D&D 4E Impact of 4E on the LGS

[Korgoth]

More food for speculation: given the obviously strong electronic component of 4E as a brand, what will be the net effect on the LGS? Will the electronic-only content cut into their revenues? Will the release of a new edition provide enough of a revenue boon to make up for that?

And perhaps most importantly... will the D&D 4E business model somehow become, at least to an extent, a "subscription model" like the MMORPGs?

Hah! Now mighty Korgoth has a 4E thread as well.

 

[Glyfair]

I believe that the electronic only material will have no more effect on the FLGS than the cancellation of Dragon & Dungeon (which created traffic to the stores).

Of course, this assumes they don't do something radical we aren't expecting. I think that's unlikely, since the word from WotC still has been that the local game stores are important to them.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

If there is still a majority of printed products, I suspect it will be a shot in the arm.

But if it's an attempt to cash in on a subscription-based model ... LGS's are going to get killed, cause WOTC's digitial D&D site will be replacing the LGS both as a source for gaming material and as a place to actually play.

 

[Khairn]

Personal opinion .... ?

I think that WotC is throwing a bone to the LGS with Gleemax, but that their true focus will be in getting all 4E players to not only buy the books, but pay the monthly subscription for the DI. WotC's staking their future RPG business model as being electronically based and supported.

I think the much touted "D&D will remain a table top game" along with "We have no plans to release 4E" and "We are here to support the LGS" are all pretty much hype.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I would expect that initally at least, they'll see an increase in sales that will be quite pleasing to them. Well, offloading all the current 3.5E products will probably be less fun but then maybe the 3.5E grognard crew will be rushing to the stores to purchase them whilst they're still available.

It doesn't sound like they're doing anything so electronic as to have any real effect on the stores, other than to maybe make me a bit happier to keep buying D&D products because it's so well-supported.

 

[KingCrab]

They'll still have Magic, Miniatures, and other collectible games. They just won't be able to expect much money from D&D.

 

[Hjorimir]

I don't ever see me going purely online for my RPGs. Having my friends over for a night of gaming is a treasure for me and as long as I have that I will need physical books... books I can buy at my FLGS.

 

[thalmin]

I expect 4E to be a boost for the FLGS. It should sell better than anything else for D&D since the 3.5 core books were released. I know in our own case, d20 has been representing an ever shrinking percentage of our sales since 3.5 release. The percentage was also shinking steadily shortly after the 3E release until 3.5 came along. I would expect the same this time.

 

[Asmor]

They'll still have Magic, Miniatures, and other collectible games. They just won't be able to expect much money from D&D.

That's an excellent point. AFAIK, RPGs as a whole aren't huge money makers or business generators for small stores, which are vastly more likely to make tons of profits on other products like CCGs and CMGs.

Add in the fact that D&D's not the only pony in the race (though it is the largest), and I don't think even killing the game entirely would have an appreciable effect on LGSs.

I think it'll have a short-term effect on their bottom line when they have the inevitable liquidation sale to dump the old stock below what they paid for, but after that I don't think they'll even notice.

 

[GSHamster]

With the recent US Supreme Court decision in Leegin, WotC could use 4E as an opportunity to institute suggested pricing that retailers have to agree to. That would be a huge boost to local gaming stores, stopping them from being undercut by discount internet stores.

Whether that's a good thing for the individual RPG player, or for the health of the game in general, is a different question.

For more info, see Ryan Dancey's post Earthquake!