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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 9035576" data-attributes="member: 85555">But there is also the question of whether people can afford it. This is always framed as people not being willing to spend over a certain price point for RPGs. But I would contend that is because a lot of people can't afford or can't justify that expense. I hear from people all the time who genuinely can't afford the print version of books (especially when things like shipping become a factor). We all want to get paid for our work, but we also can't insist people pay us if our prices are too high. Also when we are talking about a company like WOTC, I think the calculus changes. There is a difference between an indie publisher, doing small print runs, who can't keep their cover prices below 50 (it is very expensive to print books especially if you aren't doing large volume and don't have the kinds of marketing and connections a WOTC has). But larger companies can set costs lower. And I think people would be less wary, had there not been a lot of things leading up to this (statements that D&D was undermonetized, the OGL efforts, etc). People get the feeling when that happens that there is probably a lot of money going up to the top and that it is a very different scenario from say a smaller publisher where there are a few people who are making enough money to get by. One thing people should understand though about this industry and points you and others have made that I would agree with is profit margins are very tight, and most companies are not even earning a full time living doing this: most are doing this either for supplementary income or even as a labor of love. A handful are making enough money that publishing alone puts a roof over their head. My point isn't that inflation isn't a real consideration. Just that even if inflation is occurring, you have to consider what people can afford and what they are willing to spend, and while it is fair for publishers to explain to customers why they are setting the prices where they are (I recently put out a book that was ten dollars more than I wanted it to be and I had to explain that), that doesn't mean anyone is obligated to buy. Our costs may be going up, but their wages might not be going up. And I think publishers would benefit from examining their productions costs, the production expectations and determining if they are realistic in the present economy (and if they were ever realistic).</blockquote>

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