Radiating Gnome
Adventurer
I think it's not really surprising that any company might consider the subscription model as the ticket to their future security given Blizzard's amazing success with World of Warcraft. I mean, look at it from the business manager's point of view.
You have a game system with a strong fan base, but your existing model isn't working. Your R&D guys are stretching themselves thin trying to come up with new ideas for sourcebooks to keep the money flowing in -- and to support the sale of your most popular product in the line, the PHB.
You need a new idea. You've recently returned to publishing adventures, but that's just a finger in the dike -- adventures naturally have a fraction of the audience that campaign books and source books have, because most DMs don't WANT their players to buy the adventures.
A new edition -- starting over with the core books again -- is a possibility, and it certainly revitalized the game the last time you tried it, but the game itself right now is going strong, and doesn't need to be revitalized. 3rd edition (and 3.5) redrew the gaming landscape, and you're not going to be able to repeat that, even if you wanted to (and I don't think that you do).
So you start shopping around for new ideas, trying to think a little outside the box. You need a way to support the sales of the PHB and other books. You need a way to keep the money flowing in and interest in your games high.
You've got a business manager's problems and range of options. You know those R&D guys are doing their best, turning out game content that is as good as they can make it. But you need to find a new way to keep them paid and the product line alive.
The subscription model must look like the holy grail, if they can find a way to make it work. The list of D&D Insider features looks like what ended up on the whiteboard after a staff retreat to brainstorm about what sort of features they would like to see in a D&D Insider subscription package.
And it's pretty clear that they're already moving ahead on this. They've concluded their business with Code Monkey -- CMP is no longer able to sell the data sets for Etools, and the cited reason I've seen on at least one post was because of "upcoming products" or something like that. Clearly this is that product.
How it all rolls out will be interesting. If they can really deliver everything they've promised, at a reasonable rate, I'll probably subscribe.
It will tend to keep subscribers locked into WOTC products and away from other d20 books simply because it won't support non WOTC products. That's a drag for those of us that use some other products in our games, but it makes sense on the business side of the fence.
They have the advantage, now that many electronic, web-based systems have been developed, to learn from what's out there and try to produce a product that brings together the best of all of those other products. WOW learned from Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot and the others. WOW did it right, and they're reaping the profits.
I hope that WOTC learns from Blizzard's success -- I hope they realize the importance of getting the product right if they want to maintain a subscriber base over the long haul.
I do think that it's an interesting, new path to try. And I'm hopeful.
-rg
You have a game system with a strong fan base, but your existing model isn't working. Your R&D guys are stretching themselves thin trying to come up with new ideas for sourcebooks to keep the money flowing in -- and to support the sale of your most popular product in the line, the PHB.
You need a new idea. You've recently returned to publishing adventures, but that's just a finger in the dike -- adventures naturally have a fraction of the audience that campaign books and source books have, because most DMs don't WANT their players to buy the adventures.
A new edition -- starting over with the core books again -- is a possibility, and it certainly revitalized the game the last time you tried it, but the game itself right now is going strong, and doesn't need to be revitalized. 3rd edition (and 3.5) redrew the gaming landscape, and you're not going to be able to repeat that, even if you wanted to (and I don't think that you do).
So you start shopping around for new ideas, trying to think a little outside the box. You need a way to support the sales of the PHB and other books. You need a way to keep the money flowing in and interest in your games high.
You've got a business manager's problems and range of options. You know those R&D guys are doing their best, turning out game content that is as good as they can make it. But you need to find a new way to keep them paid and the product line alive.
The subscription model must look like the holy grail, if they can find a way to make it work. The list of D&D Insider features looks like what ended up on the whiteboard after a staff retreat to brainstorm about what sort of features they would like to see in a D&D Insider subscription package.
And it's pretty clear that they're already moving ahead on this. They've concluded their business with Code Monkey -- CMP is no longer able to sell the data sets for Etools, and the cited reason I've seen on at least one post was because of "upcoming products" or something like that. Clearly this is that product.
How it all rolls out will be interesting. If they can really deliver everything they've promised, at a reasonable rate, I'll probably subscribe.
It will tend to keep subscribers locked into WOTC products and away from other d20 books simply because it won't support non WOTC products. That's a drag for those of us that use some other products in our games, but it makes sense on the business side of the fence.
They have the advantage, now that many electronic, web-based systems have been developed, to learn from what's out there and try to produce a product that brings together the best of all of those other products. WOW learned from Everquest and Dark Age of Camelot and the others. WOW did it right, and they're reaping the profits.
I hope that WOTC learns from Blizzard's success -- I hope they realize the importance of getting the product right if they want to maintain a subscriber base over the long haul.
I do think that it's an interesting, new path to try. And I'm hopeful.
-rg
