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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 3982551" data-attributes="member: 467">The more I think about this, I think that the $5K for the right to publish early isn't so much to keep the riff raff out or kill the small companies (though it may well do one or both of those things) as it is another marketting maneuver by WotC.  Think about these facts for a moment:1) 4E is contentious, as we can all attest to.  Even if the majority of people move on to 4E, any customer attrition in such a niche industry is a bad thing.  WotC is going to want to retain as much of their customer base as possible (hence the initial marketting to existing customers, such as posts by designers and developers on this very forum).2) Any 3rd part company that is in a position to pay the $5K is a successful company, which means that it is a company with an existing, dedicated fanbase.3) Said 3rd party companies want to remain successful, and they know as well as everyone else that most D&D players are going to be going to 4E, so they are powerfully motivated to publish 4E products.4) WotC knows this.Combine all these things and you get a situation where the desire to remain successful by the 3rd part copanies ends up serving as a statement of support for 4E for those fencesitters and anti-4Eers that are fans of those companies.  When Necromancer and Goodman and Paizo sign up and announce that they'll be there for roll out, the fans of those companies and then motivated to buy 4E to continue to enjoy the products of the companies that they love.  Moreover, they are told, even if tangentially, that 4E is in fact a good thing -- otherwise their favorite company wouldn't be signing on.  In every way, it is a win for WotC, even if the costs of providing the 3rd party companies with all the necessary materials and support ends up costing more than $5K.To use another analogy: the big, popular clubs in NY and LA are always comping celebrities.  Why?  because they want celebrities in their club, because celebrities draw in the paying crowds -- people want to be seen at the same club as P Diddy, or want a *chance* to see or talk to Paris.  By taking the loss of a few bottle of Crystal, the clubs are getting hundreds or thousands in the door.</blockquote>

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