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Interesting admissions from several rpg pdf publishers about the economy and Dungeons & Dragons 4E:
Unfortunately, October's sales were 40% less than this time last year.
We've lost nearly half of our income. Things are that bad.
I'm working as hard as I'm able to turn this around. Everyone *will* be paid.
On a side note -- Adamant is one of the top PDF publishers out there, and the current economy has hit us hard. I'm positive that others have been hit as well. If you've got a favorite publisher, try throwing a few extra sales their way -- I'm sure they could really, really use it.
Thread here, from posts 158+.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Interesting, but it makes sense.
Also makes me glad in a way that I put my pet projects for free out there for anyone who wants to ask for them and playtest them. I don't think my couple of classes, races, feats and bad jokes are worth money *laugh*.
I know my income has taken a hit, both in increased costs and in focusing efforts somewhere else to get bills paid down *mourns loss of Plant Stories Tag*
But to not get paid, that's bad.
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I am absolutely not trying to stir anything up with this, but my spending habits have nothing to do with the economy. It seems like my favorite 3rd party PDF publishers are now doing 4e and I'm a PRPG/3.5 devotee. I'm just one me, but still...
On top of subscribing to everything Pathfinder, I'm giving money to Open Design, Sinister Games, and Skeletonkey as fast as they can publish material. I just bought some stuff from Highmoon Media. My next big purchase is going to Reality Deviant.
My heart breaks every time I think about Blackdirge, Goodman Games, and Necromancer... I wish them all the luck, but I miss them.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I understand where you're coming from DF, but even the products I want I'm hampered by budgetary concerns.
Those are just two examples. KQ and Paizo benefit from the subscription plan because it's more, well, behind the scenes.
Frankly, I'm surprised small RPG publishers can make any money in the first place. Especially out of material that is published as Open Content (which means that it can be freely distributed as well).
Chief Technical Officer
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Frankly, I'm surprised small RPG publishers can make any money in the first place. Especially out of material that is published as Open Content (which means that it can be freely distributed as well).
I think you may be confused about the definition of Open Content. The portion of an OGL product that's designated Open Content may be republished under the OGL as long as that republication follows the rules of the OGL in doing so. Most products, however, also include Product Identity which may *not* be republished under the OGL. Also, both Open Content and Product Identity are generally protected by copyright law.
In short, most OGL products *cannot* be freely distributed; doing so without permission is generally a violation of copyright law.
I think you may be confused about the definition of Open Content. The portion of an OGL product that's designated Open Content may be republished under the OGL as long as that republication follows the rules of the OGL in doing so. Most products, however, also include Product Identity which may *not* be republished under the OGL.
Right, which is why you strip out the Product Identity before you distribute it (which is often a fairly small part of the product, from what I've seen). I specifically stated that the Open Content can be reproduced (under license), not the whole magilla.
Also, both Open Content and Product Identity are generally protected by copyright law.
Right, but it's licensed for use by anyone (as long as they follow the license).
I'm not confused about what Open Content means at all.