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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6278185" data-attributes="member: 37579">On paper new editions sound like a good idea. People aren't guaranteed to buy accessories after a few years but people will buy the core rulebooks.  The problem with new editions is they take time to make. It generally appears to be three or so years. Three years were some or all of the salaried staff at WotC are not writing books and generating profit. During the 3e-4e gap, WotC still released books but those were written by freelancers, who have to be paid as well. This time they released a series of reprints, which were lower cost, but likely sold far fewer copies. So when a new edition does release it need to pay off any development costs in addition to the costs needed to pay off the book.  However, after some time, you pay off the development costs of the edition and the book. After that, for every print run of a book you're just paying for the publication. Which means more profit. So the more copies of a core book sold the better, the longer it is in print and people are buying it the more money you make. Similarly, a revised edition like 3.5 took far less time to make. Months instead of years. So it'd be possible to release a Revised PHB with errata and minor corrections (less than 3.5e) and make even more money.</blockquote>