04-06-2009, 08:32 PM | #1 |
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Wizards of the Coast pulls PDFs from Paizo
Wizard of the Coast has pulled all its PDFs from the on-line PDF e-tailer Paizo. Customers who have purchased Paizo WotC PDFs need to download them before noon on April 7th or they'll be gone forever.
http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/06/w...fs-from-paizo/ |
04-06-2009, 10:31 PM | #2 |
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It appears to be a move designed to close in on version 3.5 retailers and bring home sales of D&D PDF products to disintermediate (I've been waiting weeks to use that!) retailers like Paizo and rpgnow.com, rather than as they've stated elsewhere, a move against pirates.
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04-07-2009, 08:22 AM | #3 |
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Update: Turns out that it's not a disagreement between Paizo and WotC after all. WotC has decided to stop selling PDFs on-line altogether, citing piracy concerns. They've also filed suit against 8 people for uploading the PHB2 onto peer-to-peer networks.
As I point out in the link below, this makes about as much sense as Rowling's famous piracy-driven refusal to authorize Harry Potter e-book sales. http://www.teleread.org/2009/04/07/w...right-lawsuit/ |
04-07-2009, 11:18 AM | #4 |
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I think this is pretty dumb move by Wotc.
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04-07-2009, 11:56 AM | #5 |
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Who are "Wizards of the Coast"? A publisher? I have to confess that I haven't come across them personally.
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04-07-2009, 11:58 AM | #6 |
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They're a company that came out with a little card game called Magic: The Gathering, that a few people played. Then they bought TSR—the folks who did a little game called Dungeons and Dragons that a few people here and there play.
Then Hasbro bought them, and it's been downhill ever since. |
04-07-2009, 12:03 PM | #7 |
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Thanks. I used to be a big fan of D&D in my student days, but haven't kept up with the RPG field for the last 20-odd years. They obviously post-date my involvement in it.
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04-07-2009, 01:17 PM | #8 |
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The players I know who illegally download do it as a way of previewing the books before they buy, because it's the kind of thing that can be tough to flip through in the store and really get a sense of.
I don't know how common this was, but around here the advance leak of the 4th edition Player's Handbook stirred up a lot of interest and reminded people that the first books were coming out soon. I've got friends who were really against the idea of a new edition, but decided to go ahead and buy the core books after looking through that leaked PDF. |
04-07-2009, 02:38 PM | #9 | |
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Quote:
For reference sake, I haven't bought a D&D book in 20 years, but I still have a RPG collection about the size of the D&D catalog (more than 200 books + my PDF collection) due to the number of other RPG's out there. And I'm still of the notion that "anti-piracy" excuse is a pile of monkey-poo. This is entirely about market control. Wizards/Hasbro wants to be able to control who sells what rpg and has introduced a new online sales policy with what appear to be some significant anti-competitive intent behind it to achieve that control. |
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04-08-2009, 01:34 PM | #10 |
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Folks might be interested to know that White Wolf is offering a PDF of Exalted 2nd Ed. free for the next several days.
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04-08-2009, 04:22 PM | #11 |
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Somewhere I still have my spiral-bound edition of Gygax's "Chainmail" miniature battle rules that started most of this.
WoTC should never have offered digital versions if they wanted that much control. |
04-08-2009, 06:44 PM | #12 |
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the copys on the ptp site are not even the ones they sell from what I understand. they are just copys of the books.
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04-08-2009, 06:47 PM | #13 |
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Yeah. Because you'd have to be some kind of stupid to put a sold copy watermarked with your name out there on peer-to-peer.
Though I don't doubt some people may have done just that. Never underestimate the potential for human stupidity. |
04-08-2009, 08:13 PM | #14 | |
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Quote:
It is absolutely correct that the pirated versions are just scanned. I bought quite a few pdf's on RPG Now, and (Unlike Paizo) I didn't get advanced knowledge so I could make sure I had copies of all my purchases in order. Just one more time I've been screwed over by this short-sited and uncaring company. |
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04-09-2009, 07:38 AM | #15 |
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How did digitizing "Dragon" kill it, as a matter of interest? Weren't people interested in a digital version, or do you mean that piracy killed it?
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