D&D 3E/3.5 3E publishers and 4E: Who's in, who's out?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

How many publishers have made a definitive statement one way or another on 4E?

To my knowledge, Green Ronin, Goodman Games and Paizo have all said they would be producing products for 4E.

Necromancer Games, last I saw, was still thinking.

Monte Cook, who's out of gaming, but typically still posting on his board, has said nothing, which could be indicative of him thinking about coming back, or it could just be indicative of him trying to get a big chunk of his novel done.

Who else has spoken up, one way or another?

 

[Mouseferatu]

I dunno if my tiny Lion's Den imprint counts, but we'll be doing 4E stuff as long as C.A. and I keep having ideas we can't fit anywhere else.

(And, uh, assuming we can at least break even on the PDFs...)

 

[Mouseferatu]

Oh, and I'm pretty sure Clark has said that Necromancer will go with 4E.

 

[Morrus]

I don't see how anybody can know, not having (a) seen 4E; or (b) seen the licenses. Given the the licenses are not yet written, or decisions are not yet finalized, it seems a bit premature for anybody to be announcing anything.

 

[Flynn]

Honestly, I think the v3.5 experience has shown that those who choose to go on publishing will switch to 4E, and those who do not choose to switch will no longer publish D20-based PDFs. After v3.5, I don't think very many publishers continued 3E publications more than to clear out the 3E works that were already in the latter stages of development.

Of course, that's only using history as a guide. I do not know for certain, and I wish all publishers the best of luck in plotting their course in the upcoming edition change-over.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[DaveMage]

It will be very interesting to see how third party publishers respond to the splintering amongst their fans.

The Paizo boards seem to be slightly favoring a 4E switch, but a very large number of the posters there are claiming they are not switching.

Necromancer Boards seem similarly divided.

Necromancer has been slow to deliver products lately, and they were waiting for 4E to be announced before determining their future.

And has Green Ronin said they are producing products for 4E? I can see them releasing a Freeport book for it, but beyond that, it seems they, like Mongoose, no longer want or need to ride D&D's coattails.

 

[Dice4Hire]

The publishers will see which way the wind blows and go that way, like good businesspeople.

Teh only guarantee I think there is is that they will be giving 4E a very very hard look.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

I think it would be smart for at least one big company to stay 3.5e, they would dominate a small market for 3e players purchases.

 

[Shade]

Based on James Jacobs' reactions to the demon/devil changes, I could see Paizo leaning away from 4e.

 

[hexgrid]

I can't imagine it would make much business sense for the larger 3rd party companies to stick with 3.5 after 4th is released. The market for third party 3.5 is already pretty small, and it will just get smaller, and they'd be missing out on the bump in sales that the new edition will spark.