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Future of WotC PDFs: Unofficial Sneak Preview?
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<blockquote data-quote="DracoSuave" data-source="post: 5336171" data-attributes="member: 71571"><p>The problem here is that the number of dollars lost to piracy does not equal the number of dollars in sales of PDFs lost to piracy. Included in that are loss of sales dollars of hardcover books to piracy.</p><p></p><p>This also doesn't account for loss of sales dollars of hardcover books to legitimate PDFs. On top of that is the cost involved in defending the IP in the court systems of not just the US, but across the world in places where Wizards would like to sell some products for the hard work they do.</p><p></p><p>And the reason might not even be just 'dollars lost to piracy.' It could be 'sales for pdfs were less than expected' which when combined with 'dollars lost to piracy' = 'So why are we doing this then?'</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Not arguing this point, but by the same token, that also means the scale that wizards has to deal with to make a meaningful profit is greater. If you're a small company that pays 30 people, and you make a hundred thousand dollars more in sales off of one product, that's something to be confident about, because that's a measurable piece of the pie.</p><p></p><p>If you're hiring 3000 people, and you make a hundred thousand dollars more in sales off of one product, it's a substantially less piece of the pie. It might add up... but your business will look at what the people involved are doing with that piece of pie, and decide to put them towards an endevor that will instead bring in 10 million dollars in additional revenue.</p><p></p><p>Something could be profitable, but if the profits it makes are less than the profits you'd be making by moving that work to a different product, then by continuing on that first product, you are actually losing money.</p><p></p><p>'Cost of opportunity'.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>There is evidence that PDFs did not work for wizards. That evidence trumps evidence that a smaller, different company got it to work for their smaller, different product lines.</p><p></p><p>Not to crap on Monte Cook, I love the guy's work, but his company... and most companies in the game... are just not in the same scale business as Wizards.</p><p></p><p>It's like comparing an indy-video game company to Microsoft and saying that the business model for the indy-game company would work for Microsoft... it's not credible.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>There is the labor involved in maintaining the distribution line. That labor may be better off producing other things that make more money. It's not as easy as 'it's cheap to make.'</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>They make a LOT of bucks off it. That stuff is in everything; it's ubiquitous.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I would to, and I'd love to see things in the market change so that it is viable for wizards to do. But it isn't, and they've got experience enough doing so to say 'Nope, not worth it for us at this time.' Things haven't changed; if things do change, I'd expect Wizards to jump on that market.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DracoSuave, post: 5336171, member: 71571"] The problem here is that the number of dollars lost to piracy does not equal the number of dollars in sales of PDFs lost to piracy. Included in that are loss of sales dollars of hardcover books to piracy. This also doesn't account for loss of sales dollars of hardcover books to legitimate PDFs. On top of that is the cost involved in defending the IP in the court systems of not just the US, but across the world in places where Wizards would like to sell some products for the hard work they do. And the reason might not even be just 'dollars lost to piracy.' It could be 'sales for pdfs were less than expected' which when combined with 'dollars lost to piracy' = 'So why are we doing this then?' Not arguing this point, but by the same token, that also means the scale that wizards has to deal with to make a meaningful profit is greater. If you're a small company that pays 30 people, and you make a hundred thousand dollars more in sales off of one product, that's something to be confident about, because that's a measurable piece of the pie. If you're hiring 3000 people, and you make a hundred thousand dollars more in sales off of one product, it's a substantially less piece of the pie. It might add up... but your business will look at what the people involved are doing with that piece of pie, and decide to put them towards an endevor that will instead bring in 10 million dollars in additional revenue. Something could be profitable, but if the profits it makes are less than the profits you'd be making by moving that work to a different product, then by continuing on that first product, you are actually losing money. 'Cost of opportunity'. There is evidence that PDFs did not work for wizards. That evidence trumps evidence that a smaller, different company got it to work for their smaller, different product lines. Not to crap on Monte Cook, I love the guy's work, but his company... and most companies in the game... are just not in the same scale business as Wizards. It's like comparing an indy-video game company to Microsoft and saying that the business model for the indy-game company would work for Microsoft... it's not credible. There is the labor involved in maintaining the distribution line. That labor may be better off producing other things that make more money. It's not as easy as 'it's cheap to make.' They make a LOT of bucks off it. That stuff is in everything; it's ubiquitous. I would to, and I'd love to see things in the market change so that it is viable for wizards to do. But it isn't, and they've got experience enough doing so to say 'Nope, not worth it for us at this time.' Things haven't changed; if things do change, I'd expect Wizards to jump on that market. [/QUOTE]
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