Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="RyanD" data-source="post: 169371" data-attributes="member: 3312">Re: RPGs of the Rich and FamousI'm from Bothell, Washington; a blue-collar suburb of Seattle.I've been following RPG sales trends for 7 years.The proof is in the sales - people are paying more for RPG products and sales are going up, not going down.&nbsp; Conventional wisdom about pricing's relationship to sales is demonstrably wrong.We're in Games Workshop's territory now - people are complaining, but they're still buying.&nbsp; That's a good thing, not a bad thing.At a minimum, to me, that means a product with an SRP of more than $100 that you'd die to own, fantasize about owning, are jealous of those who own, and will sacrifice other areas of your disposable income expenditures to get.&nbsp; (And after it's been proved to be a viable market at $100, I want to see it tested at $200, then $300, etc. until we find out where the ceiling really is.)Publishers produce what they think they can sell.&nbsp; Nobody (in the RPG market) has tried the &quot;top shelf&quot; strategy because they think that you, the customer, can't afford them.Despite the fact that you, the highly committed hobby gaming customer, spend an average of $40 a month on RPG products, regularly buy $800 worth of Magic cards a year, and will spend roughly $2,500 in a lifetime of buying GW figures.TCGs and miniatures games know that you've got the money and will spend it if given the chance.&nbsp; RPG publishers are just starting to wake up to that fact.I spend my $40/month happily.&nbsp; On my floor, awaiting my weekend's reading and analysis are Hero 5th and City of Freeport, both purchased at full retail from my local FLGS (which happens to be a WotC store, but that's purely coincidental).&nbsp; In fact, I continued to buy products at retail when I worked for WotC (though I got the employee discount) because I wanted to stay in touch with the retail experience of the business I was managing.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="RyanD, post: 169371, member: 3312"] [b]Re: RPGs of the Rich and Famous[/b] I'm from Bothell, Washington; a blue-collar suburb of Seattle. I've been following RPG sales trends for 7 years. The proof is in the sales - people are paying more for RPG products and sales are going up, not going down. Conventional wisdom about pricing's relationship to sales is demonstrably wrong. We're in Games Workshop's territory now - people are complaining, but they're still buying. That's a good thing, not a bad thing. At a minimum, to me, that means a product with an SRP of more than $100 that you'd die to own, fantasize about owning, are jealous of those who own, and will sacrifice other areas of your disposable income expenditures to get. (And after it's been proved to be a viable market at $100, I want to see it tested at $200, then $300, etc. until we find out where the ceiling really is.) Publishers produce what they think they can sell. Nobody (in the RPG market) has tried the "top shelf" strategy because they think that you, the customer, can't afford them. Despite the fact that you, the highly committed hobby gaming customer, spend an [b]average of $40 a month[/b] on RPG products, regularly buy [b]$800[/b] worth of Magic cards a year, and will spend roughly [b]$2,500[/b] in a lifetime of buying GW figures. TCGs and miniatures games know that you've got the money and will spend it if given the chance. RPG publishers are just starting to wake up to that fact. I spend my $40/month happily. On my floor, awaiting my weekend's reading and analysis are Hero 5th and City of Freeport, both purchased at full retail from my local FLGS (which happens to be a WotC store, but that's purely coincidental). In fact, I continued to buy products at retail when I worked for WotC (though I got the employee discount) because I wanted to stay in touch with the retail experience of the business I was managing. [/QUOTE]

Verification