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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 4843807" data-attributes="member: 177">I don't think Pathfinder would have to beat 4e sales to pique WotC's interest.&nbsp; A sizable fraction of 4e sales would do it.&nbsp; However, I don't think WotC would go after Paizo even then.Why not?&nbsp; Because the case would be really hard to make stick.&nbsp; WotC put out a big lump of stuff in the SRD and said, explicitly, &quot;This stuff is OPEN!&nbsp; Have at it!&quot;&nbsp; So long as Paizo kept itself to the stuff in the SRD, the case is pretty darned bullet proof.&nbsp; Plus, the PR backlash would sour the pot - WotC cannot expect to get any sales from cheesed off fans of Paizo if they attempt this.The case against clones of earlier editions would be easier, as WotC didn't release them under the OGL, indicating what was open.&nbsp; They'd have an easier time trying to get a court to judge that one of them took content that was not just system.&nbsp; However, the chance that a retroclone will make it big enough to matter seems darned slim, to me.Honestly, I don't see it likely that any tabletop game in the generic heroic fantasy genre is going to make it big enough for WotC to care for the foreseeable future.&nbsp; Nor is any game working in a mechanics-space near D&amp;D.&nbsp; Any challenge will come from a game that, like White Wolf's WoD, differs in genre and mechanics so much that it it is nowhere near D&amp;D.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 4843807, member: 177"] I don't think Pathfinder would have to [i]beat[/i] 4e sales to pique WotC's interest. A sizable fraction of 4e sales would do it. However, I don't think WotC would go after Paizo even then. Why not? Because the case would be really hard to make stick. WotC put out a big lump of stuff in the SRD and said, explicitly, "This stuff is OPEN! Have at it!" So long as Paizo kept itself to the stuff in the SRD, the case is pretty darned bullet proof. Plus, the PR backlash would sour the pot - WotC cannot expect to get any sales from cheesed off fans of Paizo if they attempt this. The case against clones of earlier editions would be easier, as WotC didn't release them under the OGL, indicating what was open. They'd have an easier time trying to get a court to judge that one of them took content that was not just system. However, the chance that a retroclone will make it big enough to matter seems darned slim, to me. Honestly, I don't see it likely that any tabletop game in the generic heroic fantasy genre is going to make it big enough for WotC to care for the foreseeable future. Nor is any game working in a mechanics-space near D&D. Any challenge will come from a game that, like White Wolf's WoD, differs in genre and mechanics so much that it it is nowhere near D&D. [/QUOTE]

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