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<blockquote data-quote="GregoryOatmeal" data-source="post: 5694125" data-attributes="member: 6667661">I don't think that ship has sailed. If Paizo can profit off of 3.5 splat books and adventure paths then WOTC can too. They created it and own it. PF shows an entire market exists that is big enough to independently support a profitable game based on what is essentially a desire to play 3.5. Many PF gamers just wanted 3.5 to go on and switched over because it was the closest thing to 3.5 still in print with support. Many other 3.5 gamers never switched to PF because they didn't want to deal with a minor edition change. That latter demographic is big and completely unserved. The longer WOTC ignores the 3.5 crowd the more likely they are to make the switch to PF and develop brand loyalty to Paizo and their IPs.Also the PF crowd can still buy 3.5 materials. They are D&amp;D players that like WOTC brands (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk). And people are attracted to the D&amp;D brand - for many Pathfinder is still considered the &quot;off-brand&quot;. And 3.5 has a much larger install-base - people that already bought a 3.5 PHB. The only reason WOTC wouldn't have a natural advantage competing here is because they may have alienated the 3.5 fans and damaged their brand.I don't really believe that 3.5 and 4E would compete with each other since they are very different games and it's pretty obvious now that they serve different demographics. No matter how hard 4E tries it won't be picking up 3.5 fans. It's hard to imagine a 3.5 fan was going to buy 4E books rather than PF (or no books), but now won't buy the 4E books because 3.5 came back into print.If WOTC wants to expand their customer base this seems like the most obvious way to do it. 3.5 players just want to keep playing 3.5. It's really easy to identify what they want and WOTC is the only company that can give them that product.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="GregoryOatmeal, post: 5694125, member: 6667661"] I don't think that ship has sailed. If Paizo can profit off of 3.5 splat books and adventure paths then WOTC can too. They created it and own it. PF shows an entire market exists that is big enough to independently support a profitable game based on what is essentially a desire to play 3.5. Many PF gamers just wanted 3.5 to go on and switched over because it was the closest thing to 3.5 still in print with support. Many other 3.5 gamers never switched to PF because they didn't want to deal with a minor edition change. That latter demographic is big and completely unserved. The longer WOTC ignores the 3.5 crowd the more likely they are to make the switch to PF and develop brand loyalty to Paizo and their IPs. Also the PF crowd can still buy 3.5 materials. They are D&D players that like WOTC brands (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk). And people are attracted to the D&D brand - for many Pathfinder is still considered the "off-brand". And 3.5 has a much larger install-base - people that already bought a 3.5 PHB. The only reason WOTC wouldn't have a natural advantage competing here is because they may have alienated the 3.5 fans and damaged their brand. I don't really believe that 3.5 and 4E would compete with each other since they are very different games and it's pretty obvious now that they serve different demographics. No matter how hard 4E tries it won't be picking up 3.5 fans. It's hard to imagine a 3.5 fan was going to buy 4E books rather than PF (or no books), but now won't buy the 4E books because 3.5 came back into print. If WOTC wants to expand their customer base this seems like the most obvious way to do it. 3.5 players just want to keep playing 3.5. It's really easy to identify what they want and WOTC is the only company that can give them that product. [/QUOTE]

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