Profitability of Online Distribution?

[rowport]

...The big difference between online publication and print publication is that those (essentially minimal) writing fees are the ONLY cost. (There shouldn't be a significantly increased server load.)

This is not quite true; there is a significant investment in whatever Content Management System is supporting the WOTC site. It is possible, of course, that the intention is to use the site CMS currently managing the free articles, but given the implied dramatic changes upcoming in the digital initiative, it is more likely that big money is being spent on configuration and coding to support it. Of course, even then, most of those costs are on-time investments, hopefully supporting an evergreen revenue stream from WOTC's perspective.

 

[Relique du Madde]

I'm not sure if anyone has even connected these dots, but don't you think that the creation of the online site might be a prelude to WoTC's abandonment of printed products as a whole? Think about how much easier and proffitable it would be for them to distribute new dnd products (at full cost) if all you have to worry about is bandwidth and not the cost printing, materials, overhead and physical distribution.

Now imagine how much more profitable it would be for WoTC if the only way anyone could obtain previews and errata for these products are by subscribing to an online website.


Is online content distribution profitable, hell yeah.