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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mark" data-source="post: 1590550" data-attributes="member: 5">I can't be the only one who recalls hearing that most game companies have never thought it wise to have print runs of more than 5,000 (even though a few have stated that they have done so and even gone back to press on one or two select titles), and that was during the d20 boom of two years ago.More currently many of the middle tier companies have stated, IIRC, that a more conservative approach is to have an initial print run of no more than 3,000 and in some cases 2,000.If this is true, I would be very much surprised if at least 20% of sales of those print runs can't be directly due to folks who frequent message boards and the gaming groups whose buying decisions that they influence.Can it be possible that the thousands of users of just the two message boards mentioned above, their gaming groups, the many lurkers who simply read the boards, and the groups influenced by those lurkers account for less than 400 to 600 copies of any given title?Surely, I am even being conservative with my theoretical numbers.  I'd have to think that the percentage is even higher.Furthermore, there are other industry folks at other levels of the distribution chain that also gain some knowledge about publishers (reviews of products, impression of their professionalism, etc.) through these venues, such as retailers and distributors.  Sleight those folks and you're indirectly cutting off potential customers who never even visit message boards as they either limit their orders or pass on their negative comments.It makes no sense to me to believe that a company that has a print run of 3,000 on their products considers the buying power of what are likely their most knowledge fans (and the groups they influence) as negligible.Some publishers might like to point to the lack of hard data to justify ignoring whatever posts are made by message board traffic but in an age where 10%, or even 5%, of sales can so severely effect the bottom line of a publisher can they really afford to take the chance?</blockquote>

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