Midnight 2.0 PDF on sale now...for $50!!!!

[Crothian]

Well, the second edition book is bigger and looks nicer then the first edition

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Shouldn't we be more concerned that FFG raised the price of the second edition by $15 over the first edition? That's just insane. Did costs really rise that much in the two years between 1st and 2nd edition?

I can't argue with the price of the print book. Not only did they revise the setting to 3.5, but they added in nearly all the info from Against the Shadow and a ton of new stuff. The 2nd edition book is simply a much better product, with a much higher page count.

 

[reveal]

I can't argue with the price of the print book. Not only did they revise the setting to 3.5, but they added in nearly all the info from Against the Shadow and a ton of new stuff. The 2nd edition book is simply a much better product, with a much higher page count.

I just looked and 2nd edition is, indeed, 150 pages bigger than 1st. That justifies the cost to me, since it includes stuff from AtS.

 

[Turjan]

At least in the U.S., that pdf has to compete with this here. Including shipping and taxes .

As far as I know, most of the established print publishers can't undercut the print versions with cheaper online PDF versions even if they wanted to. The retailers and the distributors have a lot of influence in these things. From there POV there are only two choices - sell the PDF online at the same price, or don't sell it at all.

I just like to compare this price with the $16.80 that the Arcana Evolved pdf goes for. And how many pages are those?

 

[DaveMage]

Ok, but how can any company justify full price for a PDF? They don't have to pay printing costs, and the end product simply isn't as useful in most people's eyes.

Do these things really sell that well at such outrageous prices?

I could well be wrong, but I can't believe selling this book at $50 will make more money than selling it at $10. Sure, you get less profit for each exchange, but you might get 100 sales at $10 where you'd only get 10 at $50.

The other folks over at Against the Shadow scoffed at the $50 price tag, and we are the most hardcore Midnight fans you'll find.

Morrus already answered your first question, but I'd love to know the answer to your second one. I wonder how well full-priced .pdfs sell...

I certainly wouldn't pay the same for a .pdf as I would print, unless the price was under, say $8.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

I can't argue with the price of the print book. Not only did they revise the setting to 3.5, but they added in nearly all the info from Against the Shadow and a ton of new stuff. The 2nd edition book is simply a much better product, with a much higher page count.

I agree.
I already owned the Midnight 1.0, and Against the Shadow, and I still bought the updated book, adn it was worth every penny.

Now, I'm not going to pretned that I know anything about the time and effort, or company discussions that goes into putting a book out in PDF.

However, I personally think that selling a PDF version of a book at the same price as the print book is ludicrous. I would never shell out $50 for a PDF book, no matter what it was.

 

[Crothian]

I think the bottom line is PDFs just don't really sell. I'm sure there are a few companies like Monte's that are doing good with it but numbers of heard from other companies it just isn't a factor.

 

[Odhanan]

$50 for a PDF? No wonder it's not a factor to these guys!

 

[JoeGKushner]

I think the bottom line is PDFs just don't really sell. I'm sure there are a few companies like Monte's that are doing good with it but numbers of heard from other companies it just isn't a factor.

But could it be a chicken/egg thing? How much is Iron Heroes in PDF? $14 bones or something? More than 50% off the cover price of the hard copy.

No, I think in this case, as with a few other PDF publishers, they're just not getting the market yet and trying not to undercut the distribution channels at cost to themselves. The PDF market is bigger than D&D though and hopefully will continue to mature and hopefully people don't buy something they think is too expensive.

Heck, maybe they'll have a sale on Midnight 2nd ed soon as they did with all their older products to get 'em out of the warehouse.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

I think the bottom line is PDFs just don't really sell. I'm sure there are a few companies like Monte's that are doing good with it but numbers of heard from other companies it just isn't a factor.

Regardless of their reasons, legit or not, I'd imagine it's prices like these that are to blame.

EDIT - Why did this get moved? It's about PDF prices really. Midnight is only an example.