Why doesn't WotC license older editions?

[coyote6]

Well, there are problems with that, which have been mentioned above. Namely, that for older material, there's no electronic copy available so they'd have to pay the cost of making one.

I think he's referring to the Great WotC PDF Purge.

WotC did have e-copies of a lot (I'm not sure how close to "all" they were, though) of their older things. Most of them were scans, and some were pretty horrible scans (the scanned books were in bad condition in some cases, other scans were just sloppily done, etc.), but they did have them. Presumably, they still do have them -- they just aren't sharing any more.

(Perhaps they need more Barney?)

 

[billd91]

I think he's referring to the Great WotC PDF Purge.

WotC did have e-copies of a lot (I'm not sure how close to "all" they were, though) of their older things. Most of them were scans, and some were pretty horrible scans (the scanned books were in bad condition in some cases, other scans were just sloppily done, etc.), but they did have them. Presumably, they still do have them -- they just aren't sharing any more.

Given that the primary costs of having PDF scans of old editions has been paid (initial development and printing, PDF creation), the mind does boggle that they are not trying to leverage that asset into generating income.

 

[Bumbles]

I think he's referring to the Great WotC PDF Purge.

Perhaps, but I wanted to avoid that particular minefield.

Anyway, certainly for a while they did offer some older material(and they still have things available for free!), but stopped using it as a business, for reasons they've made clear, even if there is still argumentation going on over their decision. But were the 1st edition core books ever done that way?

I don't recall that being the case. So we're stuck with the costs of conversion having to be less than the potential profits, which would have to be more than spending the money elsewhere. Not to mention the costs of operating the service, which would apply even if they did in fact have PDFs available.

But they did say they were looking at alternatives when they did leave the PDF market, so maybe one day they will find something that's sufficiently profitable for them. Dunno, haven't even seen anybody mention the progress of the lawsuits lately.

 

[Krensky]

I believe SJGames has said one reason all their old books (GURPS, Car Wars, Ogre, etc.) weren't quickly available as PDFs is that they don't *have* electronic copies of all of the books. Some never had them; some had all copies lost (mislaid, damaged backup media, etc.), and some they had, but they weren't compatible with modern software & not easily converted.

Some were never returned by the Secret Service...

 

[darjr]

I'm a huge fan of the 4e. And the Basic/Expert, and AD&D. I was just about to purchase the whole set of OD&D little three books and all the supplements just before they were yanked.

I don't think I'm all that interested in the licensing of older stuff, but the PDF's of older stuff should come back.

 

[Maggan]

Sure, but why can't they do both?

My theory is that they have limited resources for developing D&D, and chose to put the money they have to work where it gives them the best return.

Or in other words, they only have a metaphorical 100 dollars to spend, and have to choose which game to spend them on. So the money goes to the game that brings in the metaphorical extra 5 dollars.

At least, that's what I think, but I've been wrong about this stuff before.

/M

 

[Nikosandros]

But were the 1st edition core books ever done that way?

I don't recall that being the case.

Yes, they were. I purchased all of them.

 

[Bumbles]

Yes, they were. I purchased all of them.

How good is the quality, especially compared to the 4E versions? What did they cost?

The question of "How many copies did they sell" is one I doubt we'll ever get the figures to answer though.

 

[Nikosandros]

How good is the quality, especially compared to the 4E versions?

Well, the comparison would be somewhat unfair... the 4e versions are OEF, while the AD&D books are scans. In any event, the 1e PDFs aren't of great quality: the scans don't have an high resolution, the OCR is incomplete (especially for the tables) and the PHB has a blotch on one page.

What did they cost?

I bought them ages ago from a long defunct place called SVGames... I think that I paid them $4 each.

The question of "How many copies did they sell" is one I doubt we'll ever get the figures to answer though.

Yeah... even though I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is not that many.

 

[I'm A Banana]

If only there were some kind of electronic software that could allow people to buy the book without you having to physically print it. Instead, they could just...I dunno, download it. All the profit and none of the costs!

Man, that would be super awesome.

In the 5e thread I go into exactly this kind of scenario in some pretty deep detail.

The marginal costs of doing anything online are so incredibly low that the only reason this can't be done is because management isn't agile enough to envision how it could work.

Thankfully, I already did most of the work for them.

WotC, I expect that my check for doing the work of your management team is in the mail.