Exclusive interview WotC President Greg Leeds

[Morrus]

Guys, let me be clear. This is EN World, and EN World's rules apply even when you feel dissatisified with something. We will tolerate no rudeness. This includes linking to defaced pictures of individuals. You know the rules.

Discuss the issue, not the person.

 

[caudor]

What has me curious is the mention of alternative methods of digital distribution of content. Up till now, .pdf has been the method of choice (and still is for DDi).

As far as I'm aware, there are no feasible alternatives to .pdf for rich content. Anyone have a clue what method he might be referring to? What could possibly replace the .pdf?

I appreciate the interview, but I came away with more questions than answers.

 

[joethelawyer]

Ninety one percent of PHB2 pdfs were acquired through piracy? If that figure is true then this debate is over. Wizards was completely justified in shutting down pdf sales. I do not forgive them, however, for giving less than 24 hours notice or for screwing over people who paid legitimately.

How can they possibly know that? What scientific sampling methods are out there to tell that ratio?

B.S.

 

[Azgulor]

How can they possibly know that? What scientific sampling methods are out there to tell that ratio?

B.S.

Sadly, I have to concur. I clearly may be overlooking something but I fail to see how they could determine this.

I also still can't reconcile it against the PHB2 selling out. They sold out the print run...so how did they lose sales? Even if they wish to make the argument it MIGHT hurt future sales, every pirated copy does not equal a lost sale.

 

[Windjammer]

Ninety one percent of PHB2 pdfs were acquired through piracy? If that figure is true then this debate is over.

It's already been pointed out how that figure is ambiguous between 90% of all copies and 90% of all PDFs.

Piratecat here. They've asked us to clarify that Greg Leeds is referring to PDFs, not physical copies, when they use that figure.

That such an ambiguity is left to stand speaks bounds of the quality of this interview. Embarassing, just embarassing.
Obviously, all of those people in the 90% figure would have purchased the real thing as opposed to: "oh look here, lemme give it a cursory glance, and then forget it." Brilliant logic, there. Because that's how piracy works: utterly product-committed customers on the way to the cashier, turning left at the last angle.

The only thing that is conveyed by the interview is its existence. The heat is on, and they are reacting to it. Not a bad way to go.

Not without humour either. "We hope to deter future offender." comes close to "They may be drunkards, Robin, but they're still human." Wheww!

But the one to top it all:
"The truth is that the world is changing quickly, and as a business we need to be flexible enough to adapt to that changing environment."

Yeah, pulling legal PDFs off the market to fight a piracy boom that's been in full swing for YEARS - WotC are certainly on top of modern e-business.

 

[I'm A Banana]

The piracy became a substantial concern when we saw thousands of copies of our recently released Player’s Handbook 2 being downloaded illegally within hours of its release. We cannot share sales figures, but I can tell you that we conservatively estimate the ratio of illicit downloads to legally purchased copies was 10:1.

I assume he means PDFs of the PHB2 being downloaded illegally within hours of the PDF's release. I'm not sure how he can tell hours from the physical book's release, just given the time that information takes to percolate up from the retail network.

That number sounds big, but it's not the whole story by any means. The PDFs could have been being downloaded before the release of the PDF, and I think that those numbers won't change even without the PDF. I imagine PDF sales of WotC books have never been very high (given the "full hardcover price" problem), so if they're looking at "All PHB2 Piracy vs. Number of Sold PDFs", those are VERY misleading numbers, and not something that any intelligent publisher should take without a heaping mound of salt.

We do not have any plans to resume the sale of PDFs, but are actively exploring other options for the digital distribution of our content – including older editions. We understand that digital content is important to our customers.

Good news, but I'm in a "I'll believe it when I see it" frame of mind for this.

And, again, this can't have anything to do with piracy, unless WotC is taking a "baby with the bathwater" approach and just putting the kibash on ALL PDF's ever, period, which would be colossally ignorant.

While we understand that our actions will not eliminate piracy all together, we don’t want to make it easy to acquire illegally, either. We need to have a strong retail base in order to support (and grow) the hobby industry. We hope to deter future offenders – or at least slow down their path to obtaining illegal products.

My stars and garters, senior management is completely, willfully ignorant.

You know what not selling PDF's is to pirates? It's this:

"HUR HUR OKEYDOKEY"

The truth is that the world is changing quickly, and as a business we need to be flexible enough to adapt to that changing environment. We have and always will continue to find the best ways to be responsive to our community of fans and gamers.

Right attitude, but I don't see you backing that up with much in the way of positive development or communication. You're trying, and it's adorable, but it's kind of like you have a lisp and you're trying to say the word "sassafrass." It's coming out all garbled.

The D&D brand is critical to Wizards of the Coast’s success, and decisions such as this are not entered into lightly. We are all very hands-on, and decisions are vetted through all levels of the organization.

In other words, kiddos, there's no scapegoat for this decision. You can freely hold ALL of WotC responsible for this idiocy. From Mearls to Rouse to Greg Leeds (who IS this guy, anyway?), to his boss at Hasbro.

To hold them responsible, I'm holding off on my WotC book purchases for a while. I'll keep the DDI. I'll only buy what I need to run my weekly 4e game, and only directly when I need it, nothing more (assuming I can't just get it from the DDI, of course). For me, at least, the decision to "crack down on pirates" like this won't result in more book sales for them, but in fewer. The most I can do is contribute my little bit to the feeling of futility they undoubtedly already have.

I'll put that money into PDF purchases and Pathfinder, methinks.

And heck, if I really need a little tidbit that one of the books has for some odd reason, I'll browse the title in the store. Maybe read it in a cafe at Borders.

What I ain't doing is buying Wizards books.

There are hundreds of thousands of other ways to get this information, perfectly legally.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Besides, they may have given up on the file format PDF, but they quite clearly have NOT given up on online digital distribution. WotC is far from the only publisher who is uncomfortable with how easy it is to pirate a PDF file.

Well, WOTC already has online distribution of 4E, called the DDI. I do not belong to the DDI, but going with waht mutilple posters have said about subscribing to the DDI or buying books, it is easy to see all teh crunch of a new book on the DDI, and I suppose it would be possible to cut and past all the powers, class features and items into a messy word file or something, though I have no idea of the legality or illegality of that.

So if WOTC had said they would not sell further 4E files as PDFs to slow or stop illegal downloads, I could support that. I buy the books myself, and will continue to do so. But stopping all downloads is just weird, as everything 3.5 and back is out of print and will probably stay that way. So why not offer it for sale legitimately. Every single one of those files are alreads on file-sharing sites, so why not make what money you can.

If WOTC made sense, it would be a lot easier to support them.

 

[Cassander]

For what it's worth, I believe a 90% piracy rate is pretty much standard among video games with DRM or not. So 10-1 doesn't surprise me.

 

[Morrus]

I also still can't reconcile it against the PHB2 selling out. They sold out the print run...so how did they lose sales? Even if they wish to make the argument it MIGHT hurt future sales, every pirated copy does not equal a lost sale.

PDFs don't tend to sell out.

And they didn't claim that every pirated copy equalled a lost sale.

 

[Windjammer]

And heck, if I really need a little tidbit that one of the books has for some odd reason, I'll browse the title in the store. Maybe read it in a cafe at Borders.

Those people will be cut down next, forced by WotC staffers equipped with shiny "Prolonged Reading not Appreciated!" buttons to the cashier.