Will gaming companies ever go 100% digital?

[Kzach]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. WotC pumping out content like it's on a conveyer belt set to "Superspeed" has meant there are so many books out now that you can literally fill a bookshelf.

I was at a gaming store just recently and noticed half a wall filled with D&D 4e and I asked the storeperson about it and he replied, "There's a few titles we don't have but we can get whatever you want in pretty quick," and I was like, "There's more?"

That has to have a nasty overhead for WotC. TSR's problems started with having too much stock. Half their funds were tied up in warehouses. And with DDI, the only reason to buy many of the books is because you like the feel of a dead-tree in your hands.

The argument that PDF's or other digital copy makes it easier for pirates to pirate is a fallacy. No matter what protections you have, whether you print on paper or in pure digital, you will never, ever, kill piracy. Companies may as well just view it as money they wouldn't have made, rather than money lost. People who pirate will continue to do so, and people who buy copies will continue to do so. The size of your market remains exactly the same, whether it's digital or print.

In a previous thread I started about errata being incorporated into a POD solution, it was pretty clear that wasn't an answer. But maintaining an updated copy of PDF's online for continuous download linked to your subscription, ie. you can download an update to whatever product you own as long as you're a subscriber to DDI, seems like a viable idea.

What could also please the book buyers, is if WotC themselves offer a POD solution. Surely with their Hasbro connections, they could offer a $5 or $10 additional surcharge service to print out a copy and a few dollars for delivery. Or they could just offer it through Amazon and the like.

As for gaming stores, well, I think they have to realise that markets change and that they have to change with them. One thing that I'd love to see WotC doing is to bring back the D&D miniatures game. The second hand market for D&D minis was awesome and allowed for game stores to sell individuals for a profit. Plus game stores who host games could run tournaments, which in turn helps sell more minis.

Currently, the D&D minis are simply too expensive. I have zero interest in buying any of them based purely on cost. I know quality seems to have increased, but honestly, they're plastic minis, what I want is quantity, not quality. If I wanted quality, I'd paint my own pewter minis.

The point of all of this is that I think if they moved to a purely online distribution business model, that they could make a much larger profit, and therefore continue to put out good product, rather than filling the market with books that do little but sit on people's shelves. I would personally love to see the numbers on something like this, and the numbers on WotC's current profit margins. I'd be willing to bet they're making a loss on the hardcopies, and that their profit-leader is DDI.

Of course, I'm using WotC as an example as that is the company I know. But feel free to talk about other companies and examples of online vs. brick'n'mortar success/failures.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think that there will be 100% digital gaming companies...but I don't think they'll be the ones putting out P&P games today. Given the costs of entry into the computer gaming industry, my bet would be on the major players in electronic media or computer gaming to be the first to offer 100% digital versions of the kind of games we currently experience at the table.

Another strong possibility would be some kind of joint-venture between a RPG producer and a gaming company to create a unique, 100% digital game with the "tabletop feel."

 

[Sunseeker]

Eventually, they might, but I think their overhead is lower than you'd expect.

In any case, I don't think they'd go 100% as not everyone has the superb internet to enjoy downloading the endless books of dnd. Even if it was more convenient. In addition, books are easier to pass around for players to read and borrow, if you've got all the books on your PC, you can't even take that to a game not at your house(without considerable trouble). And if you've got a laptop, that's an expensive device that if someone fumbles and drops, there's gonna be hell to pay. But a dropped book at worst bends or tears a page, horrible I know but not nearly as bad as a broken laptop.

Honestly, hardbacks are the best solution. Though I think "compendium" editions should be published, ie: after 4e PHB3 was printed and a few updates released, they could release(both as book and pdf) the PHB compendium, which was all 3 books reorganized and collected. Same with DMG and so on.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I think that pure dgital tabletop rpg will happen in the near future but a couple of prerequites have to be in place.
Ubiquitous ereaders, either slates and/or smartphones, which means that both will have to get cheaper and a winner in the eformat wars would help as well.

Widespread high quality broadband.

Once that is in place then publishing in an eformat is pretty much a no brainer. It is a pretty good idea right now.

Now, for added value a comprehensive suite of online tools that facilitate character generation, sharing of character information, finding fellow gamers, creating encounters and campaigns and play enablers.
By play enablers I mean things like VTT or other stuff that enhances the table top experience.
Some people are already using stuff like maptools to play at the table using projectors. Projectors are now pretty cheap but better software could be created.

Also stuff like RFID tags in minis that will interact with the projected map so the mini could be mapped to a monster or pc and all powers associated with the mini like in the MS Surface project at MIT.

 

[IronWolf]

That has to have a nasty overhead for WotC. TSR's problems started with having too much stock. Half their funds were tied up in warehouses. And with DDI, the only reason to buy many of the books is because you like the feel of a dead-tree in your hands.

As others have mentioned though, books are easier to pass around the table for a rules reference (or at least less likely to damage a piece of valuable electronic equipment).

Some people don't like to read on an electronic device. Not because of the dead-tree factor, but simply because on many devices reading turns into a roll and scroll affair. This is getting better as more eReaders and tablet PCs are released to market, but the kinks are still being worked out in these devices. There is still the cost factor of said devices as well - though the Kindle and Nook are both getting to a nice pricepoint. But then if I damage my eReader or it simply breaks I have lost access to all of my books until I buy a new one.

The argument that PDF's or other digital copy makes it easier for pirates to pirate is a fallacy. No matter what protections you have, whether you print on paper or in pure digital, you will never, ever, kill piracy. Companies may as well just view it as money they wouldn't have made, rather than money lost. People who pirate will continue to do so, and people who buy copies will continue to do so. The size of your market remains exactly the same, whether it's digital or print.

Agreed on this point. People not publishing PDFs is not helping piracy. As long as a paper copy exists it can be scanned and distributed on the Internet.

In a previous thread I started about errata being incorporated into a POD solution, it was pretty clear that wasn't an answer. But maintaining an updated copy of PDF's online for continuous download linked to your subscription, ie. you can download an update to whatever product you own as long as you're a subscriber to DDI, seems like a viable idea.

I do not like the subscription based model. I prefer Paizo who updates the PDF download you might have purchased outside of their subscription offerings and if they update the book will send an email and allow you to re-download the revised copy. No subscription required.

I think that pure dgital tabletop rpg will happen in the near future but a couple of prerequites have to be in place.
Ubiquitous ereaders, either slates and/or smartphones, which means that both will have to get cheaper and a winner in the eformat wars would help as well.

Widespread high quality broadband.

I currently resist a pure digital format, but a good part of that is for the reasons you've listed as needing to catch up or change. eReaders need to be readily affordable and usable. A standardized format would help as you said.

Great point on high quality broadband. A lot of people forget that not everyone has a super fast connection. And as more things compete with bandwidth (Hulu, Netflix streaming, software patches, PDF downloads, news content) some of us are getting stretched thin on what high speed connection we do have available.

Now, for added value a comprehensive suite of online tools that facilitate character generation, sharing of character information, finding fellow gamers, creating encounters and campaigns and play enablers.
By play enablers I mean things like VTT or other stuff that enhances the table top experience.
Some people are already using stuff like maptools to play at the table using projectors. Projectors are now pretty cheap but better software could be created.

A lot of these tools are already out there and able to be used. I can put together a pretty complete digital experience with the existing character creators and MapTool. Once you plug a framework into MapTool it becomes a very powerful VTT. A little more documentation behind the frameworks would put the polish on using MapTool it could use.

 

[jonesy]

100%? No way.

Not until everyone can check the material on cheap, easy to use, easily portable, totally reliable, drop-proof viewers.

You know, like those books everyone keeps talking about.

 

[Wicht]

The death of print has been greatly exagerated for a long time.

Some companies today exists as pure PDF players, but most small PDF only RPG companies would like to move into a position where they can afford to do print also, since, as far as I can tell, printed books still have a tendency to sell better than PDFs.

 

[jonesy]

The death of print has been greatly exagerated for a long time.

It'll happen the moment digital paper becomes easier and cheaper to produce. Doesn't seem very likely to me.

Hmm. There's a lot of talk these days about the environmental impact we humans are causing, and about the things we could do to prevent it. Questions like 'what would you give up to save the planet?'. I don't think I could ever give up books.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Drakar och Demoner, the arguably largest RPG-title i Sweden, is going all digital. Riotminds, the company behind the game is know for it's beautiful books but since print is too expensive they're launching something akin to DDI with no printed books at all.
To early to tell if they'll succeed.

 

[Umbran]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. WotC pumping out content like it's on a conveyer belt set to "Superspeed" has meant there are so many books out now that you can literally fill a bookshelf.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but if I recall correctly WotC's current output is not particularly high, from a historical perspective. Yes, you can fill a bookshelf, but that's a bookshelf filled with the output of a team of folks working at a sustainable pace for more than two years!

The point of all of this is that I think if they moved to a purely online distribution business model, that they could make a much larger profit, and therefore continue to put out good product, rather than filling the market with books that do little but sit on people's shelves.

They won't make such a larger profit unless or until tablet computers (or some similar form-factor) become ubiquitous. Not just "fairly common" but really everywhere, such that you could base your business model on the assumption that any and every player is going to have one.

Laptops are better than desktop machines for bringing to a table, but they are sill too clumsy for casual use, and physically get in the way at the table when there's a half-dozen of them.