Pathfinder 1E Paizo sets price of Pathfinder RPG PDF at $9.99!!!!!

[JVisgaitis]

The simple fact is that we are so confident in the quality of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook that we believe the large majority of "check it out and see at the cheaper price" customers will be convinced to buy the hardcover and lots of our other products after getting a look at (and perhaps even using) the PDF.

You guys have every right to be and the book looks gorgeous. $10 is a no brainer. Times are really tight and I have to be really careful with all my purchases and all my group plays now is 4e; however, getting that sneak peek may make me have to put some money aside for it even though I won't get a lot of use out of it. I think it's brilliant.

Very mature of you, aboyd.

And I'd like to applaud everyone in this thread, everyone's been level-headed on all sides of the discussion.

Hey Sean! I hope all is well with you. It's been a long time...

 

[jgbrowning]

As for the stores, if they still don't understand that a PDF sold is not a hardcopy sale lost, I don't know what to say.

Me too.

joe b.

 

[hogarth_]

Twowolves, you honestly can't see why brick and mortar stores are upset?

Again, you keep assuming that there will be no lost sales due to the parent company selling this? This isn't Amazon which while they (game store owers) hope WOTC would toss over a bridge they understand the reality of.

This $10 PDF is akin to WOTC decidiing to sell MTGO packs not at the MSRP but at pennies (Gencon and GAMA has many "game store owner" panels and trust me, when MTGO was to first go live, there was much complaints/threats from the store owners of WOTC undercutting them at such panels).

I think it's much more like WotC offering a copy of the d20 SRD for free and also a copy of the d20 SRD that includes art for $9.99.

An electronic copy has to compete with other electronic copies first and foremost. What other electronic copies are available? Illegal pdfs for $0 and web sites like pfogc.com for $0. Frankly, I think the number of people who will switch from buying the $50 hardcover to buying the $10 legal pdf instead of using one of the $0 options is pretty small.

 

[darjr]

I've since changed my mind.

I still think it's a great idea, I also think that a good game store will figure something out and probably benefit from it.

However I think that I'm going to get the pdf. I may never use it, I have a love/hate relationship with pdf.

 

[Mark]

They should sell classified ads in the back page of the PDF to prominent game stores (and a link to a Paizo website store locator) with a suggestion from Paizo to patronize those locations when the hardcopy hits the shelves (and ask the customers to be sure and mention how they came to buy the hardcopy after owning the PDF). There's no reason the pdf and hardcopy sales cannot engender a symbiotic relationship.

BTW, Well done on setting the price point for the pdf at a tempting and reasonable level! Huzzah!

 

[carmachu]

We're basically an echo chamber here since I suspect that enworld is slanted heavily towards PDF wanting consumers/slightly adverse to dead tree versions.

I'm interested to hear why you think EN World users would be "slightly averse" to print editions of products? That's certainly not my assumption.

To echo Erik Mona AllisterH, where on earth do you get the assumption that some of us here are adverse to dead tree versions? While I have a bunch of subscriptions to Pazio with their products, and they come with PDF's, I have yet to really use the PDF's at all. Its a nice add on, but I'm print all the way.....most of the PDF's are on my account unopened and undownloaded.

 

[MichaelSomething]

*cough* Loss Leader *cough*

 

[gamerprinter]

I think it's much more like WotC offering a copy of the d20 SRD for free and also a copy of the d20 SRD that includes art for $9.99.

An electronic copy has to compete with other electronic copies first and foremost. What other electronic copies are available? Illegal pdfs for $0 and web sites like pfogc.com for $0. Frankly, I think the number of people who will switch from buying the $50 hardcover to buying the $10 legal pdf instead of using one of the $0 options is pretty small.

Yeah, there will always be pirates and those who download pirated material, but to think the majority of people are the kinds of thieves that would obtain an illegal PDF for $0 vs. paying $10 for legal one is just wrong. Most of those pirates downloading free stuff will never actually use or play it in most cases.

Actual players wanting to play the game will by in large make a legal purchase before doing something illegal. And those are the only people that matter. As for pirates, the hell with them on anything.

I wouldn't buy a pair of illegal athletic shoes, stolen furniture or stolen anything if I can help it. I would never obtain gaming material illegally, when what I want is available at reasonable prices.

I think Pirates who actually use what they download for free is actually a pretty small number - so your point is pointless.

In short, pirates are scum, who cares what they think?

GP

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

*cough* Loss Leader *cough*

Your point is well taken, but I think it's incorrect to refer to this as a loss leader.

I think (and I admit I may be wrong) that technically a loss leader is a product sold below its actual production cost (for example, a razor or an XBox, in hopes of selling razor blades or software).

As the work is done and a PDF product has no actual production cost, selling the PDF at almost any price does not actually incur any loss for Paizo.

Again, your point is taken. It's certainly a loss leader strategy.

 

[hogarth_]

I think Pirates who actually use what they download for free is actually a pretty small number - so your point is pointless.

My point is that an electronic format like a (legal) PDF is mostly competing with other electronic formats (like pirated PDFs AND online rules web sites -- the part of my post that you ignored for whatever reason). You`re welcome to try to prove to the world that electronic copies of the rules really do cut into sales of dead tree rulebooks. I haven`t heard any compelling evidence to support that so far, though.