I read with dismay that Foundry VTT products for future seasons are canceled because the revenue hasn't been enough to cover costs.
Having those scenarios ready at a pinch for running an online game has been very nifty, and I think the quality of the product is worth the cost -- I wouldn't want to skimp on that! I am keen to get these scenarios into as many peoples' hands as possible. If Paizo is seeing a sales issue, I can't help but think that part of the issue is this:
Currently, the cheapest Foundry VTT product that has modules is the 4-13 and 4-14 bundle for $8. Seems like a good deal to me! If someone wants to try any online scenario, and they don't care which, then for the cost of a couple of Sbux coffees they can get two solid sessions of gameplay, with all of the excellent conversion work that Paizo's associates (was it Metamorphic?) have done.
From there, the next price point is $85 for a half-season. That's a huge jump! And it probably doesn't make financial sense for anybody who isn't running online scenarios on a regular basis. Note that I am not counting the asset packs, because you can't just whip together a game night on asset packs alone.
My thinking is, most of the cost for producing a season of Foundry adventures ought to have been borne once, when Paizo contracted for the full season of content and got the deluxe full-season module as a result. I think the content for a one-pack, two-pack, or N-pack module should be cheap to produce from there: scripts ought to be able to fully automate the selection of adventures from a larger pack. Can the storefront/catalog not also be updated in an automated manner?
If Paizo has, or can develop, this capability, then I'd suggest playing around with the content Paizo's already got to see if there's not a bunch of uncaptured revenue out there just waiting for Paizo to nab at lower price points. I've got to think Paizo's digital associates have motivation to find a way forward here too, and might be able to help. Options might include:
- Publishing each scenario individually, at say a price point of $10, so that there's a natural discount when you step up to the half-season or full season
- Doing 2-packs or 4-packs if there are reasons that individual scenarios are somehow infeasible
- Doing anthologies of popular scenarios
- Doing all the metaplots in a season... or all the kid-friendly ones... or series like Brastlewark, Chitterwood, the Dacilane Academy series, the Stars, etc.
I imagine that Paizo would want some way to upsell people who try these modules and like them into a full season at a discount -- but given how expensive a full season is, I'm thinking that the opportunity there might be limited. Perhaps the upselling can wait.
My hope is that these could supplement or replace the half-seasons and asset packs Paizo's got, and get them to a point where it's worth their while to produce additional seasons again.
I'll point out one other thing: I think we'll find that people have an easier time getting smaller packages installed and run in the Forge, which is one of the most popular Foundry hosting solutions. Package updates for me tend to time out, and I've bumped up against hosting limits more than once when trying to use a full season.
Thoughts?