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How does Paizo make money on PF product?
It is interesting that there is so much material available on the web. I am starting a JR campaign and have been purchasing the modules - I got four of the six, but it cost me $80. I couldn't find the other two at my local store and I really wanted to read the entire story arch and I was amazed at how easily they were to find on the web.
How many of you get all of your Pathfinder information from the web? With the information so availableon the web how does the Pathfinder product make money - is it their miniatures or what?
I just don't see how they get people to pay $120 for a 6 book AP set when you can get it for free. Believe me, I never download torents and avoid getting publish stuff for free. I want to support my game store and the companies so we keep getting good material. But I don't see how they can make money.
Let me know the secret.
Quite a bit of the content is available for free, but I have only ever seen the PDFs of modules and APs cost money, unless it was a special promotional item. Are you saying you downloaded two of the Jade Regent PDFs for free?
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Good customer relations. Most people are willing to pay for a product they like even if they could theoretically get it for free. They give away the core rules for free on the prd, yet its like on its 6th printing and outsold even paizo's wildest expectations.
Just because its available for free, or partially for free doesnt mean people wont pay for it.
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Piracy and losses through piracy are always going to be a problem. Paizo, however, has set things up to encourage people to not be pirates by setting the price of PDF rulebooks low, by not charging an arm and a leg for their other PDFs, by giving PDF copies away for free for people who subscribe to the physical materials lines, and by keeping track of all of the purchases and updating materials (from time to time) with fixes and optimizations.
Really, they're doing what they can to offer a positive alternative to piracy and I hope it's working well for them.
Good customer relations. Most people are willing to pay for a product they like even if they could theoretically get it for free. They give away the core rules for free on the prd, yet its like on its 6th printing and outsold even paizo's wildest expectations.
Just because its available for free, or partially for free doesnt mean people wont pay for it.
+1 to this. People are willing to pay for products they feel worth the price. I have the prd extended from d20pfsrd.org, still I purchase pathfinder books. Even more, I strongly support the Italian translation of pathfinder: I bought every book from hardcover line translated. It's a well worth work. I gladly pay for it. That's because the pathfinder team work hard, and the vast majority of products are really worth the price.
Regarding translated editions:
are the rules sometimes written more clearly or are they sometimes made harder to understand after being translated?
I ask because I speak both English and Spanish, and I have found that when I translate things, I do it how I would say it, which is not necessarily a word-for-word translation.
Also, when I read the Bible, I like to use a bilingual Bible, that has verses in Spanish on one side, and English on the other. I find that by reading things in both of the languages I understand it better. The point being that in one language a particular section might be worded better than how it was written in the other.
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Good customer relations. Most people are willing to pay for a product they like even if they could theoretically get it for free.
Yep, definiately, look at the move toward "Pay what you want" pricing of PDFs on DriveThruRPG.com and leading the way with publishers like Evil Hat and how they have priced Fate Core.
Subscriptions! If I'm not mistaken, Paizo's primary source of revenue is subscriptions, especially the ones for Adventure Paths. They get to sell (at a discount, but pre-counted) a physical copy and throw in a PDF (which is essentially free, since they are being made, anyway) so subscribers get early access to material.
