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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mudbunny" data-source="post: 5266293" data-attributes="member: 56746">I think that there are two different conversations happening at the same time here.1 - Is Paizo competing with WotC.2 - Is Paizo competing (in a market-domination sense) with WotC.In the first case, of course they are. Paizo saw an opening in the market (WotC moving to 4E and no longer supporting 3.5 and the OGL) and, LIsa and the other honchos at Paizo not being stupid, they took advantage of it. Having supported 3.5 for so long via the magazines, as well as the other supplements they published, they had a very good grip on the pulse of the market.In the second case, I have great doubts that Paizo is competing with WotC for market share. (Note, this is not a slam against Paizo. They make good stuff.) I just find it very difficult to believe that Paizo, or, to be honest, any other RPG company, is in any sort of position to take significant amounts of RPG market share away from WotC. Upon the release of 4E, did Paizo gain some customers that WotC lost?? But, and this is important, anyone who thinks that WotC released 4E expecting 100% customer retention is being rather unrealistic. They knew that they would lose customers when 4E released. The amount of money that WotC losing to Paizo is probably rather close to insignificant when compared to WotC D&D revenue as a whole. Now, that doesn't mean that WotC is not concerned with what Paizo is doing. They see the quality products that Paizo is putting out, look at them and ask, "Is there a reasonable return on investment if WotC puts forth the effort to do the same type of thing??" And that is what we don't know. What would be a highly successful product for Paizo would, if sold in identical amounts by WotC, probably be a flop. Again, this is not a slam against Paizo, they do great stuff, it is just the reality of the economics of the comparative sizes of the two compnies.For those that want to do some quick math, the DDI subscribers group (which is only those people that both have an active subscription to DDI *and* have registered on the forums, according to WotC) currently has over 37,000 members. Who are currently paying between $6 and $10 a month in subscription fees.</blockquote>

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