an_idol_mind
Explorer
I don't think rereleasing old editions would do much without new supporting products, which is pretty resource-intensive.
If WotC made their back catalog print on demand, I'd probably buy the Rules Cyclopedia. I'd maybe buy AD&D 2nd edition's core books. But I'm not going to be a long-term customer of theirs unless there are new adventures and supplements coming out to support those games. Yeah, old editions of D&D have a long back catalog, but A) I've already purchased, read, and played a lot of that old stuff and B) my sensibilities have changed, so a D&D module from 1991 isn't nearly as appealing to me now as it was then.
Selling old products as PDFs is a good idea, and there might be a market for print on demand, but if D&D is going to continue evolving, it will need a stream of new support, which means that WotC has to pick and edition and run with it. 5th edition is an attempt to figure out where most of their potential customers lie, and I think tailoring the game to trying to please most of the people most of the time is the best way for them to go about things right now.
If WotC made their back catalog print on demand, I'd probably buy the Rules Cyclopedia. I'd maybe buy AD&D 2nd edition's core books. But I'm not going to be a long-term customer of theirs unless there are new adventures and supplements coming out to support those games. Yeah, old editions of D&D have a long back catalog, but A) I've already purchased, read, and played a lot of that old stuff and B) my sensibilities have changed, so a D&D module from 1991 isn't nearly as appealing to me now as it was then.
Selling old products as PDFs is a good idea, and there might be a market for print on demand, but if D&D is going to continue evolving, it will need a stream of new support, which means that WotC has to pick and edition and run with it. 5th edition is an attempt to figure out where most of their potential customers lie, and I think tailoring the game to trying to please most of the people most of the time is the best way for them to go about things right now.