D&D 5E so... any word on PDFs yet?

[Nikosandros]

Maybe they are waiting X months (or years) after the physical product or they are waiting for monthly sales of physical copies to go below Y? Or maybe it's related to the average temperature of Jupiter, for all I know...

 

[DEFCON 1]

I think they are waiting for each person to just buy a second book and do the scan themselves if having a PDF matters that much to them. It's their way of cross-supporting the printing/scanning industry. HP probably throws Hasbro a few sheckles every time a gamer buys a new scanner.

 

[CapnZapp]

Why do HBO hold back the DVD/blu-ray release of "Game of Thrones" when it's the most widely-pirated show out there?

Apples and oranges.

The utility of a rpg book and ebook is related but different.

The utility of a TV show is pretty much the same no matter the distribution (assuming, as in this case, you talk about ways where you own the content, i. e. non streamed non drm content)

My point is: one answer to your HBO question is: because nobody's interested in the disc when you can simply download the exact same stuff.

Not saying this is the only answer, or even that it is a particularly good one.

But it isn't an answer you're hearing in the Wotc case: most gamers would love to have the PHB as a book to read and hand out to players etc, and have the e-book to search and reference, as well as copy content from when creating their own house rules and campaigns.

So, again: it boggles the mind why hobby companies are so tech backwards, when computers make tasks like searching, house ruling etc so much simpler.

 

[DEFCON 1]

But it isn't an answer you're hearing in the Wotc case: most gamers would love to have the PHB as a book to read and hand out to players etc, and have the e-book to search and reference, as well as copy content from when creating their own house rules and campaigns.

I'm not completely sure I buy that... but the easiest way to tell if it was true would be to just ask those who want PDFs of the 5E core rulebooks-- "Would you buy the PDFs if they cost the same price as the hardcover book?"

Now, if the person says "Yes", then that would certain be a point in favor of your theory. That person wants a PDF genuinely because it's a PDF, and not because of the price. But if the person says "No way, the price should be much cheaper because there's no printing and no distribution!", that tells me that what they really want primarily is just a lower cost version of the book. And there's no reason why WotC should go out of their way to satisfy those people, especially as a PDF potentially pulls a sale from a brick and mortar store.

 

[delericho]

Apples and oranges.

The utility of a rpg book and ebook is related but different.

The utility of a TV show is pretty much the same no matter the distribution (assuming, as in this case, you talk about ways where you own the content, i. e. non streamed non drm content)

Until this year, HBO held back on all means of owning the content.

My point is: one answer to your HBO question is: because nobody's interested in the disc when you can simply download the exact same stuff.

Again, until this year you couldn't, at least legally.

It's not an apples vs oranges comparison: despite widespread piracy, HBO held back on the legal ways to own their content, for no apparent reason.

 

[Bugleyman]

I would pay full price for 5E pdfs.

...or at least I would have, had they been released in a timely fashion.

 

[Bugleyman]

It's not an apples vs oranges comparison: despite widespread piracy, HBO held back on the legal ways to own their content, for no apparent reason.

Agreed.

And yet now even HBO has reversed course...

 

[Bugleyman]

I don't understand. There are already high quality pirate PDFs out there. In what way would Wotc lose out by providing the legal alternative?

But that's not really my question. My question is: how can you put forward the argument "piracy worries keep Wotc from PDFs". I can't find any rational sense in it.

Why would Wotc knowingly refrain from making a sale just to prevent what is already out there??

(there can be other explanations, and obviously I put more faith in those. Just genuinely interested in knowing how you can honestly believe in the "to prevent piracy" argument. Thanks)

It doesn't hold up to any serious scrutiny. To be completely honest, the counter argument seems to boil down to "surely corporate middle managers know best."

But I have now expended all the effort I'm willing to on this topic...any more and it just gets frustrating. I'll check back again in three months to see if things have changed, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[delericho]

Agreed.

And yet now even HBO has reversed course...

Indeed. I'm sure WotC will, too. Eventually...