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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Obryn" data-source="post: 4884887" data-attributes="member: 11821">Arguments like this are made every time a gaming company does pretty much anything innovative and experimental.  We heard them as justifications for print & PDF products costing the same, and even more recently we heard how Paizo selling their PDFs for $10 would seriously harm gaming stores and get them not to carry Paizo materials.I don't think any of it holds water - especially when we're talking about Gen Con.  Conventions are more about getting your product out there than they are about selling it, IMO.  Sure, you need to recoup your costs, but the big reason to do them is that you have a wide audience.  WotC is trying to capture some of that audience with a great marketing gimmick.  I think they announced it at a very good time, too - enough so that this will probably still be buzzing by the time Gen Con hits.So, as a counterargument, I'll say that I expect this will have either zero, or positive impact on FLGSes.  If you get new people to play 4e, you increase the customer base, and FLGSes can hopefully get future sales they may otherwise not have.I think "convention buzz" is really all you need, as far as justifications go.  If you want people to play 4e, you need to get more PHBs out there, and there's no better audience than a hall full of gamers.I also think it's plausible they're going to do a revised printing of the PHB in the next year or so, with errata included.  In which case this is a great way to move the existing stock...  I remember that White Wolf basically gave away Exalted 1e at Gen Con a few years back, right before 2e came out.  I don't expect anything quite so radical - but it's a damn good way to move books you might not need for very long.Regardless, although I am positive Pathfinder will sell out in the very first day of the Convention, I think WotC's strategy here will do a very good job of getting the PHB into the hands of people who don't already play 4e.  If Paizo's stock is fairly limited, I'd expect most Paizo sales are going to be to existing fans, and almost certainly many of them will be to people who also have the book pre-ordered.  While that's awesome, and while it will make for some great and well-equipped groups, it might not seed the books to new eyeballs and new players quite as well.  WotC's strategy, OTOH, is apparently mostly designed to entice the new and curious to check out what 4e has to offer.Anyway, I wish both companies a fantastic Con and wish I could be there.-O</blockquote>

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