arrogance by having a year go by before being able to provide a complete replacement.

Also, it reflects tactics used during the Autumn_Serene / Gamer_Zer0 fiasco that struck the wotc boards just before GZ was removed.

Firos · Apr 8, 2009

As above.

Ashrem Bayle · Apr 8, 2009

lmpjr007 said:
WOTC fumbles the ball with the PDF fiasco... and how does White Wolf pick it up and turn it into a marketing opportunity....

Get Exalted 2nd Edition for free! Read about it here!!!! It is good to see their are still some smart business people out there.

Ahahahaha!!!
Well done WW.

merelycompetent · Apr 8, 2009

I'd just like to point out a few things:

1. WotC appears to be engaged in legal action in multiple countries against software pirates/copyright violators (no, I'm NOT a lawyer -- if I were, I'd get paid more)

2. That legal action may require WotC to take certain action with regard to legal PDF distribution either for evidence or to comply with relevant laws. IOW, they pulled the PDFs because they had to.

3. WotC, possibly required to/possibly ordered to by legal department, may not be able to talk about the why's and wherefore's of cutting off PDF purchases. There may be a vulnerability in the distribution method that required they take this drastic action - such that they couldn't publicly disclose it, but have notified the appropriate companies. (It's not like Adobe Acrobat hasn't had security issues before.) Or they may be trying to do damage control.

4. AFAICT, WotC's actions with cutting off PDF availability was in the contract(s). Note: I don't have even a smidgen of a copy of such contracts. But if I were to have any of my books available in PDF, you better believe I'd have a kill clause, too. That's just smart business.

It is *very* early in the game to start leveling accusations, making predictions, or performing analysis on such limited information. No, I'm not very happy with WotC - over 4th Ed, the GSL, and a number of other things. But I'm going to assume that they're not stupid, that they make mistakes, and that they want to stay profitable. I'm sure that they will either release a statement in the next few weeks, or offer more information during the company's (Hasbro's?) next SEC filing, or profit/loss conference. If they don't, or if (as some suspect) the PDFs go to a WotC online store/DDI subscription, then that tells us something about the choices the company has made.

For the record: I'm getting heartily sick and tired of being treated like a criminal, especially after reporting cases of copyright violation and outright banning people with "pirated" material from my gaming table. I'd just thumbed through a copy of Open Grave at Borders this weekend, liked what I saw even though I don't run/play 4E, and was going to pick up a PDF copy if it was reasonably priced. If the only way to get legal PDF versions of the books is through a DDI subscription, then my money goes elsewhere. No, I won't resort to illegal downloads. There are some things that I will not abide in my presence. That is one of them.

Jack7 · Apr 8, 2009

Two years ago this month, Wizards made their first major step in failing to act like an industry leader by cancelling the Dungeon and Dragon Magazines and failing to inform the public themselves. They allowed Paizo to deliver the official announcement while they remained silent. They were unable to own up to their own actions for a solid week when they finally caved and continued the mags as electronic only publications.

Today, in my opinion, they have taken their last act as an industry leader. Their actions over the past two years have become increasingly inexplicible. No longer can I, or anyone else I fear, look to Wizards for leadership or the new direction that role playing should go. No longer can Wizards claim to be on the cutting edge of the way products should be produced. No longer is Wizards the gold standard of the industry. Others will rise up to claim their place. May they learn what not to do.

Good-bye Wizards. May your Coast be peaceful and tranquil. I shall not visit you there.

Well spoken.

Steve Jackson Games' Twitter response to the pdf mess...

Twitter / Steve Jackson Games: BTW, to prevent people fro ...

It has been my personal business experience that when any company becomes more interested in controlling access to their market base than in expansion and generating new market share they are thereafter hoist helplessly by their own petard. Until it explodes.

Good luck Wizards with this extremely clever and time-tested marketing strategy. You're gonna need it.

On the positive side this means many gaming companies will be forever parting ways with WOTC which can only eventually mean more innovation throughout the entire industry. And that's way overdue.

HeinorNY · Apr 8, 2009

Nagol said:
Well, I am assuming the evil villain was capable of learning from his previous failures, yes. .

I honestly assume it wasn't. link

fanboy2000 · Apr 8, 2009

cperkins said:
I know that venting on boards tends to be full of hyperbole but I can honestly say that NONE of the guys I game with (about a dozen people) or that my brother games with (another dozen or so people) buy WotC products anymore. Sure, that's nothing in the grand scheme of things... but I'd imagine that we're not alone in our collective move away from WotC.

You make some good points, but I disagree.

Their handling of 3.5's release soon after 3rd edition's release,

To be fair, I felt that 3.5 was needed at the time it was released. I am not a game designer. I don't get any enjoyment from fiddling with the game system, and if something isn't fun and I need a house rule to fix that's a problem. 3.5 re-wrote the combat chapter so that I could understand it while I was reading it for the first time. The core books included more feats, essential for a feat based system. They included core rules like level adjustment, effective character level, and epic campaigns. Those rules had become part of the game and there continued exclusion from the core books would have been a poor idea.

their killing Paizo's good run with both Dungeon and Dragon magazines,

I submit that WotC's real problem was spinning off their magazine division into Paizo in the first place. There was a real value in keeping the magazines in-house and WotC forgot that. In my opinion, they were correcting a mistake.

their release of 4th edition soon after the release of 3.5

You call five years too soon? This is fairly normal. AEG released two Spycraft editions just three years apart (2002-2005). Mutants and Masterminds released two editions on exactly the same time frame. True20 Started off in Blue Rose in 2005, with a just a rules distillation PDF later in the year. In 2006 they released an expanded hardcover. In 2008 they release a revised softcover and combined two books. New editions every few years are hardly a bad thing. They keep people interested in the brand and show customers that the company cares about making the game more fun.

(and the dishonesty that surrounded the timing of that release),

I think this is false. IIRC a WotC rep was misquoted at the D&D experience just prior to the announcement of 4e at that year's GenCon.

their bungling of the GSL and seeming lack of respect for 3rd party publishers

For what it's worth, I saw 4e products long before the revision, so it's not like it was preclusive. I've bought 4e 3rd party products so, I have trouble believing this is as bad as it's made out to be. It is WotC's product, and they have have a right to see it treated they way they want. The GSL is still more liberal than negotiating a separate contract with every publisher.

and, now, their withdrawal of pdf products from the marketplace (much to the detriment of companues like RPGNow and Paizo) has made them a company that I CANNOT support

.

This is not the same company that once saved D&D when TSR fell into ruin, and this is not a company that shows regard for its customers or partners in the RPG market.

I think that it's a company that learned several lessons from 3e, 3.5, OGL, and d20. Lessons that, I think, are unpopular here.