Nellisir said:
I can agree with this 100%. I still try new things -- like the free sensor contacts PDF and All Fall Down but even those aren't drastically new.
Fantasy D20 -- PDF Sales Continue to Slow . . .
- Thread starter philreed
- Start date
I can agree with this 100%. I still try new things -- like the free sensor contacts PDF and All Fall Down but even those aren't drastically new.
johnsemlak
First Post
Krug said:
I can't say I've stopped buying them, but I'm definitely more selective. My wishlist of products I want but haven't bought is now massive and I wont' be able to catch up with it. I'm still concentrating on d20 fantasy, but with and eye for other things.
Waylander the Slayer
Explorer
It is all my fault 
I think as some have mentioned earlier, there have not been any products that have captured my imagination, or has the "wow" factor. I check RPGNOW a lot more, but by a lot less. In fact I have been purchasing more non Fantasy products such as WeirdWars etc. because the product synopsis seems a lot more interesting.
The race/class books I no longer bother with since I have more than enough of those which i have not read/ will not use/ or do not have the time for. I have also bought more from Drivethrough RPG as well. The same factors apply to my print purchases as well - my last purchase was Glades of Death by Necromancer. The only future purchases I am considering are the Shackled City Adventure Path and The Redspire Press Campaign books.
I think as some have mentioned earlier, there have not been any products that have captured my imagination, or has the "wow" factor. I check RPGNOW a lot more, but by a lot less. In fact I have been purchasing more non Fantasy products such as WeirdWars etc. because the product synopsis seems a lot more interesting.
The race/class books I no longer bother with since I have more than enough of those which i have not read/ will not use/ or do not have the time for. I have also bought more from Drivethrough RPG as well. The same factors apply to my print purchases as well - my last purchase was Glades of Death by Necromancer. The only future purchases I am considering are the Shackled City Adventure Path and The Redspire Press Campaign books.
Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
philreed said:
I'm not sure that's the case. My RPGNow.com sales are some of the best yet, this year, and I've been strictly a (d20/OGL) Fantasy product producer.
johnsemlak said:
Keen eye, John. Furthermore, I'm getting the impression that core PDF buyers are simply diversifying the range of companies from which they will purchase products rather than concentrating their buying dollars toward one publisher or one group of publishers. I've yet to determine (not sure it can be) if this is due to the products being produced or an increasing comfort/trust level among buyers in regard to where they spend their online dollars.
IMO, the large influx of PDF products from traditional print publishers has has been the largest single factor to effect the PDF sales market in the last year. I also think it has increased the viability of PDF-only publishing companies, something they may not have intended to happen when they decided to shore up their flagging print sale revenues with an electronic stream.
Mark CMG said:
Take a look at the top 10-20 products at RPGNow for this month. It's very possible that sales of individual PDFs are dropping while overall sales continue to climb -- which would fit in with the number of new releases growing while the overall sales grow.
Looking at the year as a whole, Ronin Arts is doing well. I'm looking at individual item sales.
Also, I've noticed that stand-alone RPGs are doing better at RPGNow than they have in the past.
EDIT: Out of curiosity I just checked Ronin Arts' 2004 sales and compared them to 2005. As I thought overall sales continue to grow -- by the end of August Ronin Arts' 2005 sales will surpass all of 2004's sales. So it's definitely per product sales that are decreasing and not overall sales.
Why do I think individual fantasy PDFs are seeing lower sales than other types of PDFs? There are just so many, many more fantasy PDFs to choose from. Even a field like M&M Superlink is far from the same number of monthly releases that we're seeing for fantasy.
I wonder how many new publishers have joined RPGNow in 2005 compared to 2004.
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Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
philreed said:
Oh, I've watched the RPGNow.com top lists. And, as you are privy to your own RPGNow.com figures beyond the top lists, I'm privy to my own RPGNow.com figures beyond the top lists. Taking that into account, I'm just saying that you are making sweeping statements that seem intended to be inclusive of all fantasy PDF sales based on your observation of the RPGNow.com top lists and your own RPGNow.com figures, and my own RPGNow.com figures don't jibe with those statements which has the effect of making your statements untrue, at last in regard to CMG. Not looking to debate, just filling you in a little further because I thought you'd want to know. No offense intended.
The proliferation of Fantasy PDF publishers is one of the reasons why we decided, early on, to specialize. We do produce some generic fantasy (since it DOES sell, it would be dumb not to), but our best-selling lines are those where we've found a "genre niche" and staked claim on it.
I mean, for example, the D20 Modern pie may be smaller, but it's also being carved into fewer pieces....so you end up with a bigger slice of the pie than you would in the case of generic Fantasy D20--where a much larger pie is being slivered into many tiny slices.
I mean, for example, the D20 Modern pie may be smaller, but it's also being carved into fewer pieces....so you end up with a bigger slice of the pie than you would in the case of generic Fantasy D20--where a much larger pie is being slivered into many tiny slices.
