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<blockquote data-quote="Halivar" data-source="post: 4517832" data-attributes="member: 9327">The problem with RPG's is that any profit you might derive from a gamer is only once-per-product. You buy one (maybe two if it's core) book, and the revenue stream begins and ends with that purchase. In order to keep the stream flowing, you have to keep printing new books. Eight years later, you've got complete market saturation. The only people buying your previous books are new gamers, and new content for old gamers is hard to come by.Think of it like a book or a video game; you put it out, and millions enjoy it. After a while, everyone that wants to enjoy it has enjoyed it, and your revenue stream declines. What do you do? You put out a sequel. It's new! People don't have it, yet! They give you money. The metaphor breaks down, though, because RPG's don't have diminishing consumer value like books and video games. This makes the situation even harder on RPG publishers. WotC must make drastic changes per edition because they are competing with their own previous edition. They can't just say, &quot;well, 3.x was good enough, so we'll stick with that.&quot; Good for the consumer? Possibly. Good for the grognard? Heck, yes. Good for WotC? If all they cared about was supporting the target market as it currently existed, they would have simply folded shop long ago; work's done.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Halivar, post: 4517832, member: 9327"] The problem with RPG's is that any profit you might derive from a gamer is only once-per-product. You buy one (maybe two if it's core) book, and the revenue stream begins and ends with that purchase. In order to keep the stream flowing, you have to keep printing new books. Eight years later, you've got complete market saturation. The only people buying your previous books are new gamers, and new content for old gamers is hard to come by. Think of it like a book or a video game; you put it out, and millions enjoy it. After a while, everyone that wants to enjoy it [I]has[/I] enjoyed it, and your revenue stream declines. What do you do? You put out a sequel. It's new! People don't have it, yet! They give you money. The metaphor breaks down, though, because RPG's don't have diminishing consumer value like books and video games. This makes the situation even harder on RPG publishers. WotC [I]must[/I] make drastic changes per edition because they are competing with their own previous edition. They can't just say, "well, 3.x was good enough, so we'll stick with that." Good for the consumer? Possibly. Good for the grognard? Heck, yes. Good for WotC? If all they cared about was supporting the target market [I]as it currently existed[/I], they would have simply folded shop long ago; work's done. [/QUOTE]

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