Fourth Edition largely unavailable at Amazon.com

[Quickleaf]

I can also add that trollandtoad.com is currently out of stock of 4e books, while miniaturesmarket.com has some old 4e hardcovers in stock but none of the essentials line.

 

[isidorus]

Okay. Picking some things up on Ebay and one book from Barnes and Nobles.

 

[Jester David]

Huh. That's odd.


WotC *might* be quietly recalling them so people will be incentivized to purchase 4e rather than other books. Or stopped providing them to their distributor. But that's seems like a silly decision since they'd be cutting off sales providing profit to them, as Amazon buys from the distributor who buys from WotC. Used book vendors still have copies and those are sales WotC doesn't see a penny of. It'd be foolish to purposely drive people to the secondary market.

It's possible the distributors just ran low. Small print runs that finally ran out. But that doesn't explain why some of the more recent books, like the premium reprints, are also out of stock. Along with many accessories. And all at the same time.
But as [MENTION=42043]Eric[/MENTION]_mona says, Christmas could have cleaned them out.

WotC could also be having some problems with Amazon. I've had a lot of problems with Amazon and the release date of RPG books, both WotC and Paizo; products that shipped weeks or months after they were available elsewhere. Amazon can also be a bit of a dick, and could be conceivably trying to get the PDFs onto the Kindle store.
Amazon has regularly spoiled WotC's product announcements, revealing books and dates before WotC was ready; with WotC still not being ready to reveal the date/name/format of 5e they might be pulling back from distributing to Amazon until they're ready to reveal details on 5e.

 

[Warunsun]

with WotC still not being ready to reveal the date/name/format of 5e they might be pulling back from distributing to Amazon until they're ready to reveal details on 5e.

Blocking distribution to Amazon would be suicide for fifth edition. That is the craziest idea yet.

 

[Jester David]

Blocking distribution to Amazon would be suicide for fifth edition. That is the craziest idea yet.

Just until they're ready to announce the details.
Really, Amazon announced WotC books 6mo in advance and has for years. If 5e was coming out in June those books would already be up for pre-order. WotC as a company is a bit of a control freak and I can imagine them not wanting that information leaked until they were good and ready.

 

[Warunsun]

WotC as a company is a bit of a control freak and I can imagine them not wanting that information leaked until they were good and ready.

At this point I can't hardly see why it would matter. The big announcement was already made. There is no such thing as bad publicity for sales. Barnes and Noble was the source of the last few big leaks anyway. You can't always blame Amazon.

 

[n00bdragon]

Just until they're ready to announce the details.
Really, Amazon announced WotC books 6mo in advance and has for years. If 5e was coming out in June those books would already be up for pre-order. WotC as a company is a bit of a control freak and I can imagine them not wanting that information leaked until they were good and ready.

That or the books just aren't materializing. If they haven't already started printing the books right now they are simply not going to be selling them in June. Period. It takes months to get all the distribution stuff set up and you want to leave yourself a healthy buffer for the inevitable snafus in any business system.

 

[Jester David]

At this point I can't hardly see why it would matter. The big announcement was already made. There is no such thing as bad publicity for sales. Barnes and Noble was the source of the last few big leaks anyway. You can't always blame Amazon.

We know "summer", which isn't saying much as you can stretch "summer" from mid-May to early-September.

We don't know the actual date, how many books, the price, the covers, or even the name of the edition. All of which could easily be spoiled.

 

[Jester David]

That or the books just aren't materializing. If they haven't already started printing the books right now they are simply not going to be selling them in June. Period. It takes months to get all the distribution stuff set up and you want to leave yourself a healthy buffer for the inevitable snafus in any business system.

Books take 3-4 months, so they can send things to the printers in late February and still have few weeks buffer. That's assuming June and not July or August. If they're planning for a GenCon launch they have until late April.

 

[Warunsun]

We know "summer", which isn't saying much as you can stretch "summer" from mid-May to early-September.

We don't know the actual date, how many books, the price, the covers, or even the name of the edition. All of which could easily be spoiled.

I know the name of the edition: Dungeons & Dragons. Same name as the last two times. Too much brand identity to change it. As for specifics we know that Wizards has acknowledged it is specifically the fifth edition of the game on their official website: dndclassics.com.