Are you doing your part to destroy the industry?

[Welverin]

Don't believe me? Ask TSR.

Funny you bring them up, because they're a perfect example of a company pricing their products incorrectly, combine that with poor business decision and you have bankruptcy.

I think poor business decision also hurt stores as well.

Ari, I think you're ignoring the fact that if RPGs were priced according to "where they should be," then we would no longer have a market for them. If the three core books went for $60/book, then I guarantee you that not one kid would enter the hobby. The industry already pushes that delicate balance. For instance, no matter how great Midnight, Shackled City etc are, I could not convince one kid to buy them. They keep begging me to direct them to cheaper products.

$50/book prices a lot of people out of the hobby, especially the kids, which are the ones we need.

Odd, but those very same kids somehow manage to get $50+ video games, so clearly it not simply the price of the book.

 

[Belen]

Odd, but those very same kids somehow manage to get $50+ video games, so clearly it not simply the price of the book.

Video games do not require three other people and someone willing to put a lot into running the actual game. You do not have to feel like you are disappointing someone by not showing up to play a video game etc.

It can be argued that video games are a better way to spend your money than RPG books. They are easier to finish, do not require a lot of prep work, and you can get rid of them easily and get more money or credit for the ones that you get rid of.

RPGs do not have the same advantages as video games. Pricing them the same as video games will only further drive younger consumers away.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Ari, I think you're ignoring the fact that if RPGs were priced according to "where they should be," then we would no longer have a market for them.

I think it's worth noting that the prices of most items are not set by how much they cost to produce, but by what the market will bear - in other words, how much people will pay for them. Some folks are exploring the high end of the market to see if your premise is correct - Ptolus is the most notable example. The core books probably can't go too high, but supplements can be priced higher. We've yet to learn how high is too high.

 

[Belen]

I think it's worth noting that the prices of most items are not set by how much they cost to produce, but by what the market will bear - in other words, how much people will pay for them. Some folks are exploring the high end of the market to see if your premise is correct - Ptolus is the most notable example. The core books probably can't go too high, but supplements can be priced higher. We've yet to learn how high is too high.

I think that we have already reached the point where anything past $60/book is "too high." The market is not really handling these prices well. The internet discounters are handling these prices very well, but then, they are not selling for cover price on the net. I have not met a single person who bought the WLD in a store, and every store I visit still have their one original copy.

Why? Because they could not sell it at cover price. This has held true for WLD, Shackled City, and Wilderlands not to mention a very slow turnover in books such as Midnight 2e and AE.

The high prices have caused some stores in my area to only stock WOTC and maybe WoD books.

And I can say the same for a LOT of other metro areas from discussions with Delegates across the country.

 

[diaglo]

i do my part by never paying retail price. the physical quality of the books just plain sucks now along with the art. and don't even get me started on the content.

which is the other way i work to bring the industry to its ruin.

i tell everyone i know and i mean everyone what i think about d02.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Ari, I think you're ignoring the fact that if RPGs were priced according to "where they should be," then we would no longer have a market for them. If the three core books went for $60/book, then I guarantee you that not one kid would enter the hobby. The industry already pushes that delicate balance. For instance, no matter how great Midnight, Shackled City etc are, I could not convince one kid to buy them. They keep begging me to direct them to cheaper products.

$50/book prices a lot of people out of the hobby, especially the kids, which are the ones we need.

You're absolutely right that if RPG books had followed inflation, we likely wouldn't have even the (unfortunately small) market growth we have now.

Believe you me, I'm not saying that RPG books should have followed inflation. I'm merely pointing out that they haven't.

All of which leads me back to a point I've made multiple times on multiple other boards--the industry needs a lot more "gateway" products, like the old Basic red boxed set, if it's to survive. But that's a topic for elsewhere and elsewhen.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Destroy! Destroy! --robomom-- the X's

I do my part by not buying WotC product. The last book I bought and didn't take back was Complete Adventurer. I also unabashadly buy from the deepest discount retailer online that I can.

 

[Griffonsec]

I think it's worth noting that the prices of most items are not set by how much they cost to produce, but by what the market will bear - in other words, how much people will pay for them.

This is somewhat falacious. IT's a common misconception that most companies drive their prices higher and higher to see what they can get for them. In fact, in nearly every industry where there are at least three major players in a given area all products tend to revert to a minimum profit margin.

In the US nearly every large company seeltes for a 12% profit margin on net yearly income. It's simple economics. Well, if any economics can be called simple.

That's the way it's been done for years, and that's how most companies stay in it for the long-hual. It's the companies that do press the limits that often end up failing spectacularly. It's what economists call a "bubble," and the thing about bubbles is that eventually they pop. That's what happened to the dotcoms and what is currently beginning to happen to the housing market. Prices inflate beyond their value, the major players start wanting a piece of the pie, so the prices rise across the board, until eventually the whole industry blows up.

It's a nasty cycle, and the direct correlation to the d20 industry can be easily made and is very telling.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

pt. 2

Oh, and I'm not planning on buying any new release by WotC in the forseeable future either. Unlike diaglo, who I respect immensely, I am not a collector of crap.

 

[Belen]

All of which leads me back to a point I've made multiple times on multiple other boards--the industry needs a lot more "gateway" products, like the old Basic red boxed set, if it's to survive. But that's a topic for elsewhere and elsewhen.

You and I in complete agreement here.