EN World GameStore Closing

[Morrus]

So, let me see if I've got this straight. OBS thinks that:

(a) The merger will produce at least a 15% increase in sales.
(b) OBS doesn't want the publishers to benefit from that increase in sales, so they've jacked up the publishers' commissions so that OBS will be the only ones benefitting from the 15% increase in sales.

Hmm... I see why OBS thinks this is a great thing. I'm not sure why you think the publishers should be jumping for joy.

No, you haven't got this straight. Please tone down the sarcasm.

 

[Mark CMG]

For the record, I prefer this line of discussion much more than registering complaints. Not that those are not valid but I like finding solutions.

I'm sure a good number of wrinkles and solutions will be coming over the next five weeks as the rate increase looms larger.

 

[HinterWelt]

If a *maximum* of a 10% increase is so much that the publisher feels the need to raise prices, then, simply put, they had priced their product too low to start with.

Feel free to discount my opinion, since I handle customer service emails for RPGNow, which, for some, makes me suspect.

I disagree. If you are pricing your products correctly, certainly you have a profit margin figured in. However, it all depends on if you wish to give up part of that margin die to a rate increase. Increasing expenses are traditionally folded into the price of the product. To give up 10% of your profit margin (by an increase of your operational expenses) is a poor business choice.

Bill

 

[Jdvn1]

Many have voiced their approval on RPGNow's private publisher forum, which is where any debates on this matter really should have stayed.

In EN World, this is probably the right place for such a discussion. Regardless, I very much appreciate Joe's bringing the issue to us, the consumers, and I believe his points are very valid from an economic standpoint.

Also, I prefer to have lower prices than to have a consolidated source of PDFs. It's insanely easy to visit different sites to find lower prices anyway. I previously supported ENGS PDFs in order to help EN World (and I love the Bookshelf feature), but if it now also helps OBS, I'm more likely to go to the publisher's individual sites.

Even if publishers were able to break even or earn more profit from raised traffic, OBS is still taking a much larger share of the profit than seems reasonable. OBS makes a larger profit just from the merger, while everyone else is left hoping to keep what revenue they previously had.

 

[Jdvn1]

First off all, can we avoid the monpoly myth and stay on topic. I'd love to get into larger topic you've touched on, but can't without breaking forum rules. (Which, IMO, you have already done with the generalization)

"Monopoly" is an economic term, not a political term. Is there another rule I'm missing?

That aside, THIS is not a monopoly. The current store fronts are merging. That doesn't constitute a monopoly. Anyone else CAN start a new competitor any time they want to.

A monopoly can constitute only 85% or 90% of the market. There's no hard-and-fast rule saying it has to be 100%. If it were a handful (2-25 or therebouts) of firms that combined for 50% to 90% of the market, then it'd be an oligopoly market.

Who gets to say that the owners of the sites should be denied their right to do with their property as they wish?

Well, that's why, from a historical standpoint (I'm trying to keep politics out of this) the government has blocked mergers in the auto industry, in the telecommunications industry, in the software industry... all over the place. The government, according to economics, is supposed to prevent mergers in oligopolies in order to prevent one company from having too large of a market share and becoming a monopoly.

Whether such a merger should be blocked in this scenario is either a political argument or an economic argument, so I'll just avoid that. The PDF retail market, anyway, is a tiny market, so it's kind of a grey area.

 

[tensen]

Me, all I see is a monopoly. And monopolies are always bad, no exceptions. Regardless of what they may promise you, regardless of what bones they might throw you, monopolies are in a position to bend you over as far, and as often, as they feel like. And it's pretty rare when they don't.

That said.. do you remember a few years back when rpgnow was basically the only market?
DriveThru came and people bad mouthed it for its policies. But shouldn't those people been supporting it as an alternative to the monopoly?

Well, in thise day, this merger makes a new 800 lb gorilla of .pdf distribution. But it isn't the only store. Paizo, E23, and a handleful of small european stores still exist. If the other markets merge in, then I'd be concerned.


From a publisher standpoint I've overjoyed by the prospect of it being easier to get my products to the customer. It doesn't take away all my doubts about certain details of it. But I'll voice those concerns to the business involved and not to my customers unless I see it seriously impacting them in the long run.


Note: I do not work for any of the .pdf stores/distribution methods, and have no vested interest in their success or failure other than as a means to get my products out to the customers. For now, I personally think customers should look at this from a positive spin for themselves, and publishers should be taken the appropriate channels to discuss their issues with those involved, so that any negative portions of the merge can be dealt with, without impacting our customers in the manner it should be.

 

[sjmiller]

*edit* I see the official word from the folks at e23 was posted before my comment. I will leave it in their capable hands.

 

[Justin Bacon]

No, you haven't got this straight. Please tone down the sarcasm.

So you're saying that JGBrowning is just flat-out lying?

He says: "When the switch is flipped, I'm losing 10%, my vendor is going to gain my loss. And that's going to happen everyday, for every sale, until the site growth generates 15% above and beyond what DTRPG and rpgnow.com was already growing." And his math seems to match the figures publicly posted by OBS.

Or perhaps you're simply saying that OBS doesn't even realize what they're doing? They're just unintentionally screwing over their publishers and were completely unaware that they were inflating their own profits? I suppose that's possible. Not likely, but possible I suppose.

 

[philreed]

Here's the official line on that from SJGames (courtesy of the SJG Forum):

My mistake, then. I had seen the link at a few different sites and it looked real enough. I apologize for spreading what turned out to be a rumor.

 

[tensen]

One thing that nobody has really talked about in this discussion is that RPGnet is also getting an affiliate store in this process -- RPGnet is one of the two largest sites (along with ENWorld), and they have not had PDF sales before. There is some cross-traffic between RPGNet and ENWorld, but there are also "site loyalists" who stick with one community.

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but I'm pretty sure RPGnet did have a .pdf store. I remember having an account on it when it was around, maybe 4 years ago. It wasn't very successful at the time, but it was pretty much the only market other than rpgnow.