Lisa,
Thank you for responding in such a professional and open manner about the transition.
I hear what you're saying about the graciousness of Wizards, but here's my challenge: it doesn't feel we are getting the same kind of feedback and openness and left kind of hanging. Wizards' intents may be the best, but we don't know anything. Being left out feels very frustrating.
That is why I feel much more dedicated to Paizo at this point. All of the staff has been great about explaining their thought process and what the future holds.
Once again, thank you.
Chief Technical Officer
|
For those of you who don't look at the front page, Whimsy Chris is talking about Lisa's message here.
*raises a toast to Lisa*
Very awesome. Sums up a lot of questions in one area. :)
~joins Lilith in that toast~ To Lisa and all the wonderful staff of Paizo Publishing. We appreciate all you have done. ~looks around with a sneer~ Now get back to work, slaves!!!
thank you Paizo for being the excellent friends and game company we all need right now.
Thanks Lisa and all the Paizoians (I love that word).
I can only subscribe to the notions of the previous posters. It is nice to read this statement from Lisa, explaining several points and generally showing care for the customers. Thank you. (and I gotta get my girlfriends credit card one of these days to become charter subscriber :-))
Stefan
Some people are worried that Pathfinder is all about the Adventure Path, but that's literally just part of the Pathfinder story. About half of each volume will contain the adventure. The remaining half of each volume consists of the kind of crunchy goodness that you have come to expect from Dragon magazine. Monsters, spells, classes, races, deities, demons, cities, new rules—it will all be there in Pathfinder.
And this is what has convinced me to subscribe.
There had been hints at "other stuff" besides the Adventure Path, but nothing I have read yet made it as clear as this.
And yes, like the others, let me add my thanks to your dedication and customer relations ethics. It is a sad thing that more companies can't do the job even half as well.
|
CEO
|
Hey y'all:
Once again, thanks for all of your support. This industry can be a pretty harsh mistress and when there are times I am getting a bit down, all I have to do is come to these messegeboards, read the posts from y'all, and it just makes me feel like it all means something.
The crew here at Paizo are going through some hard times with this transition. Everyone is working twice as hard as they used to trying to do two jobs at once. We are seeing the two magazines that pretty much dominated our lives for the past five years going away in a few short months. On the horizon are products that we are personally very excited about, but there is also the unknown...will enough people like what we are doing? Will we sell enough to replace Dragon and Dungeon's monetary effect on the company?
I have to say that the prognosis is looking better than I ever thought it could. And it is all because of you guys. The outpouring of support, the large number of folks who are giving Pathfinder a shot without even seeing a single issue, the great number of Paizoians who are on these messageboards and other ones around our industry, sharing the news about what we are doing and rallying support to our cause is amazing. Because we can't do this without you guys. You are the ones who give us the chance to make the products you love. And for that, I thank you.
Paizo will be here for you as long as you want us to be. We will continue to strive to give you the best gaming tools we can, both here on the website and in the products we produce. We will continue to engage the best authors and artists in the business to bring you the highest quality of products that we can. As long as you guys buy the products, we'll make them. And we will stay true to our gamer roots. For at our core, we are all gamers, living out the dream of making gaming products for a living. And once again, for that, we have y'all to thank!
-Lisa
|
Hey Lisa.
I, too, would like to thank you for engaging the customers and creating the impression that you truly do care, both as a person and as a company for each of us. If every company provided that level of customer support, I think all of us would a lot happier in general.
I'm determined now to try to acquire every Paizo product to keep you in business (despite the fact my wife will only allow infrequent purchases), starting with the Art of Dragon on Tuesday.
I just have one question I'm hoping you can answer. Obviously, the license has been non-renewed. Some time in the future, perhaps many years from now, if Paizo had the chance to pick up the magazines again in physical form (perhaps with no license to worry about non-renwal), do you think you would publish them again?
*points at the title by her name*
Despite having a whole load o' stuff to do with this paycheck, I managed to swing it and sign up for Pathfinder.
Le Roi est Mort. Viva le Roi.
|
CEO
|
I just have one question I'm hoping you can answer. Obviously, the license has been non-renewed. Some time in the future, perhaps many years from now, if Paizo had the chance to pick up the magazines again in physical form (perhaps with no license to worry about non-renwal), do you think you would publish them again?
A question about the future. You know what Master Yoda says about it, "Always in motion the future is." I can tell you that we would give it a very serious look. There are so many variables that would probably help to shape a decision like that. What kind of financial shape Paizo is in (it would probably still cost close to a million dollars to relaunch Dragon and Dungeon into the market). Basically, you lose everything you built up in the distribution channel as time goes by. So much of that would depend on how far into the future this opportunity comes up.
Another factor would be the health of the D&D brand. If the D&D game is growing by leaps and bounds, then there would be a big upside. But if it has shrunk even further, then it would be harder to make the magazine business make sense. In order for magazines to work as a business model, you need lots and lots of customers. And lots of advertisors. The latter group has been harder and harder to find for magazines like Dragon and Dungeon.
And of course, you would have to look at the competition, especially from the internet. If much of the same content is being given away for free on websites, or Wizard's Digital Initiative has a lot of subscribers, it would probably make it harder to do Dragon and Dungeon. Of course, you could change the format and up the price a bit to allow for lower sales, but then you are moving away from what Dragon and Dungeon are.
If the opportunity popped up many years down the line, we would look at it seriously for sure. But there would have to be almost a perfect storm of things aligning for it to make sense. But who knows? I'll cross that bridge if and when it ever appears. :)
-Lisa
Lisa,
I do so appreciate the fact that you would be even willing to give our beloved magazines a second thought and attept to revive them if there was a way you could. If that chance occurs in the furture, I will be one of the first to sign back up, even if the price went up.
Thanks again,
Kevin
Where else on the boards does the CEO appear "in person" to rub elbows with the hoi poloi? Lisa, you have my thanks as well. Clearly you set a great tone in the workplace and it shows in every facet of your business.
I know that maybe you can't answer this question without compromising some things that need to be kept confidential, and I may be reading something into your statement above that you didn't intend--but is the consensus in the industry that the market for D&D is contracting? Or that it's saturated and everyone's retrenching? Kind of curious, and all of the recent license pullings and related movement in the business have us all speculating wildly--those of us who aren't in the know, that is. Should we all be running beginner games at comic shops to try gain new converts to the hobby?