D&D General Hey, are we all cool with having to buy the same book twice, or what?

[eyeheartawk]

It's been three years since D&D Beyond launched and I see many people, here and elsewhere, gladly pay for the physical copy of a release and then again for the virtual copy.

There are companies 1/100th the size of WotC that will gladly provide a virtual copy of the physical book you bought for free, and have been doing it for years (Not to mention they're generally normal PDFs that aren't tied to a service).

My question is this: is the consensus that this is fine and normal and the other publishers are wrong or should we be banging a drum about how this is a anti-consumer practice?

 

[jhingelshod]

WotC are, in my opinion, entitled to sell their products in whatever way and at whatever price they want. I personally don't want to pay their prices for a digital copy, but that just makes me more likely to shower my hard-earned on another publisher.
I would, however, seem to be in the minority as WotC seem to be riding pretty High right now.

 

[uzirath]

I'm so used to other companies that either include PDFs with print purchases or at least sell additional (cheaper) PDF versions that I was shocked earlier this year when I couldn't figure out where to get PDFs of the core D&D books. I keep my full gaming library in a Google Drive directory that syncs to my various computers. I can use all of it off-line if I'm away from a hotspot. This works for every game I play except D&D, the flagship game of the hobby. Most of my players are completely uninterested in owning physical books. This is one of the reasons that we rarely play D&D.

 

[Weiley31]

Eh I prefer my Physical copies.

 

[Umbran]

Note that what you get on D&D Beyond isn't just the book in digital format. You get the functionality of all the mechanics in there as well - so you can make all the sub-classes, feats, spells, races, and such available to players in your campaigns.

 

[Lidgar]

Or What. That is, not ok and a shame.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

My question is this: is the consensus that this is fine and normal and the other publishers are wrong or should we be banging a drum about how this is a anti-consumer practice?

Would I like it if WotC provided a PDF if I buy the book from them? Sure. But I wouldn't even remotely call it an "anti-consumer" practice. It's just not being done how you would like it to be done.

Most companies only provide the Hardcopy with PDF if you buy directly from them or using something like Drivethru's POD + PDF. I don't think WotC does either of those. Do they? Does Paizo supply you with a PDF copy if you buy their book from, say, Amazon? Or Pinnacle Entertainment Group? Or Chaosium? Or just about any publisher?

I ask the above because I'm genuinely curious about the answer.

And, while I know this isn't what you're saying, I just want to get this out there before it becomes a "Rage at DND Beyond" Fest": DND Beyond should not be confused with WotC. They are two different companies. I think what DND Beyond does an excellent. In fact, it does such a great job that I no longer buy physical D&D books.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

I would, however, seem to be in the minority as WotC seem to be riding pretty High right now.

Right. Apparently, WotC isn't hurting for sales because they aren't bundling HC and PDF.

 

[sim-h]

Wizards of the Coast and DnD Beyond are separate entities - are you suggesting it would be good for Wizards to refuse to license their material to DnD Beyond and force it to stick to the freely available stuff only?

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Also, the discount through Amazon coupled with the coupons I use at DND Beyond are so great that it's almost like buying the WotC book at a normal price and getting the DND Beyond version for free.