Eric Noah's Info

[solomoncane]

Is it just me, or did WOTC's decision to put 3.5/Mod pdfs back on DTRPG seem like an attempt to milk a little bit more out of 3.5/Mod before the end?

 

[bento]

Phew... that's an hour and a half of my life that I'll never get back.

Seriously, I don't think it's in the best interest of Hasbro to sell off the product line. They, like their rivals Mattel, are all about building brands and maintaining those brands. Every few years the brands get a new look for a new group of buyers. In addition to the core product, the brand has "legs" that can be cross-promoted as dolls, games, direct-to-dvd movies, comics, large balloons in Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and birthday party supplies. But that doesn't mean the company won't come in a meddle every few years or so. It's in their best interest to keep the brand fresh and attractive to a new audience.

I see two big problems with the current D&D business model. First there's the issue of product line bloat. As many posters mention, there's more than enough 3.5 material to last several lifetimes. Returns on each new year's worth of book are less than the last. Second, despite the great idea of the OGL, WoTC gave away the golden goose years ago. On the one hand it sparked a creative outlet with third-party publishers, but on the other those publishers rushed the doors with competiting and overlapping products.

So where can Hasbro/WotC go? Obviously minis are a big part of plan - they've proven to be great "legs" for the brand and reuse of IP. Everything in Eric's first posting makes sense that the company SHOULD build the next edition around the minis.

But selling off the brand would be penny rich and pound foolish. Besides, there's so much talent out there willing to be a part of the brand that they can drive down labor costs by bringing wanna-be game developers into the fold. Look at Marvel and DC in the 1970s, essentially bringing in "fans" and firing the older professionals asking for pensions and health insurance. Look at EA today, where they can bring in new programmers, work them for low wages and long hours until they get burned out, but hey, the new version of Madden 2007 continues to bring in millions of revenue.

If Hasbro does anything, it is dictate to WoTC what the next business plan will be, based on revenue targets and costs. WoTC will make the internal changes to execute the plan and pray to God they hit the revenue targets. If not, Hasbro can either shelve the brand or put it on automatic pilot until it gets the right signals from the market.

 

[Clefton Twain]

if i have the money, and this D&D is organised as the basic box D&D was (with the addition of miniatures), i might give it a shot. i won't buy the first printing, though. it's usually filled with mistakes, and it's full price...

Ah, but you must remember this: for the first few months, the PHB and DMG were discounted ($10, I believe). It still stunk that I had to turn around a couple of years later and buy them again in 3.5 though.

--CT

 

[Spell]

You are confusing your personal opinion with market reality.

funny. i think you are confusing me stating my personal opinion with an urge to teach the world how to spin. if you like to think that way, more power to you...

 

[JoeGKushner]

It's sickening.

What we need is more companies willing to go belly-up for the love of the hobby.

Somebody with a much smaller staff, no high-priced "talent," fewer resources, and much less desire (and ability) to market the game as widely as possible. Cut back on some of that crazy OVERHEAD and follow the "small RPG publishing" model that has been so successful so far.

We need to outsource RPG design, art, and editing to India. It's cheaper and they can probably do the math on the monsters better saving John Cooper from the brain tumor waiting on MMIV review.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Yeah, some of us don't have day jobs where we can sit on EnWorld and still make money.

Multi. Tasking.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

if i have the money, and this D&D is organised as the basic box D&D was (with the addition of miniatures), i might give it a shot. i won't buy the first printing, though. it's usually filled with mistakes, and it's full price...

Actually, with 3.0, the core books were discounted at first, as I recall, and the price went up after a few months.

 

[Spell]

Ah, but you must remember this: for the first few months, the PHB and DMG were discounted ($10, I believe). It still stunk that I had to turn around a couple of years later and buy them again in 3.5 though.

--CT

true, but months later you can always grab the books with even a greater discount on ebay or on amazon. some of these "used" books are really really mint.

 

[Henry]

We need to outsource RPG design, art, and editing to India.

We did, but he and his wife came back.

 

[Belen]

Looking at the Games Workshop business model is instructive. EVERY edition is met with wailing and gnashing the teeth. They blithely ignore the grognard and their retail business model focuses on teens and under.

It's not a perfect analogy because the actual bulk of a player's investment is in the miniatures, and the miniatures can be used from edition to edition; but the rulebooks themselves... revise, reset, resell.

Like clockwork.

Let's benchmark the GW business model against the 4e rumors:

-New edition already in the works? Check.
-Miniatures based? Check.
-Smaller bundles of game info, packaged and sold separately (codexes)? Check.
-Outsourcing the RPG? Check.

If I remember correctly, GW has been in a downward spiral of late.