Not Reading Ryan Dancy

[T. Foster]

I'd rather see WotC aim to make money by selling 1 product to 5 million people rather than by selling 50 products each to 100,000 people (and my idea of "1 product" does not include either a monthly subscription fee or a need to continually buy new "booster packs" of minis/cards/whatever...).

 

[Ranger REG]

Good for me I work hard for my money then, so I can spend it as I chose, without risk of being viewed as someone who's born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Seriously, you don't know why people buy the books, you don't know what else they forsake, you don't know how they got their money. For all I know they could be working double shifts at the pizza place to pay for the books.

Then I also oppose sympathizers who are willing to pull double jobs to get revisions.

As for my voice being amount to nothing, I DON'T THINK SO. If I'm the only one here to state it publicly and no one shares my sentiment, then so be it. But it is not nothing.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'd rather see WotC aim to make money by selling 1 product to 5 million people rather than by selling 50 products each to 100,000 people (and my idea of "1 product" does not include either a monthly subscription fee or a need to continually buy new "booster packs" of minis/cards/whatever...).

Can one single product sold to 5 million customers be enough to keep the business going for at least 5 years?

Right, and I can crap gold stool and I can cough up silver mucus.

 

[Maggan]

Then I also oppose sympathizers who are willing to pull double jobs to get revisions.

That's cool. I'll just buy two each of the eventually released books, to cover for your lack of enthusiasm!

/M

 

[Justin Cray]

I wouldn't mind a new D&D version every 4 years if all the new edition stuff would actually be released together. Waiting 3 years for Complete Scoundrel makes me sooo not appreciate 3.75 if I'd had to abandon it after only 1 year playing with it.

Unless Skill Tricks are a portent of what's to come.

Releasing new editions that fast makes campaign sourcebooks like Five Nations retarded, too. As it stands all the crunch in these will become obsolete, and the 3.75 Five Nations will be redundant in the fluff department. Just drop the new Feats and PrCs. You could then just advance the history or some metaplot thingie with each new version.

 

[Storm Raven]

Then I also oppose sympathizers who are willing to pull double jobs to get revisions.

So, it isn't just people with silver spoons in their mouths that you don't like, it is people who work hard to get money too? Do you dislike people who make the same amount of money you do but have different spending priorities as well?

As for my voice being amount to nothing, I DON'T THINK SO. If I'm the only one here to state it publicly and no one shares my sentiment, then so be it. But it is not nothing.

You can rant, that's your right. But, as I said, if what Dancey has said is correct, it is nothing that WotC will care about. You see that modifier "that WotC will care about"? That's the meat here. You care about it. Your mother may care about it. The guy sitting next to you at the gaming table may care about it. But the liklihood is that WotC simply will not.

 

[Storm Raven]

Can one single product sold to 5 million customers be enough to keep the business going for at least 5 years?

Right, and I can crap gold stool and I can cough up silver mucus.

You do realize that selling one product to five million people amounts to identical sales as selling 50 products to 100,000 people don't you? If the "50 products selling 100,000 copies apiece" model is sufficient to keep a business afloat, then the "1 product selling 5,000,000 copie" is likely to be better, since you don't have to develop the 49 additional products and can save money on that end.

 

[kenobi65]

You do realize that selling one product to five million people amounts to identical sales as selling 50 products to 100,000 people don't you? If the "50 products selling 100,000 copies apiece" model is sufficient to keep a business afloat, then the "1 product selling 5,000,000 copie" is likely to be better, since you don't have to develop the 49 additional products and can save money on that end.

Except for the whole cash-flow thing.

Most game books have a high front-end sales spike. Core rulebooks aren't quite as "spikey" in that regard (because you always have a certain number of people just coming into the game), but, even so, you'd sell an awful lot of those 5 million in the first few months.

In order to remain a viable business and make their bosses in Rhode Island happy, WotC has to show good sales on an ongoing basis.

 

[Storm Raven]

Except for the whole cash-flow thing.

Most game books have a high front-end sales spike. Core rulebooks aren't quite as "spikey" in that regard (because you always have a certain number of people just coming into the game), but, even so, you'd sell an awful lot of those 5 million in the first few months.

In order to remain a viable business and make their bosses in Rhode Island happy, WotC has to show good sales on an ongoing basis.

The 1e PHB supposedly sold about 200,000 units per year for multiple years in a row. That sort of consistency would certainly work fine to support a company.

 

[dcas]

The 1e PHB supposedly sold about 200,000 units per year for multiple years in a row. That sort of consistency would certainly work fine to support a company.

It also sold enough that TSR continued to print it for a year (two printings!) after the 2e PHB was released. Unearthed Arcana sold so well that it was printed for two years (4-5 printings!!) after the 2e PHB was released.

So yeah, the books had staying power, and there's no reason to think that the same couldn't be true of 3.x.