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D&D Reader App Coming This Fall? [UPDATED]
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<blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 7724558" data-attributes="member: 6778044"><p>So to me this sounds like a 3rd party company is making a product, and will be paying WotC licensing/royalties.</p><p></p><p>Why is that important?</p><p></p><p>First, because it's somebody else putting together a product that they think will appeal to gamers and that they can sell. My guess is that somebody had the concept, but until the OGL was available, couldn't go forward with it. Then it's just development time. </p><p></p><p>It's not up to WotC to tell other companies how to design or price their products. Welcome to the free market. A company looks at the marketplace, the product they want to design, and price based on what they think will sell. Many use a pricing structure that allows frequent specials, so you never actually pay "full price."</p><p></p><p>Of course, their goal as a company would be to make money. Which means they need access to the stuff that's not OGL. So they license that from WotC, just like all of the other companies with a digital product that has this content. </p><p></p><p>The pricing is influenced by WotC because they obviously set the licensing/royalty fee. But from there, it's the company making the product that has to decide what they need to make on each sale to have a viable business/product.</p><p></p><p>Perhaps one of the main reasons WotC avoids releasing pdf versions is because it would stifle the market for 3rd party companies to produce products that would purchase their licensable content? In other words, don't compete with your other revenue streams.</p><p></p><p>And that is a better thing in general because:</p><p>More products licensing the content, making them more money.</p><p>Other companies do the heavy lifting of designing, building and maintaining the digital products.</p><p>That companies that specialize in digital products will be better at it than a company that designs a TTRPG.</p><p>You get a variety of digital products, none of which will appeal to everyone, but hopefully everyone will find a digital product that appeals to them.</p><p></p><p>Etc.</p><p></p><p>So I don't think WotC spent anything on this. I think Dialect is probably spending the money, and they are developers of content that is formatted to work on today's technology (phones and tablets). PDFs are great for documents you want to print, but far from optimal for content you intend to view on your computer, phone, or tablet. </p><p></p><p>Let's see: <a href="https://dialectinc.com" target="_blank">https://dialectinc.com</a></p><p></p><p>Well what do you know? A company that specializes in producing digital content solutions. A company that has no connection with WotC other than they were hired by WotC to produce Dragon+. </p><p></p><p>Here's their page about Dragon+: <a href="https://dialectinc.com/portfolio/dragon/" target="_blank">https://dialectinc.com/portfolio/dragon/</a></p><p></p><p>I would guess they were hired by WotC to design a solution for them. Now I'm guessing that Dialect is designing their own product, but it could be one that WotC is footing the bill for. But I suspect that they wouldn't be competing directly with their other digital content providers.</p><p></p><p>Since it's a Dialect designed product, I'm sure it will be accessible in the same ways that Dragon+ is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ilbranteloth, post: 7724558, member: 6778044"] So to me this sounds like a 3rd party company is making a product, and will be paying WotC licensing/royalties. Why is that important? First, because it's somebody else putting together a product that they think will appeal to gamers and that they can sell. My guess is that somebody had the concept, but until the OGL was available, couldn't go forward with it. Then it's just development time. It's not up to WotC to tell other companies how to design or price their products. Welcome to the free market. A company looks at the marketplace, the product they want to design, and price based on what they think will sell. Many use a pricing structure that allows frequent specials, so you never actually pay "full price." Of course, their goal as a company would be to make money. Which means they need access to the stuff that's not OGL. So they license that from WotC, just like all of the other companies with a digital product that has this content. The pricing is influenced by WotC because they obviously set the licensing/royalty fee. But from there, it's the company making the product that has to decide what they need to make on each sale to have a viable business/product. Perhaps one of the main reasons WotC avoids releasing pdf versions is because it would stifle the market for 3rd party companies to produce products that would purchase their licensable content? In other words, don't compete with your other revenue streams. And that is a better thing in general because: More products licensing the content, making them more money. Other companies do the heavy lifting of designing, building and maintaining the digital products. That companies that specialize in digital products will be better at it than a company that designs a TTRPG. You get a variety of digital products, none of which will appeal to everyone, but hopefully everyone will find a digital product that appeals to them. Etc. So I don't think WotC spent anything on this. I think Dialect is probably spending the money, and they are developers of content that is formatted to work on today's technology (phones and tablets). PDFs are great for documents you want to print, but far from optimal for content you intend to view on your computer, phone, or tablet. Let's see: [url]https://dialectinc.com[/url] Well what do you know? A company that specializes in producing digital content solutions. A company that has no connection with WotC other than they were hired by WotC to produce Dragon+. Here's their page about Dragon+: [url]https://dialectinc.com/portfolio/dragon/[/url] I would guess they were hired by WotC to design a solution for them. Now I'm guessing that Dialect is designing their own product, but it could be one that WotC is footing the bill for. But I suspect that they wouldn't be competing directly with their other digital content providers. Since it's a Dialect designed product, I'm sure it will be accessible in the same ways that Dragon+ is. [/QUOTE]
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