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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kzach" data-source="post: 5277607" data-attributes="member: 56189">I've been thinking about this a lot lately. WotC pumping out content like it's on a conveyer belt set to "Superspeed" has meant there are so many books out now that you can literally fill a bookshelf.I was at a gaming store just recently and noticed half a wall filled with D&D 4e and I asked the storeperson about it and he replied, "There's a few titles we don't have but we can get whatever you want in pretty quick," and I was like, "There's more?"That has to have a nasty overhead for WotC. TSR's problems started with having too much stock. Half their funds were tied up in warehouses. And with DDI, the only reason to buy many of the books is because you like the feel of a dead-tree in your hands.The argument that PDF's or other digital copy makes it easier for pirates to pirate is a fallacy. No matter what protections you have, whether you print on paper or in pure digital, you will never, ever, kill piracy. Companies may as well just view it as money they wouldn't have made, rather than money lost. People who pirate will continue to do so, and people who buy copies will continue to do so. The size of your market remains exactly the same, whether it's digital or print.In a previous thread I started about errata being incorporated into a POD solution, it was pretty clear that wasn't an answer. But maintaining an updated copy of PDF's online for continuous download linked to your subscription, ie. you can download an update to whatever product you own as long as you're a subscriber to DDI, seems like a viable idea.What could also please the book buyers, is if WotC themselves offer a POD solution. Surely with their Hasbro connections, they could offer a $5 or $10 additional surcharge service to print out a copy and a few dollars for delivery. Or they could just offer it through Amazon and the like.As for gaming stores, well, I think they have to realise that markets change and that they have to change with them. One thing that I'd love to see WotC doing is to bring back the D&D miniatures game. The second hand market for D&D minis was awesome and allowed for game stores to sell individuals for a profit. Plus game stores who host games could run tournaments, which in turn helps sell more minis.Currently, the D&D minis are simply too expensive. I have zero interest in buying any of them based purely on cost. I know quality seems to have increased, but honestly, they're plastic minis, what I want is quantity, not quality. If I wanted quality, I'd paint my own pewter minis.The point of all of this is that I think if they moved to a purely online distribution business model, that they could make a much larger profit, and therefore continue to put out good product, rather than filling the market with books that do little but sit on people's shelves. I would personally love to see the numbers on something like this, and the numbers on WotC's current profit margins. I'd be willing to bet they're making a loss on the hardcopies, and that their profit-leader is DDI.Of course, I'm using WotC as an example as that is the company I know. But feel free to talk about other companies and examples of online vs. brick'n'mortar success/failures.</blockquote>

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