EN World GameStore Closing

[FraserRonald]

That's pretty much, word for word, exactly what I said to someone today.

To be honest, refusing their terms and refusing to sell at the new site will mean the end of Ronin Arts and will force me to find a job. As of this moment I don't know what to do.

Ronin Arts is a very influential company. I would agree that at this time, you pretty much need to stickwith OBS, but if you work to associate RA with another etailer (like e23), since 50% of the sales are based on direct link, RA could help to grow that vendor (with its lower commissions) to make that a viable option if this question arises again. Sword's Edge Publishing is a tiny little blip, but that's the plan that I intend to follow.

Anyone out there need a new telecommuter with a variety of skills?

Not really and couldn't afford you anyway.

 

[Fedifensor]

I avoided DriveThru RPG like the plague after the whole Watermarked PDF fiasco. As a consumer, I'd like to be reassurred that I will have an easy way to identify watermarked PDF's so I can avoid buying them.

As an observer, I feel that a 1-day notice that a publisher's online store will be taking a bigger cut of the pie is extremely bad form. I don't get to see what happens behind the scenes, but it seems like the three largest PDF selling sites just said, "Take it or leave it" to their vendors, and their merger gives them the muscle to make most of them take it...

 

[JohnNephew]

Hey, Steve.

First off, congratulations on the merger. You have accomplished a monumental task by entering this space so aggressively, building DTRPG to such size and profitability, and then accomplishing this merger, which positions you to dominate this market.

Likewise, I have great respect for James, and I was proud to support his efforts to build this market by being one of the earliest print publishers to offer pay-downloads through RPGNow, and to offer with him the ground-breaking free download of our flagship core RPG (Ars Magica) to help promote his site, at a time when many of our peers were afraid of the medium or didn't think it would amount to anything financially meaningful. I also felt a personal loyalty to him and his project, which for a long time -- probably too long -- kept me from signing up to offer our downloads through other services, even if they offered terms as good or better than RPGNow's.

It is therefore rather difficult to read a thread where fellow professionals like John Nephew frame James and I (and our now collective company) as some great evil that will be the ruin of our publisher partners and the RPG download market.

I'm sorry it sounds that way to you. "Evil" in particular would be an inappropriate word. Rather, OBS has economic interests that are not the same as the publishers and the consumers, and vice versa. A consolidation of market power and the ability to dictate terms at will to publishers is a great thing for OBS' business flexibility, growth, and profitability, but how much of that trickles down to publishers will be up to your discretion.

I think my record is pretty consistent in terms of concern about competition. Years ago, when our biggest customer, soon after their creation by merger, suggested to me that they should be given preferential treatment in payment terms, I put them on COD-only and left them there for several years. Even now, there is no one customer so important to Atlas Games that we could not survive and even remain profitable without them, and I think it is in my best interests to keep it that way. I value all of our customers, and I hope to continue doing profitable business for a long time to come with all of them -- but the fact that I can always say "no thank you" and walk a way gives me a clear head for evaluating things. And even when it ruffled some feathers, I have spoken out about consolidation that I thought would lead to bad things for the industry (as in my article in Pyramid about the proposed B/Z/A merger years ago -- a merger that thankfully did not go through).

I'd be happy to work with OBS if it could be done on a level playing field with other vendors (for example, a "wholesale price" arrangement, as I described earlier in this thread, letting vendors add whatever mark-up they think would work for their business plan; and the market would find the right level for prices to consumers). If that's something that could work, I'd be very interested, because I think it would result in competition that would benefit consumers and drive greater sales for all. Perhaps it's something that OBS might consider for the future -- I'm sure there's quite enough to deal with in bringing the two companies into one right now.

 

[JohnNephew]

As an observer, I feel that a 1-day notice that a publisher's online store will be taking a bigger cut of the pie is extremely bad form.

To clarify, the cost increase takes effect on December 1st, so OBS gave publishers more than the contractually obliged 30 days' advance notice of a rate change.

 

[mythusmage]

As I understand it, the merger means increased sales - through increased exposure - for the publisher. It also means increased commissions - through increased sales - for OBS. Now since the publisher will get more money overall from more sales, doesn't that mean OBS will be getting more money overall from comissions?

If that's the case, why doesn't OBS lower their rates? Since One Book Shelf is the 800 pound gorilla in this market, and so has no real competition, a commission of 20% (non-exclusive) or 15% (exclusive) sounds about right.

Make up in volume what you lose in individual commissions, thus making the store more attractive to publishers and drawing more in.

 

[Fedifensor]

To clarify, the cost increase takes effect on December 1st, so OBS gave publishers more than the contractually obliged 30 days' advance notice of a rate change.

Maybe I phrased this poorly. One of the earlier posts in this thread mentioned that the vendors were just informed of this the other day. So, basically, the merger happened and the vendors were told what the new rates would be, without any discussion or period of comment solicited from OBS. Now you have people like Atlas Games and Ronin Arts having to make difficult decisions on very short notice. If they choose to have their products sold on OBS at all, even during the grace period until December 1st, they're driving their customers to a site that they may not being doing business with in a month. If a vendor ends up going to e23 or another site, it's better to make the move as quickly as possible and get the word out so their following of consumers migrates to the new site with them.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

As I understand it, the merger means increased sales - through increased exposure - for the publisher. It also means increased commissions - through increased sales - for OBS. Now since the publisher will get more money overall from more sales, doesn't that mean OBS will be getting more money overall from comissions?

If that's the case, why doesn't OBS lower their rates? Since One Book Shelf is the 800 pound gorilla in this market, and so has no real competition, a commission of 20% (non-exclusive) or 15% (exclusive) sounds about right.

Make up in volume what you lose in individual commissions, thus making the store more attractive to publishers and drawing more in.

That's where I got lost. OBS will already be drawing more income than any one publisher. The royalty increase has been justified, in part, by the supposed growth of the market to follow that will absorb the lost revenue to publishers. How then does the same arguement not stand against OBS when reversed? The lost revenue certainly strikes against the individual publisher more than it does OBS, who has its fingers in every publisher's pie.

 

[JohnNephew]

I see what you mean, yes.

Indeed, I read the e-mail about the merger Thursday evening, after a long drive home from Omaha, and realized that if I wanted to do something I had to act before going to bed. I figured it would be better not to have customer confusion by having our catalog appear on the DTRPG site for a short while and then vanish, so I immediately disabled all of our catalog on RPGNow and e-mailed a formal notice to James of termination of our distribution agreement.

I just don't want anyone to have a mistaken impression that RPGNow did anything inappropriate vis a vis their contract with publishers.

 

[Vascant]

Personally I think a lot are missing the point, OBS is a business and such as they can make decisions based on their interests. This has been going on for quite a while now, anyone recall when RPGNow split into two sites? So you don't like the new deal... You have the same right they do as a company to make decisions for what's good for you.

I made over 60k last year and only paid out a little under 5k in fees (mostly paypal fees) running things from my own site. I have found most customers would rather buy directly from the owner because they do understand the business, they do understand there is a decent size percentage that a retail outlet takes. Sure this has forced me to learn some web development skills but at some point you have to ask yourself, what is your pride worth? Based on the post I seen from the owner of OBS, I would be incline to think that they are not going to change their policy so why debate it? Just make the decision that's good for you and move in that direction.

Example: Mr Phil Reed has to perhaps one of the most under-marketted people in d20, his catalog is 2nd to none and has something for just about any person in gaming. Thats also his downfall too, there is so much it is hard to put that product in front of a customer. A generic retail outlet doesn't exploit his strength and in fact, turns his strength into a weakness.

In any industry there always comes a time when companies need to re-define or re-invent themselves in order to survive to the next step. If you don't do something now, then start wording your complaints now for when OBS does it's next rate increase. You will be at the same situation you are in now, either accept or leave.

 

[Alzrius]

I avoided DriveThru RPG like the plague after the whole Watermarked PDF fiasco. As a consumer, I'd like to be reassurred that I will have an easy way to identify watermarked PDF's so I can avoid buying them.

You'll have an easy way to identify watermarked PDFs. If you go through RPGNow's publisher listings, any company that is there now through the merger, and thus still offers only watermarked PDFs, will have a large notice in red (just under the file size and price) that this PDF is watermarked.