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Message: <blockquote data-quote="F5" data-source="post: 3771762" data-attributes="member: 4607">The discussion in this thread makes me wonder about the business model of 4E and the DI (and if this is too far off-topic for this thread, I'll drop it, or start a new one)...are they intending to make their money selling books, with additional income coming in from DI subscriptions, or are they intending to make the bulk of their money off of DI fees and subscriptions, supplemented by the income from the books?  And if it's the latter, how does that impact the game overall?One of the goals of the OGL, initially, was to drive potential buyers to purchase PHBs.  Is the goal going to change, so that each book that is purchased is intended to drive potential subscribers to the DI, like BluWolf suggested?  Buying a PHB (or any supplemental book, for that matter) is a one-time source of income...getting someone involved in the DI and D&D Insider is a constant, monthly revenue stream, so it kind of makes sense.  So, hypothetically, with the book you just bought, you might also get the digital "rights" to access the rules, NPCs and virtual miniatures represented in the book.  Possibly even some online-only "bonus features", like the web-enhancements they used to provide on the website.  All this will be pointed out in the text of the book, to inspire the buyer to subscribe to DI to get full value form their new book.  For the player who already has a subscription to DI, the desire is to buy new books, to unlock the elements they want for their online game.  It's a kind of a feedback loop, and it  makes a lot of sense for WotC, when you look at it this way.</blockquote>

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