Ulrick said:
I just wonder how many people who'd like to get into the hobby but who couldn't afford to because books are too expensive. I think we've all encountered potential players who've said, "It's seems cool but the books are just too expensive."
I've had players who refused to buy a Player's Handbook--they were "poor college students" or high school students which was understandable.
If the price barrier of entry was lowered, I wonder how many players that would generate? And thus, renewing the hobby with new players, rather than having it die a horrible death like so many "chicken littles" presume would happen when prices of books lower to a reasonable level.
1) A very large chunk of the time, people that say "it's just too expensive" are really saying "I'm not really that interested". There are
very, very, very few adults who can't afford $30 dollars for a book, or even $90 dollars for the core rules combo - rather, they choose not to, because their level of interest is not high enough to overcome the expenditure of money.
Now, does this mean that if the books were, say $20, that more people would jump into the hobby? (Putting aside the fact that the core books
were $20, for quite a long time.)
Doubtful. Sure, there might be a slight increase, but the reality of the situation is that the number of people who balk at a $30 "buy in" fee for a hobby but would "buy in" at $20 is negligible. The increase would simply not be enough to make up for the loss in revenue.
2) "The poor college student" argument doesn't wash. There are very few actual "poor college students" - sure, some of them work like dogs to put themselves through college and have (sometimes literally) no disposable income, but the vast majority are those who either choose not to have jobs, or choose to spend their money on things like beer, pizza, clothes or road trips.
3) Ultimately, it boils down to this: people find ways to pay for the hobbies/things they like. The same people who don't play rpgs because "it's too expensive" have no problem plunking down $50 for the new Mortal Kombat game, or $20 bucks on a DVD, or $4 for a pack of Yu Gi Oh cards, or $40 bucks for alcohol at the bar, or hell, $500 dollars to outfit themselves with some golf clubs and lessons.
RPG companies WANT to reach a wide audience, but they also want to get solid return against their investment, which is why they run the numbers when they're determining price. It's not simply a case of folks twirling their mustaches and raises prices willy-nilly, it's all about balancing interest against expected return.
Each transaction is like a battle. On one side is the customer, who wants to pay as little as possible for the product - his weapon is choice, and his treasure is cash. On the other is the publisher, who wants to maximize profit on the book - his weapon is price, and his treasure is product. Thing is though, the battle is stacked against the publisher from the beginning, because he needs the customer's cash MUCH more than the customer needs his product (which is true in any hobby industry).
So, it's the publisher's job to determine at what point maximum profit and customer interest intersect, and price accordingly. That's the sweet spot. It's a delicate science - set the price too high, and customer's don't give up their treasure, set it too low and not enough customer treasure comes in to justify the effort.
Here, consider this:
SWEET SPOT SCIENCE (the incredibly simplified version)
I make a 1000 copies of my RPG. Let's say I'm getting %100 profit off this book, so each time I sell, I make whatever I sold it for. So, I make my book...
A) and sell it for $40. 40. Let's say I sell 500 copies. That's $20,000.
B) and sell it for $30. Say I sell 750 copies, because more people are willing to buy at that lower price. That's 30,000 dollars.
C) and sell it for $20. Say I sell all 1000 copies, because people are willing to buy at that price. That's $20,000.
In this case, the sweet spot is option B. I don't sell as many copies as option C, but I make lot's more money. Conversely, I make less per transaction than with option A, but my total profit is still higher. Maximizing profit is good business.
IMO, it's good business that's gonna make the industry slowly and steadily stronger.
Patrick Y.
