D&D 5E Why is WOTC so awful at providing digital content?

[Umbran]

Sure did, but I can't imagine Hasbro needing to use Kickstarter can you? Its not an issue of money Hasbro and WotC have more than enough money to pay for what they want, its an issue of return on investment. If the return isn't going to be greater than the investment, or even if it just break even, then they wont bother. Its the unfortunate reality of business.

Actually, this is exactly one of the things Kickstarter is good for. If they run a Kickstarter, or some other form of crowd-funding pre-order, then they don't have to worry about return on investment, as they aren't investing! There's no risk of financial loss for the company.

Not that it makes the project without risk. It shifts the burden of risk from monetary to public relations. If there's a million-dollar kickstarter, and WotC doesn't deliver, they will have super-egg on their faces, and burn a lot of goodwill. And that's a big risk, and I can understand if they don't want to run it.

That leads us to the idea of finding someone they feel can run such a project, and license it to them to run a kickstarted development project. This is not materially different from the Trapdoor plan, but it does fail they can legitimately say they tried in good faith, and picked a bad partner.

 

[Beleriphon]

The catch is, there's only a couple software companies with experience making character generator software, and most are not successful. You pretty much have to go with an unknown or Lone Wolf.

I don't see why they don't go with Lone Wolf myself. I mean Lone Wolf would pay for the license to make the stuff, rather than the other way around, but I'm sure there's some kind of wonky legal aspect behind the scenes that makes this difficult as well. I remember some of the Cortex stuff getting dumped from Hero Lab at one point due to license problems with the Battlestar Galactica game.

 

[Sunseeker]

Actually, this is exactly one of the things Kickstarter is good for. If they run a Kickstarter, or some other form of crowd-funding pre-order, then they don't have to worry about return on investment, as they aren't investing! There's no risk of financial loss for the company.

Not that it makes the project without risk. It shifts the burden of risk from monetary to public relations. If there's a million-dollar kickstarter, and WotC doesn't deliver, they will have super-egg on their faces, and burn a lot of goodwill. And that's a big risk, and I can understand if they don't want to run it.

Right, that's going to make the fans WAY happier

"Hey fans, we're complete failures at producing digital projects, so instead of us wasting any more of our money on it, why don't you waste your money on it, then if we flub this project like we've done with every single one before, only you our loyal fans, will have lost money, won't that be great!?"

Sorry, but corporate Kickstarters reek of failed business practices.

 

[Beleriphon]

Right, that's going to make the fans WAY happier

"Hey fans, we're complete failures at producing digital projects, so instead of us wasting any more of our money on it, why don't you waste your money on it, then if we flub this project like we've done with every single one before, only you our loyal fans, will have lost money, won't that be great!?"

Sorry, but corporate Kickstarters reek of failed business practices.

Also, I have the feeling that Kickstarter sends corporate lawyers into fits/makes them explode.

 

[billd91]

Right, that's going to make the fans WAY happier

"Hey fans, we're complete failures at producing digital projects, so instead of us wasting any more of our money on it, why don't you waste your money on it, then if we flub this project like we've done with every single one before, only you our loyal fans, will have lost money, won't that be great!?"

Sorry, but corporate Kickstarters reek of failed business practices.

I think it depends on the nature of the project. Reprinting stuff that they otherwise wouldn't reprint? Fine. Special editions with a little expanded content? Fine. Software R&D? I know I'm a lot more reluctant. I can't see tossing money into a project like that as anything but speculative. I'm ok with that if I want to see a project have a chance of success like what Goblinworks is doing with PF online, but I fully recognize I am risking that money.

 

[Sunseeker]

I think it depends on the nature of the project. Reprinting stuff that they otherwise wouldn't reprint? Fine. Special editions with a little expanded content? Fine. Software R&D? I know I'm a lot more reluctant. I can't see tossing money into a project like that as anything but speculative. I'm ok with that if I want to see a project have a chance of success like what Goblinworks is doing with PF online, but I fully recognize I am risking that money.

After seeing what PF online is offering so far, I'm really, really glad I didn't invest.

But I should think there is a substantial difference between producing a MMO, and producing a digital character builder along the lines of what we had offline for 4th in the beginning.

An interesting point of note, while I wouldn't call Cryptic be best MMO creator though potentially one of the most flexible, WOTC certainly was capable of finding someone to create such a product there. So really, it's not that WOTC can't create digital products, it's just that they are apparently terrible at picking who makes them.

 

[Umbran]

Sorry, but corporate Kickstarters reek of failed business practices.

The failing practice may be trying to give you the software you want in a market that may not clearly support it. Lack of clear support in the market may (honestly, I think ought to, if they are smart) make them risk-averse. A successful pre-order campaign (it needn't be Kickstarter proper) could remove some of the uncertainty, and thus the risk aversion.

And, of course, you cut off before the suggestion that they hand it off to someone else to crowdfund - note that Paizo did that with Goblinworks for their MMO, and Paizo is frequently praised for their business practices. Do you feel Paizo's choice there reeks of failed business practices?

But I should think there is a substantial difference between producing a MMO, and producing a digital character builder along the lines of what we had offline for 4th in the beginning.

Except we aren't talking about just a character builder. We are talking "electronic tools" in general. The requirements are still in question. *You* want a character builder. Others also want monster builders, encounter builders, adventure builders, campaign managers, and virtual tabletops.

 

[Sunseeker]

The failing practice may be trying to give you the software you want in a market that may not clearly support it. Lack of clear support in the market may (honestly, I think ought to, if they are smart) make them risk-averse. A successful pre-order campaign (it needn't be Kickstarter proper) could remove some of the uncertainty, and thus the risk aversion.

Yes, giving a company money without any promise of a product certainly makes them less risk averse. It also assumes people are idiots.

If the market doesn't support it from their perspective, license it. Come out and say it, give up the goose and let someone else take over.

This is corporate hogwash at its finest.

And, of course, you cut off before the suggestion that they hand it off to someone else to crowdfund - note that Paizo did that with Goblinworks for their MMO, and Paizo is frequently praised for their business practices. Do you feel Paizo's choice there reeks of failed business practices?

As I pointed out with that project, an MMO is an entirely different kettle of fish from say Hero Builder.

What I am "risk averse" to is corporate crowdfunding. You want investors? Go find some. WOTC is owned by one of the largest toy companies in the world. IMO: Kickstarter should completely ban large corporations from running kickstarters.

Except we aren't talking about just a character builder. We are talking "electronic tools" in general. The requirements are still in question. *You* want a character builder. Others also want monster builders, encounter builders, adventure builders, campaign managers, and virtual tabletops.

Well you have to start somewhere and I suspect that a character builder would be the most widely used product, since generally speaking there are 5 people making characters for every 1 person making all the other things.

 

[Jester David]

I don't see why they don't go with Lone Wolf myself. I mean Lone Wolf would pay for the license to make the stuff, rather than the other way around, but I'm sure there's some kind of wonky legal aspect behind the scenes that makes this difficult as well. I remember some of the Cortex stuff getting dumped from Hero Lab at one point due to license problems with the Battlestar Galactica game.

This stumped me as well. It seems so obvious a choice. Partnering with LWE would mean a character builder within weeks. An app could follow shortly, already being available for Pathfinder.

The best explanation I can think of is that WotC really wants a reference app. A searchable program (not unlike the HTML Basic rules) that can be purchased for the core rulebooks, which they can offer in place of PDFs. And they want the same company to offer both, so people don't have to buy electronic access to the books twice.

 

[Dire Bare]

I wouldn't hold your breath. Remember how they briefly released some 4e pdf books on DriveThru and then snatched them back in horror?

"What?! Gaming groups don't buy a separate copy of the FR Campaign Guide for everyone in the group?! Take me back to the nice safe land of books!" And then sit behind the walls for a year, brooding over how to make DRM work.

You took my quote out of context. I want PDFs of the 5E releases, but I'm certainly not holding my breath, nor am I whining and accusing WotC of incompetence and "leaving money on the table". They have their reasons, and I respect that. I still manage to live my life and play D&D somehow.

And while WotC did release then yank 4E PDFs . . . you do realize they are once again available on dndclassics.com, right? All DRM free. Just purchased the dragonborn book yesterday for $5.