Pathfinder 1E If Paizo bought Greyhawk could they make their money back?

[Waldorf]

I doubt they'd make any money.

White Wolf, a *slightly* larger company than Paizo, tried the licensed products route and gave up after a few years. The amount of money WotC was asking to renew the license was enough for the profits they were making.

But, you say, WW only licensed Ravenloft and Gamma World not Greyhawk which is clearly winning on a Paizo poll so it should sell better than both put together!
Of course we're talking about a poll where Dragonlance has yet to score a single %; I think it may be skewered and a tad off.

So, if WotC licenses it to Paizo for the same amount they licensed Ravenloft then all they have to do is outsell that. Easy, right?
Well, firstly there's no chance they'd lend Greyhawk out for the same amount as one of their niche settings. Second, as has been mentioned before on these forums, you'd have to release a book that appeals to all four major fangroups of Greyhawk, a nigh impossible feat. No matter what you did the book would be ignored by the fans of Gygax, the GH Wars, LG or Mona.

Besides, Greyhawk is tied into the PHB. They wouldn't want to licence out something that would affect the core game.

I'm an old Greyhawker but this is the first I've heard of four major fangroups. Would you care to elaborate?

 

[Vocenoctum]

I doubt they'd make any money.

White Wolf, a *slightly* larger company than Paizo, tried the licensed products route and gave up after a few years. The amount of money WotC was asking to renew the license was enough for the profits they were making.

Never actually seen an official statement as to the profitability. For myself, I found the lack of quality of Ravenloft 3e to be the determining factor. Dragonlance seems to be doing fine and their products are generally of better quality.

In addition, "not making enough money" is different from "not making money". They might have just not been making enough money for it to be worth their trouble.

But, you say, WW only licensed Ravenloft and Gamma World not Greyhawk which is clearly winning on a Paizo poll so it should sell better than both put together!
Of course we're talking about a poll where Dragonlance has yet to score a single %; I think it may be skewered and a tad off.

I'd say it's definetly a skewed poll, and I think the divisive nature of GH fans would mean that even if it was the prefered setting, you'd never get something publishable to appeal to enough of them.

Besides, Greyhawk is tied into the PHB. They wouldn't want to licence out something that would affect the core game.

That, for me, is the clincher. With RL they retained some characters, plus they ran the novels themselves. With Greyhawk, if they retained the main characters, I'm not sure what of GH could be useful.


Really, I'd say the better bet would be for the Mona Gang to bug WotC into publishing a book that they'd write, rather than any attempt to get any rights and publish it themselves.