D&D (2024) D&D Pre-orders; this is sad

mamba · Jul 8, 2024

occam said:
No, we don't agree that the dollar profit margin is higher on digital.

I guess then you simply do not understand what you are even talking about...

You started with

occam said:
I doubt anyone disputes that digital products likely have a higher percentage profit margin

if you actually agreed that x < y, then it would be simple math that $25 * x < $25 * y follows from it.

You gave the $25 as the gross that WotC makes for a print book, the gross for DDB you can look up at the site, so there is no speculation there. Digital books either cost $25 or $30. For simplicity I went with $25 above but clearly this is also true for $30.

So which is it. Because the print profit margin is smaller than the digital profit margin and WotC gets the same amount for both, it absolutely follows that the profit per unit in $ for digital is also higher, or you no longer agree that the digital profit margin is higher?

mamba · Jul 8, 2024

Parmandur said:
But thar ia why print isn't going anywhere, and why WotC continues to cultivate FLGS sales: they can make a lotnof money in print, and that is not changing...ao they won't stop.

it not changing is an assumption, just like my expectation of it changing is one. If it does not change, then they will continue printing books, no doubt about that

UngeheuerLich · Jul 8, 2024

mamba said:
I guess then you simply do not understand what you are even talking about...

You started with

if you actually agreed with that, then it would be simple math because $25 * x < $25 * y, if you agree that x < y...

You gave the $25 as the gross that WotC makes for a print book, the gross for DDB you can look up at the site, so there is no speculation there. Digital books either cost $25 or $30. For simplicity I went with $25 above but clearly this is also true for $30.

25*(x+y) > 25*y>25*x if 0<x<y

So why should wotc not want x?

Cadence · Jul 8, 2024

UngeheuerLich said:
25*(x+y) > 25*y>25*x if 0<x<y

So why should wotc not want x?

There could turn out to be some z with 0<x<z<y that putting time into x is stopping them from doing.

Parmandur · Jul 8, 2024

mamba said:
it not changing is an assumption, just like my expectation of it changing is one. If it does not change, then they will continue printing books, no doubt about that

Ebooks have been around for decades, are priced favorably compared to print books, and have excellent technology. They have stabilized at like 12% of all book sales.

It doesn't matter if Beyond books have a higher unit profit margin, if they can sell like 7 or 8 print books for each digital copy. And that is not a trend that seems to be changingnin publishing in general, so there is no reason to expect it in D&D.

UngeheuerLich · Jul 8, 2024

Cadence said:
There could turn out to be some z with 0<x<z<y that putting time into x is stopping them from doing.

Of course. That is possible.

So doing layout for books might theoretically stop being cost efficient looking at gross income. But it might still be worth doing for advertising/creating goodwill.

Oofta · Jul 8, 2024

mamba said:
I guess then you simply do not understand what you are even talking about...

You started with

if you actually agreed with that, then it would be simple math because $25 * x < $25 * y, if you agree that x < y...

You gave the $25 as the gross that WotC makes for a print book, the gross for DDB you can look up at the site, so there is no speculation there. Digital books either cost $25 or $30. For simplicity I went with $25 above but clearly this is also true for $30.

We have no idea what the expenses are digital vs physical. They both have higher setup costs than maintenance, but they aren't selling PDFs. Servers, maintenance, connectivity and near 100% uptime for millions of users, required upgrades all take money. After the first printing the books are pretty cheap to produce at volume.

After expenses is digital more profitable than physical over the lifetime of a book's sales? Maybe. But we don't know.

mamba · Jul 8, 2024

UngeheuerLich said:
25*(x+y) > 25*y>25*x if 0<x<y

So why should wotc not want x?

If you consider a print sale something that either happens or does not happen, then I agree, why would they ever stop printing.

If however WotC stopping printing would get most of those buying print onto digital, then stopping print could result in a bigger overall profit for WotC because the increased margin of those switching more than compensates for the lost profit from those not switching.

If WotC were at that point today, they would stop printing. They are not. That does not mean they cannot work towards getting there, esp. since doing so already aligns with their digital strategy.

mamba · Jul 8, 2024

Parmandur said:
Ebooks have been around for decades, are priced favorably compared to print books, and have excellent technology. They have stabilized at like 12% of all book sales.

you said that before, and I replied before that D&D is not an ebook. WotC can provide an improved experience for playing D&D digitally, a novel cannot do anything remotely similar. That is why the ebook is stuck there and D&D already is past that point

Oofta · Jul 8, 2024

mamba said:
you said that before, and I replied before that D&D is not an ebook. WotC can provide an improved experience for playing D&D digitally, a novel cannot do anything remotely similar

But those improved experiences beyond just an ebook don't come for free. Which changes the calculation.

D&D (2024) D&D Pre-orders; this is sad

mamba

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UngeheuerLich

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Cadence

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Parmandur

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Oofta

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mamba

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Oofta

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