Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Piratecat" data-source="post: 1718922" data-attributes="member: 2">I call it building a sustaining business, personally. WotC has been handling the things that they (arguably) handle best -- sourcebooks -- and have allowed 3rd party publishers to produce things that they didn't want to get involved in. It's a great solution that benefits both groups. Out of curiosity, Coreyartus, do you have access to WotC's financial statements? If not, I'm curious how you know that all the modules paid for themselves many times over. I'm sure the first couple must have, but I'm willing to bet that the sales on the latter modules were relatively weak.Modules nowadays really don't make much money at all, and usually lose money unless you have fantastic distribution. If a 3rd party module published today sells more than a few thousand copies, it's a solid gold winner. Sales are down dramatically since a few years ago.Heh - ask the people in those companies if they're making enough money, and you might get a different answer.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />You know, I'm not so sure about that. I don't think people only buy modules that they know they're going to use; they buy them to steal ideas out of. If the new WotC modules introduce cool adventures to DMs who never used to buy adventures, I can easily see them turning around and getting a Dungeon subscription. I know that's how it worked with me. We'll have to see.Hey, I know you're bitter, but please don't refer to Eberron by a derogatory nickname. Similarly, we ask that people not refer to 3etards, Wurst Edition, and any number of other insults. Thanks.To be a pedant for a second -- If you go by the model developed by the Boston Consulting Group, Eberron is technically WotC's rising star, the hot new product that brings in sales. A cash cow is defined as a product that doesn't have spectacular sales but which consistently makes a profit. A good example of this would be the Players Handbook, a product that will continue to sell at a fairly consistent level without additional changes. I hear what you're saying, though. Most of WotC's focus is on Eberron. Although I don't use it, I think that's fine; any product that brings them cash and new players is okay with me. I'm of the opinion that the healthier financially WotC is, the better off D&D and the RPG industry as a whole are, and I don't begrudge them success.</blockquote>

Verification