How To Make Almost Everyone Happy

[xechnao]

i wasnt suggesting that wotc ever develop anything new for any ruleset or system other than 4e. all i suggested is that they republish in paper non electronic format the core rulebooks of al prior editions. let the 3pp's develop new stuff. or license a 3pp to reprint the core rules, paying wotc royalties. then allow others to develop for it under the ogl. who knows, some killer supplement might drive sales of the core rulesets of older editions and make wotc money even more money. as it stands now, wotc sits on IP that doesnt sell, and thus doesnt make them money. my ideas use their IP to make them money at little or no cost to them

the "fractured market so we all lose money" scenario doesnt fly with me. in a sense what i am suggesting is the same as expanding the ogl to everything ever made by wotc and tsr. the ogl made money for all involved and grew the market for 3.0 and 3.5 why wouldnt it do the same for prior editions? and if wotc licenses the republishing rights for a flat fee or a share of the royalties, no sweat off their back. they have free money in the bank for doing nothing essentially.

tsr lost money not because they supported 2 editions. they lost money because they put out crap products and made bad bad financial decisions. see the overview here:

http://oracle.wizards.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0003c&L=dnd-l&D=1&F=&S=&P=9724

if someone competes against himself, who wins?

I think D&D brand would lose power. For example if they would like to license D&D for a video game, under your scenario, it would sell to a smaller base than in the case of how they are handling it right now.

 

[joethelawyer]

how does the dnd brand lose power if it is out there in the marketplace in more ways than it was before, wotc still controls the brand and retains the rights to it, and it makes them more money?

 

[xechnao]

how does the dnd brand lose power if it is out there in the marketplace in more ways than it was before, wotc still controls the brand and retains the rights to it, and it makes them more money?

Didn't you read my example?
Because the potential of NEW commercial exploits of the brand name is weaker if there are more ways than a focused one the brand exists in the marketplace.
Eventually a company has to make strategic plans regarding sales, brand value and whatever. Your idea is not a bad one. But it seems right now Wotc's plan is made on different choices. Depending on the numbers and not only of their current situation a company tries to balance itself as best as it can. Under different circumstances we could be seeing what you are advocating here.

 

[tomBitonti]

I think that I agree with you, to a point. Supporting multiple version -- while providing good migration paths upwards -- seems to be a big win. (Unless the player base fragments. That's hard to evaluate. On the other hand, there seems to be a lot of content which is being removed from the market, and I don't see it returning very soon in 4E. That seems like a revenue loss on already capitalized product.)

I think that WotC won't do this, because they have reigned in control over their IP. I think that they very much want __less__ product, not more, with new product released at a pace calculated to maximize profits. I see that as the reason for the narrow allowances of the GSL, for the smaller count of classes in the initial PHB, and for the lower number of monsters in the MM.

 

[Midnight Dawns]

While your idea is not necessarily crazy I have to agree with others as to why Wizards doesn't do such a thing; they believe it will cut into their profits. Remember they want people to keep buying new product and this means phasing out old ones.

Oh and because the thread reminded me of it: http://ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20050219

 

[Frawanaz]

Reprinting (not just PDF) actual harcover books is not cheap, especially with the limited numbers that would sell. Don't kid yourself, the numbers sold would be small, and the profit margin not much bigger.

Actually it wouldn't cost them much. They should just use a print-on-demand kind of system such as Booksurge (Amazon), Lulu etc. where you can print hardcover books on demand, and sell them through your own website and via amazon.com

I am a publisher (non RPG), but it would be fun to go into the RPG-business. Especially if it's with a print-on-demand solution. It would be interesting to see if the WoTC would be interested in licencing their old core-systems and campaign settings, getting somekind of percentage per copy sold, still leaving a small margin for profit even with print-on-demand. The job of the publisher would simply be to compile the old PDF's, add their own name etc. and simply upload them to the print-on-demand system and they would go live on amazon, and on one's own website. Booksourge offers good deals for publisher with more than 25 titles in print...
Also it wouldn't require full-time employees and staff to do this, but it could be done as 'hobby'. Anyone interested in checking out the posibilities/working together on this are welcome to send me a PM.

This would probably only be a small venture, but it would be an exellent option for all the fans of classics and older editions. I also doubt it would split up the customer-base of existing editions, as this would mostly be to the old fans.