DriveThruRPG Exclusivity

[2WS-Steve]

This struck me as a potentially important topic and I thought it shouldn't be relegated to the ePublishing forum or RPGNet.

I posted elsewhere to say that I'm sorry that RPGNow lost a couple big publishers to DriveThruRPG's exclusivity agreement with the publishers it vends--I'm sure that hurt RPGNow a fair bit.

I like having more choices for my online PDF purchases (and that's what I originally hoped DriveThru would be) but the exclusivity business means that now I'm guaranteed to only have one option, if I want ebooks from those publishers.

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That said, I certainly like having another venue for PDF books and I like that DriveThruRPG offers a number of books that up until now haven't been available in PDF (w00+! FFG's Midnight Campaign Setting is just a moment of credit card weakness away).

 

[Morrus]

RPGNow still has Malhavoc's catalogue -- is it an "exclusive from now on" kind of deal?

More options are always good for the consumer (and for the electronic publisher, who is also a consumer in this model), although exclusive arrangements benefit only the site selling the products. Losing Malhavoc is probably a pain for RPGNow - that's one of RPGNow's biggest earners.

Dunno. We'll just have to wait to see how much this "exclusivity" trend continues.

The print products in PDF format idea is great, although I'm not so sure about their pricing.

 

[Morrus]

I'm of mixed feelings about this. I'll need to see how it plays out before I form a firm opinion. Here are a couple of thoughts:

1) The division between the print and PDF industry is blurring. It seems that PDF publishers are now competing directly with print publishers; consumers can now choose between a small-press PDF product or the electronic version of the latest big hardback. I can imagine this being a problem for a lot of e-publishers, who may have to pull some neat tricks out of their sleeves to compete. Maybe it will thin the herd of small press PDF publishers, maybe not.

2) The "exclusivity" aspect isn't attractive to me as a consumer; of course, it is great for drivethrurpg.com, and no doubt comes with a sweet deal for those publishers who sign up. Will it cause problems for RPGNow? Hard to say; losing Malhavoc is probably a blow (although I still see Malhavoc's catalogue at RPGNow) as Malhavoc is one of RPGNow's biggest earners. We'll have to see if this exclusivity trend continues.

 

[Morrus]

Sorry. Double post (although the second version came out a little different!) due to slow site. Which incompetent prat is running this darn site, anyway?

 

[Psion]

Well, they still have links to RPGnow and the catalog is still there, but I have been told by Chris at RPGobjects that Malhavoc does, in fact, intend to stop selling through RPGnow and go exclusive through DriveThruRPG.

I imagine this may have been necessary due to Malhavoc's relationship with White Wolf (who owns DTRPG, from what I understand), but I regret it nonetheless. I understand many publishers are concerned about piracy, but I am concerned about the negative impact this stands to have on the customer.

Not to mention, looking at some other products at DTRPG, some of the PDF prices are exhorbinant for electronic products.

 

[2WS-Steve]

I thought I'd hold off on talking about who specifically was exclusively available through DriveThroughRPG since there might be special circumstances or what-not.

Some of the prices do look high. I'm not sure how much of a discount it would take to get me jump for a tasty book--but I have a severe deficiency of will so it might have more to do with whether or not I'm bored some evening and had a couple beers...

Having moved pretty often recently, PDF versions of books I don't plan on using extensively is pretty appealling though.

 

[Sledge]

The problem is that most of the prices are NOT discounts at all.

 

[PosterBoy]

The problem is that most of the prices are NOT discounts at all.

The FFG stuff is only 95c off retail. Which means you can probably find it cheaper in print at amazon.

I'm more curious if people will have issues with DRM pdfs. I'm sure it's something James of RPGNow will watch closely. I know that's one of the reasons WW (who owns DriveThrurpg.com) landed some big publishers.

Although I think it will do little to curb pirating and will annoy customers more than anything, it will be interesting to see how customers respond when force too deal with DRM pdfs (since many publishers will be exclusive there). Will they accept it? or will they just pirate a non DRM book instead?

 

[coyote6]

Bummer about Malhavoc; I've bought many of their books twice (once as PDF & later in print), but I certainly won't be buying DRM PDF versions. I burn the PDFs to CD and use the CD on whatever computer I happen to have handy -- my desktop system at work, one of several hundred other PCs at work, my laptop, friend's system, etc. This allows me to have books available, without having to lug them around.

I have no interest in having to deal with MS's .NET Passport or Adobe IDs everytime I want to read a file on a different PC. Heck, at least one system I use has never been connected to the 'net, and thus I apparently couldn't read DRM files on it at all. I actually don't even have an active .net Passport or Adobe ID, as far as I know.

I won't be purchasing electronic versions of Malhavoc books any more, which is too bad -- I was looking forward to several upcoming books. Furthermore, I've noticed the books I've used most are the books I have both print & electronic copies of -- I read the print copies & use the electronic books as references (it's much easier to search for something by hitting Ctrl-F than by trying to deal with the average RPG book's index).

Oh well, I guess I'll spend that money on non-DRM PDFs. I wonder if SJG's e23 books are going to be DRM or not.

 

[rpghost]

RPGNow still has Malhavoc's catalogue -- is it an "exclusive from now on" kind of deal?

For the record, it is true: Malhavoc is leaving RPGNow. We have a 15 day cancel clause which was involked to expire the 10th of this month. It is Malhavoc's choice to deactivate their product when they see fit. Or they will be gone on the 10th when I do it.

Fiery Dragon has already deactivated their products and have also involked their termination clause.

Both these companies were already in bed with White Wolf so we knew this was coming months ago when WW attempted to buy RPGNow.com

Guardians of Order is on the DTRPG site, but I've not been officially notified of their intent. Though from what I know of DTRPG's contracts, they have no choice but to go exclusive now.

Yes it hurts RPGNow a bit. But in all honesty I think it'll help the industry as a whole. So I'm not out here piss'n and moning about it. RPGNow will do fine without them. Though these companies are top sellers, they are still much less than 5% of RPGNow's revenues.

James