barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Sorry, I think I took that cookie before you did.tonym said:
But if there's two, I'll share.
Another RPG company with financial difficulties
- Thread starter Ghostwind
- Start date
But if there's two, I'll share.
jester47
First Post
I find it interesting that the definition of successful business has gotten to the point where "sucessful" means that the company is making money hand over fist. That is, profits are no longer enough, you now have the profit margin (the ammount you have to make to be "successful"). Even after all expenses are paid and the company is in the black the investors are making money, money is being reinvested in the company, and if the profits still are not high enough, it has financial problems..
frikkin weird.
Aaron.
frikkin weird.
Aaron.
barsoomcore
Unattainable Ideal
Where do you get this impression from? I don't see anything in this thread to suggest that.
francisca
I got dice older than you.
Yeah, since about 1988 or so, I've felt the way the sussess of american companies is measured buy how much you impress "the street", rather than making a good profit, while making good products and keeping loyal customers. How do you impress the street? Grow your share of the market and cut costs.jester47 said:
der_kluge
Adventurer
Seeten said:
Satanist goth? Now that's got to be a niche category.
Yea, I considered the Satanistic angle for advertising. That's bad publicity, which isn't always that bad. It could spark some sales from churches buying the PHB for burning purposes.
Speaking of destroying product... I heard on NPR where PETA was giving away fur coats to homeless people. Seems sometimes people feel guilty and give PETA their fur coat. PETA used to burn them, but they decided they'd be of better use giving them to homeless people. Now, that's got to be a sight!
Ok, back on topic...
Turjan
Explorer
Ah, one of those threads again . If anyone is interested in my take on the current situation, I wrote something here:
http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=3514063&postcount=19
This means, I think it's a distribution problem. PDF products are a good way to go, but I think that for longterm success, something is still missing. I imagine a strategic partnership with a company like Kinko's. This company would allow the user to browse the product on their computer, and if he liked it, he'd be able to print it in a professional quality. Of course, something like that cannot really be initiated by the RPG industry, because it's too small, and the booksellers will resist. Such a business concept needs a large critical mass to take successfully off.
. If anyone is interested in my take on the current situation, I wrote something here:http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=3514063&postcount=19
This means, I think it's a distribution problem. PDF products are a good way to go, but I think that for longterm success, something is still missing. I imagine a strategic partnership with a company like Kinko's. This company would allow the user to browse the product on their computer, and if he liked it, he'd be able to print it in a professional quality. Of course, something like that cannot really be initiated by the RPG industry, because it's too small, and the booksellers will resist. Such a business concept needs a large critical mass to take successfully off.
MoogleEmpMog
First Post
Honestly, the satanist/dangerous angle may have been the best marketing RPGs could have ever had. 
RPGs today are relatively mainstream. Not widely played or widely understood, but widely accepted as "something other people do," like knitting or stamp collecting. It's not rebellious, and doesn't target the segment of the population eager to consume mass-produced angst and defiance.
Worse, RPGs aren't even identified with geek culture, which has moved on to otakuism and electronic gear and gaming. WotC in particular has fled from geekdom like a high school cheerleader, and many long-time RPG players don't care to accomodate themselves to the changing tides of geek culture.
I'm not sure what this means for sales - it seems to me several of the 'minor' RPG companies in this thread are doing quite well, WotC's RPG department claims to be on a continued upswing, Mongoose has grown very quickly and seems to be stabilizing as a major player, and so on.
Being relatively harmless and not an integral part of a subculture could help sales. It also spells the death of RPGs as a cultural phenomena. I'm sure more people played Bridge or Uno than D&D in 1985, but also that more people thought about D&D.
RPGs today are relatively mainstream. Not widely played or widely understood, but widely accepted as "something other people do," like knitting or stamp collecting. It's not rebellious, and doesn't target the segment of the population eager to consume mass-produced angst and defiance.
Worse, RPGs aren't even identified with geek culture, which has moved on to otakuism and electronic gear and gaming. WotC in particular has fled from geekdom like a high school cheerleader, and many long-time RPG players don't care to accomodate themselves to the changing tides of geek culture.
I'm not sure what this means for sales - it seems to me several of the 'minor' RPG companies in this thread are doing quite well, WotC's RPG department claims to be on a continued upswing, Mongoose has grown very quickly and seems to be stabilizing as a major player, and so on.
Being relatively harmless and not an integral part of a subculture could help sales. It also spells the death of RPGs as a cultural phenomena. I'm sure more people played Bridge or Uno than D&D in 1985, but also that more people thought about D&D.
I see this as a good thing, Moogle. It seems to me that once its mainstream, all you need is the impetus to get people to play it. I think the vehicle has arrived, by the name of World of Warcraft, that has tons of people interested.
I play on an RP server, and tons and tons of people on server are new to rpg's entirely, playing because they heard it was awesome fun(and it is) and now they are rping. These people are | | far from playing D&D next. They understand how to pick a race, a class, and choose talents(feats) inside of WoW. They understand levelling up. All the need is a gaming group to join.
I am convinced its a huge market available to tap. Lots of people on WoW have played D&D, but so many more have never played it, or really heard of it. One little push, and they'd be on the dark side with me.
I play on an RP server, and tons and tons of people on server are new to rpg's entirely, playing because they heard it was awesome fun(and it is) and now they are rping. These people are | | far from playing D&D next. They understand how to pick a race, a class, and choose talents(feats) inside of WoW. They understand levelling up. All the need is a gaming group to join.
I am convinced its a huge market available to tap. Lots of people on WoW have played D&D, but so many more have never played it, or really heard of it. One little push, and they'd be on the dark side with me.
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