"Exclusive deals suck!" - James Mathe's rant about the tabletop industry

[Morrus]

The blog post is here.

I have some sympathy for James' position, but large brick & mortar stores like Target obtaining exclusive deals from game publishers at the expense of small retailers like his own brick & mortar store is - at least in my mind - absolutely identical to large online retailers like James' own RPGNow/DTRP obtaining exclusive deals from game publishers at the expense of small retailers like YourGamesNow or the new d20pfsrd.com PDF store, both of which struggle to get stock. To be clear - I don't think that's wrong at all; I just think it's analogous.

Nate Scheidler pointed out on Facebook - and this was a good point - that an FLGS isn't directly analogous to YGN or d20pfsrd.com because the former is a tool for creating gamers and a community hub, whereas the latter two aren't. I'm not sure that makes an RPGNow exclusive deal OK and a Target one bad, though -- in my mind, either both are OK, or neither are. I tend towards the former - I don't think exclusivity deals are inherently wrong (although some of the dishonesty James talks about in his blog is).

I dunno. What do you guys think?

 

[trancejeremy]

That's a good point, especially since for some reason related to my ISP, I can't even buy from RPGNow, so I am simply locked out of the store, which if nothing else, means I miss out on a lot of cool freebies, not to mention things like Barrowmaze (which I would love to buy).

And I actually did a Kickstarter for a RPG that used RPGNow, so I didn't get the PDF for that, because there were no alternatives. (Got the book, but it was Book+PDF).

 

[JustinAlexander]

And let's not forget OneBookShelf's price-fixing policies that are specifically designed to prevent smaller online retailers from competing with them. It definitely sounds like he's upset that big retailers use the same market strong-arming tactics that his company uses in the RPG e-book market.

 

[Umbran]

I think attaching a moral "good/bad" is probably a mistake, just not constructive.

We can debate the value of exclusive deals to the broader gaming community (I can see good and bad points there), and to individual retailers.

My first guess is that, in the short run, exclusive deals are good for the individual retailer, but in the longer term, they are probably less good for the broad gaming community. Sure, your own business gets big and fat, but at the expense of competition in the market, diversity and choice for the customers. Unless the retailer can argue that the deal means they can give services that outweigh those losses, I'd expect it difficult for them to argue that their exclusive business deal is actually better for *me*.

 

[Fiddleback]

As a former game store owner I can tell you that price and availability never have been and never will be the main draw of a good game store. As a consumer, I will go to the least expensive source I can for whatever game I am interested in. IF it happens to be the FLGS, then cool. If it is B&N or Target, that's cool, too.

Yes, turning a profit is what keeps your FLGS open. However, what brings people in to good game stores is not the price, it's the information, community and support. If those elements are in place and you work to support your customer base in every way you can think of, the profitability will slide nicely into place because you will have a customer base that sees your store as THE place to get games regardless of what your prices might be. If I am in your store because I game there, or because I need your expertise and information, or because that is where my group plays and you support all of those things, then I will plunk my hard earned dollars down on your counter without hesitation.

The FLGS's value, especially in today's market of PDFs and online shopping and Kickstarters has to be in these 'value added' services or it will not, as so many before it (even in the days prior to the internet and all it offers), continue to exist. Frankly, this guys post sounds to me like someone who does not understand the core value of his own store. He's not failing because someone is doing an exclusive deal or someone is under cutting his prices, he is failing because he has no idea how to appeal to his customers.

I quote myself: http://gsa.thegamernation.org/2012/08/09/b-o-g-the-end-is-nigh-part-i/

 

[Fiddleback]

Further inspection, and maybe you all knew this and I was late to the party, reveals that James is in a stew largely of his own making. His Bio page proved interesting: http://www.jamesmathe.com/

 

[Sunseeker]

I dislike anything that chokes competition and reduces availability of product on principle, it increases prices due to artificially-reduced supply and reduces support by narrowing the market, diminishing support and forcing customer "loyalty" by giving them no other option.

 

[delericho]

My first guess is that, in the short run, exclusive deals are good for the individual retailer, but in the longer term, they are probably less good for the broad gaming community. Sure, your own business gets big and fat, but at the expense of competition in the market, diversity and choice for the customers. Unless the retailer can argue that the deal means they can give services that outweigh those losses, I'd expect it difficult for them to argue that their exclusive business deal is actually better for *me*.

This.

And I suspect that James Mathe is in the odd position of seeing the issue from both sides - as the owner of a small brick&mortar store, he sees the damage of exclusive deals; as the owner of a 'large' online store, he sees the benefits. So while there is something of a double standard in what he's saying, it's actually the case that both things are true.

All of that said, I think those exclusive deals are here to stay. FLGS will have to adapt to this reality, or die. That's not a good thing, it's not terribly fair... but as Canute demonstrated, some things you just can't change.

 

[Umbran]

I dunno. What do you guys think?

To be brutally honest - I think that someone who wants to post his opinions on the internet and have them taken seriously needs to do a bit more in terms of... grammar. I'm sorry to have to say it, but if he can't be bothered to get subject-verb agreement or basic comma-use correct in the very first sentence of the piece, he's not doing his position any favors. As a professional, he should represent himself better. Failing to do so makes me wonder at how good a professional he is, no matter the successes he may have in his past.

 

[Morrus]

To be brutally honest - I think that someone who wants to post his opinions on the internet and have them taken seriously needs to do a bit more in terms of... grammar. I'm sorry to have to say it, but if he can't be bothered to get subject-verb agreement or basic comma-use correct in the very first sentence of the piece, he's not doing his position any favors. As a professional, he should represent himself better. Failing to do so makes me wonder at how good a professional he is, no matter the successes he may have in his past.

Oh, he is very good at what he does. RPGnow was (is) a blazing success. One of the biggest success stories of the last decade in the RPG market. RPGNow/DTRPG/OBS early on achieved a near monopoly, and there's not really any chance for any new entrants into that market. d20pfsrd.com is attempting to do that right now, but is running up against the "we have an exclusive deal with RPGNow" wall, as do sites like YourGamesNow.

RPGNow's exclusive deal is hard to resist. The near monopoly guarantees that 90% of your PDF revenue is going to come from them. Without an exclusive deal they take nearly 50% of your gross revenue; with one it's about 30% or 35% I think (I don't recall). So it's hard not to be exclusive with them.

EN World isn't exclusive with them, but that's only because we do so well with our own subscription service, and most of our revenue comes from here directly. If we didn't have the copper and silver subscriptions here, I'd be exclusive.

For me, the rant is kinda "I don't like it when others do what I do". Which is fair enough; nobody enjoys being on the receiving end of it. I don't think anyone's doing anything wrong; and it affects James' brick-and-mortar store in the exact same way it hurts small online PDF retailers. I would suggest that if he wants anything to change, he should start at home and lead by example (not that I think that would make any difference - it wouldn't - but it would make his rant a little more credible in my eyes).