WotC: Re-issue older editions.

[fumetti]

Keeping multiple editions in print is a good idea. It allows WOTC to make money off of current gamers who they currently don't sell to.

WOTC seems fairly content to leave all those players out there untapped. They probably believe that doing so would undercut the sales of the newer (and projected more profitable) edition. This is a mistake. WOTC can't sell 4E to fans still in love with 3E and so on.

Better to just accept the reality, and then profit from it.

 

[Lanefan]

Another thing to consider is that TSR could not stay in business with that particular product as it is.

By the end, TSR could have had a license to print money and still not have stayed in business.

Why should WotC devote time, resources, and financial risk towards with such poor potential for profit?

Because WotC have the advantage of at least having half a clue what they're doing, and ought to be able to turn that poor potential into workable potential.

Lanefan

 

[Krensky]

There is a HUGE difference between a print quality PDF for a book and the crappy scans they had for online distribution. Would you honestly pay $50+ for books of that poor of quality? I wouldn't. Even in mint condition, the book quality for these products are inferior to today's expectations. With the competition of original product up on Ebay for fairly low prices (even the MIB stuff isn't that high of price by collector's standards), they could not afford to be stingy on quality.

Yes they could. The price may be cheap by collector's standard, but it's ludicrous by the standards for someone who just wants to read and maybe play or adapt them. I wouldn't pay $50 for a set of OD&D booklets regardless. I'd pay $20 for a complete set. FFE is selling reprints of the eight little black books for $28. Or they could just go back to selling the PDFs.

 

[Reynard]

The more I think about it, the more I think the primary driver for this should be to bring all the D&D players "back into the fold", regardless of what edition they preferred. There's brand value in that, and positive customer relations. Even if Old School Bob is never going to buy anything past the Red Box Reissue, ol' Bob has kids. he can either teach his kids to buy D&D from WotC, or buy LL from Goblinoid Games.

 

[carmachu]

That's why a print-on-demand model would be perfect. No storage costs, no worries about unsold products. The inflated costs get passed along to the consumer... who is free to do as they wish.

I wouldn't complain if I could get my hands on another copy of the World of Greyhawk boxed set for $50-60.

WOuld be a great idea, especially POD. Wont happen since they would have, in tehir mind, other products that are competing with the their flagship- 4e. In their mind, every sale lost to POD is lost to getting them into 4e.

 

[Glade Riven]

A handful of people on Enworld wanting to pay around $20 for old edition materials POD is not a successful business strategy. Just slapping poor quality PDFs for POD wouldn't gain any gamer cred, because then WotC would then be bashed for being lazy and providing a poor quality product. Attempting to appeal to an extremely tiny market is fiscal suicide without some serious mark-ups - to which the tiny market that exists is unwilling to pay. WotC would recieve more complaints, and people who are unhappy now will still be unhappy. Disgruntled fandoms don't suddenly become happy fandoms just because the company gives them what they want. They just find new things to complain about.

I've looked into POD. I have education, experiance, and have done the research to do the work that would be have to be done. And I can honestly say that it is not cost effective to pay me to do this work for the potential return. And that's just the guy doing the gruntwork. That doesn't account for advertising costs, management paychecks, marketing research, and the potential for brand confusion.

No offense, but many of the responses have been from the standpoint of "I want this, therefore they should make it" not "is this a sound business decision to commit resources to?"

It's like expecting Microsoft to still offer technical support Windows 95. The amount of people still using it does not justify the cost of continual support, therefore it is bad business decision - especially at the tail end of a worldwide recession.

 

[Kafen]

That's why a print-on-demand model would be perfect. No storage costs, no worries about unsold products. The inflated costs get passed along to the consumer... who is free to do as they wish.

I wouldn't complain if I could get my hands on another copy of the World of Greyhawk boxed set for $50-60.

Hmmm, I just made a post stating that I am not sure what WOTC could do to restore my faith in the company. Offering me a chance to get a print on demand copy of that boxed set might do it.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

<snip>

Disgruntled fandoms don't suddenly become happy fandoms just because the company gives them what they want. They just find new things to complain about.

I've looked into POD. I have education, experiance, and have done the research to do the work that would be have to be done. And I can honestly say that it is not cost effective to pay me to do this work for the potential return. And that's just the guy doing the gruntwork. That doesn't account for advertising costs, management paychecks, marketing research, and the potential for brand confusion.

<snip>

Two responses:

1. The bolded quote amuses me. Better not to give them what they want?

2. Rather than saying you have education and "experiance" why not share that information with us? I mean, can you give us a breakdown of the numbers you claim to have info about?

EDIT: Here are some WotC books already on print on demand: http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fSearchData[author]=Wizards+RPG+Team&fSearchData[lang_code]=all&fSort=salesRankEver_asc&showingSubPanels=advancedSearchPanel_title_creator

(sorry, you'll have to copy and paste the link...can't get it to work normally)

Don't know where people are getting $50 for a book from.



EDIT: It was brought to my attention that the link I provided here is not PoD, but is a second party reseller of already printed books. I apologize for the mistake / any confusion.

 

[Ulrick]

Maybe when the 4e cycle winds down WotC should just start all over with D&D, zero-hour everything, reset, and start anew with another 40 year cycle of D&D starting with a little brown box that's supposed to be a supplement for a miniature wargame...

 

[scruffygrognard]

I believe that WotC, upon buying TSR, put out the Silver Anniversary Collector's Edition boxed set that included 1st edition AD&D adventures, B2: The Keep on the Borderlands and a long-lost adventure (L3: Deep Dwarven Delve).

The quality of the reprints was great and the boxed set sold well (and is still sells for a king's ransom on the used book market). I find it hard to believe that WotC, faced with the failure of 4th edition, couldn't offer older edition books... especially through a POD service. Sure there would be a mark-up, but I'd guarantee that lots of nerds would line up and pay a premium to get their hands on newly printed classics like T1: The Village of Hommlet and the AD&D DM Screen.