Dragon 427 posted and Upcoming Hiatus

[Roland55]

Sounds like it will be back in some form whenever Next becomes the de facto D&D ruleset.

I would like to believe that. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I'd be very surprised if they started priting the magazines again, given that magazine and newspaper publishers the world over are folding and trying desperately to find viable digital subscription models.

Also, if I remember correctly, Paizo themselves said restarting Dragon/Dungeon would be infeasible, since they cancelled/lost the old distribution channels. One of the reasons why all Pathfinder subscriptions are carried out by Paizo themselves in a manner akin to books/games. Getting stores to carry your new magazine is hard, especially if you're not already a magazine publisher (which neither Paizo or WotC are).

 

[Mistwell]

I'd be very surprised if they started priting the magazines again, given that magazine and newspaper publishers the world over are folding and trying desperately to find viable digital subscription models.

The magazine publishers argue the cost to print is just too high. Meanwhile, the digital publishers are arguing the cost to print was miniscule, as they try and justify charging as much or more for digital books than they do for the same book in print form.

I do miss seeing Dragon and Dungeon at my local book store.

Then again, I also miss having a local book store.

 

[darjr]

I miss a print dragon. I don't think what DDI costs was nearly what a magazine subscription cost. As little as six bucks a month, right? Anyway I'm sure they plan on bringing them back. I just struck me as sad anyway.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Re: Dragon & Dungeon "magazines" - So long and thanks for all the fish....

Yep.

Give 'em back to Paizo, I say. In dead tree and digital, please. Treat them like books/modules, instead of magazines.

 

[darjr]

I don't think Paizo would take them. The president has repeatedly said that the magazine business is a bad one, and she should know!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It would be nice if they actually told 4E fans what the plan is regarding the immediate (12 months or so) future of 4E/DDI support, but, well, WotC never tells.

Well, really, they can't.

I predict they'll kill DDI 4E support in order to push people to next. I suspect if they can get 30%* of the players to move, it pays for itself. If that's the direction, they'll wait until the last minute to announce, because if they announce now, I suspect a larger percentage of players will not only drop DDI, but they also won't switch to next.

*number pulled from my posterior

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The magazine publishers argue the cost to print is just too high. Meanwhile, the digital publishers are arguing the cost to print was miniscule, as they try and justify charging as much or more for digital books than they do for the same book in print form.

That's a hoot.

I have a book published in paperback and eBook form. As the author I make more in absolute terms from each $4.99 eBook sale than I do from each $12.99 paperback. Publishers are living in denial of new business models.

 

[tomBitonti]

Things must be pretty bad at WotC HQ if they can't afford to keep the lights running on Dungeon and Dragon. It's a collection of articles mostly produced by freelancers and fans with some light editing and a little reused art. I simply refuse to go with the premise that they are "between editions so we have nothing to write about". They've been doing that just fine for years now. This was a financial decision from top to bottom and it doesn't look great. D&D hasn't put a new product on sale in how long?

Disclaimer: I bought Dungeon up until they stopped printing it. I stopped on Dungeon some time before that; I thought that the article quality had dramatically decreased. But, I could still look to Dungeon for ideas, and some of the modules were quite creative an entertaining (although some were turkeys, too).

I find this to be a sad endpoint for the magazines. A hiatus might mean they really are getting their house in order, and will return with a new strategy and a stronger magazine. I fear that the hiatus really means they will really allow the magazine to wither away internally. As a corporate initiative, unless there is backing for it, the latter is almost guaranteed.

I find the hiatus troublesome, since, as the RPG flagship company, they should have a strong presence in the industry. They should have a very strong stable of talent just bursting with content that deserves to be presented. Not having that, they don't seem to be even trying to be in the game.

Thx!

TomB

 

[pemerton]

I suspect if they can get 30%* of the players to move, it pays for itself.

*number pulled from my posterior

Far be it from me to question the integrity of your posterior, but . . .

Suppose the new PHB sells for $35 at a book or game shop. Presumably no more than $20 of that (less?) goes to the distributor. How much then goes to WotC? $10 or $15? If it's $15, isn't that about 3 months subscription to DDI? So selling 30% of your DDI subscribers a new PHB brings in as much revenue as selling 1 month's subscription to all your DDI customers.

You'd have to be pretty confident that that 30% are going to buy something else before you shut down DDI, I think.

EDIT: I just went to the WotC website and found that $15 is one month's subscription at the high rate, or 2 months subscription at the intermediate rate. So $15 for a PHB from 30% of your subscribers is less than one month's revenue from all your subscribers.