D&D 5E The all-inclusive 4/5E DDI

[Riastlin]

Don't get me wrong, I think the abandoment of physical books (in all respects, not just RPGs) is a bad thing. But I also believe that its inevitable. The market is clearly headed in that direction -- though it will be awhile as I said. The real problem that RPG publishers will run into with respect to physical books is that as the publishing industry in general moves away from physical books, it will only become costlier to print books. Printers will go out of business and the cost of printing a book will increase on a per book basis (since fewer books are being print).

I much prefer a printed book -- particularly at a game table -- but there is a limit to how much I will pay for one. Just as an example, I thought the Draconomicons were over priced at $40 a piece, and consequently, haven't gotten them. I can handle paying around $40 for each of the Core books, but would I buy all three for $100 a piece? Not a chance.

As I said, it will be a while before books go all digital -- too many people currently are not ready for e-books. I don't think 5ed (assuming it comes out in the next 5 - 10 years) will be digital only. But eventually, even RPG books will be all digital because it just won't be feasible to print the books.

Obviously, this is bad for the B&M stores but unfortunately, things have been bad for them for a while now. Do I buy the book from the FLGS for $35 or do I buy it online for $20? B&M stores are an important part of the RPG business but the market just is not supporting them real well (from the RPG standpoint) anymore. At my FLGS, M:TG currently accounts for about 40% of the sales, assorted board games another 40%, Miniature Gaming (Warhammer, War Machine, Malifaux, etc.) another 10% and everything else (includingRPGs) 10%. In fact, the store is currently making almost as much on soda, candy and chips as it is on RPG books. Obviously, every store and every region is different, but the fact of the matter is that if RPGs were to go all digital tomorrow, our local gaming stores (we have two) would barely notice. BTW, I think this also explains the push for Fortune Cards from WotC. As much as I don't think they are worth it for D&D, I can see the thinking behind it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Do I buy the book from the FLGS for $35 or do I buy it online for $20?

Following the principle of enlightened self-interest, if it's my FLGS, I will probably buy it from the store.

 

[DracoSuave]

If printing costs go up to the point where printing books is too costly to profit, the brick and mortars would have died out well before that point, as the lucrative CCG sales, boardgames, and other such things will have died before that point.

Going all digital might make sense in a world where the local gaming store no longer exists. And if publishing costs are what does it, then that'll have killed the gaming store before the books themselves.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

However... by doing it this way, WotC would pretty much be conceding the fact that they would only be gearing their game to people already "in the circle" as it were. Only those people who were already gamers or gamer-adjacent (family or friends of gamers). At that point it would just comes down to making a game so universally good accessible that it gets gamers of all walks to pick it up.

Do you really think that the FLGS strategy works better than having you big red box substantially discounted in shopping malls, putting some vouchers for free products for download in there, and set up a newbie-friendly online community?

Now that would be a very big concession-- acknowledging that getting kids who have no connection to the tabletop gaming industry is a virtual impossibility and it's not worth spending money to try. I would not put it past WotC to actually come to that conclusion (depending on ultimately how successful or not successful their last attempts like the Red Box and Essentials actually were)... but if they did, that'd be a big deal. But perhaps in this day and age, the tabletop circle just can't get any bigger, regardless of the money you spend and the product you make to try?

It may well be that we'll see a sort of split. Us classical minded guys whose RPG universe circles around b&m shops, the tabletop and cons one one side, the virtual guys using today's technologies to play a game which is similar or even identical to the classical version in content. Clothed according to a different fashion it might look and feel strange, but still keep its wearer warm.

Perhaps we have come (or will be soon coming) to a time when having physical game product in a location that is meant to be an impulse buy by someone who doesn't already have access or know how to acquire it, is no longer fiscally responsible to produce? It'd be sad to think that, as we'd lose one of our great institutions of nerdom... but eventually the arcade went virtually extinct as well.

This may well be the case, yet I'd place my bet on a split. Look at the shopping possibilities in the music business. A lot of shopping takes place online, but one still can find b&m shops offering vinyl records. And those "ancient" technology records are still produced. The community of music fans has lived through a similar split and survived it.

 

[Mapache]

This exactly. I mean, let's assume gaming companies go all pdf.

Where do you buy your dice?
Where do you buy your battlemats?
Your tiles?
Your physical accoutrements so you can play the game you love?

The brick and mortar, right?

But what brick and mortar carries products for lines they don't sell?

The ones that want to make money by selling impulse-buy tangible paraphernalia that probably has a substantially higher turnover rate than most supplements? I'm inclined to believe that snacks, CCGs, and dice (in that order) are what are keeping game stores afloat these days anyway.