Paizo Price of Paizo PDFs goes up in 10 days

[cranberry]

Warehouse space isn’t expensive. I don’t even know what we pay it’s such a minor cost compared to the actual cost of developing a book.

So you outsource everything except the artists and writers?

 

[Morrus]

So you outsource everything except the artists and writers?

I’m confused about where this is going?

 

[cranberry]

I’m confused about where this is going?

Sorry, just curious, and asking questions as I think of them.

 

[Velderan]

The physical print run is one of the lowest costs in producing a book. What’s really expensive is development, art, writing, layout, all that stuff. That’s what you’re paying for, not the $3 it costs to physically print the thing.

I really appreciate you pointing this out over and over and over again for the people in the back who seem to still think PDFs are a way to print free money.

Not a fan of price increases, especially when it's such a large percent increase, but IMO this really only matters for the adventures because the rules end up in Archives of Nethys or your VTT of choice for free and Paizo puts out Humble Bundles often enough that eventually the rulebooks all seem to rotate through there for a dirt cheap price. As @cranberry said, just think a bit harder on if an adventure is something you're actually going to play before pulling the trigger on a purchase. The $100 I spent buying a hardcover copy of Abomination Vaults and the Foundry module for it led to about 18 months of roughly weekly 3 hour sessions for 6 people. Assuming you're actually playing the adventure, that's good value in my book.

 

[Cergorach]

It’s been more than three years since Paizo last adjusted PDF pricing, and the time has come once again for us to make updates to a few digital product categories. We’ve worked hard to hold the line as long as possible, even as development, art, and production costs have continued to rise.

3+ years and they are inflating the prices by 25%-50%, that's significantly outside of the inflation percentages in the US... The related costs also don't involve the tariff shenanigans... So I wonder if this is due their market share shrinking and/or their policy of the rules being 'free' (Archives of Nethys) and/or that more and more people are moving to digital only (neither needing PDFs or physical books)? If they expect to sell less, the individual prices need to go up, resulting in even less sales, resulting in a vicious circle...

 

[Micah Sweet]

The physical print run is one of the lowest costs in producing a book. What’s really expensive is development, art, writing, layout, all that stuff. That’s what you’re paying for, not the $3 it costs to physically print the thing.

Fair enough. But why then is the cost of printing often given as a major reason for price increases of physical books?

 

[Morrus]

Fair enough. But why then is the cost of printing often given as a major reason for price increases of physical books?

Because… it’s still a cost? I didn’t say printing was free.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Because… it’s still a cost? I didn’t say printing was free.

Of course. But every time I've ever seen an announcement increasing the cost of physical books, printing costs are listed front and center as a major reason why (sometimes the reason). That seems odd to me if it's such a small part of the expense.

I'm not challenging your response; obviously you would know. I'm just confused.

 

[Morrus]

Of course. But every time I've ever seen an announcement increasing the cost of physical books, printing costs are listed front and center as a major reason why (sometimes the reason). That seems odd to me if it's such a small part of the expense.

I'm not challenging your response; obviously you would know. I'm just confused.

Well, imagine the outcry if a company said it was trying to pay creators fairly. Nobody wants to pay for that! At least print costs can be described as an external change forced on the company.

(Honestly I don’t know; I can’t speak for other company’s PR. I can just make the same guesses you do.)

 

[cranberry]

I really appreciate you pointing this out over and over and over again for the people in the back who seem to still think PDFs are a way to print free money.

Not a fan of price increases, especially when it's such a large percent increase, but IMO this really only matters for the adventures because the rules end up in Archives of Nethys or your VTT of choice for free and Paizo puts out Humble Bundles often enough that eventually the rulebooks all seem to rotate through there for a dirt cheap price. As @cranberry said, just think a bit harder on if an adventure is something you're actually going to play before pulling the trigger on a purchase. The $100 I spent buying a hardcover copy of Abomination Vaults and the Foundry module for it led to about 18 months of roughly weekly 3 hour sessions for 6 people. Assuming you're actually playing the adventure, that's good value in my book.

Pdfs cost less to produce than physical books, allowing companies to increase their margin, that's why the do it. Just like PC gaming, digital distribution is cheaper than producing physical copies of their game. On a $20 item, $3 is 15 percent which is a decent margin differential between physical and digital.

It's not printing free money, but it's certainly more profitable than physical books.