Digital products cannot undercut physical products by too much - if you make it a vastly superior deal to purchase digital, then the physical product might not sell very well. That is not exactly fair to local game stores or other small businesses, who would be disproportionately harmed if large numbers decided “eh, I prefer physical, but this digital deal is too good to pass up—I guess I’ll just go digital this time around.”
That is also bad for many consumers - if stores do not want to gamble on books which might not sell due to digital undercutting, there are fewer options available to consumers who enjoy physical products. And it is bad for Wizards, who generally likes to have their new, shiny book on display at stores, advertising the product.
$50 is the same price as Spelljammer: Adventures in Space was and still is. If you want the three books together in digital only format, this seems to be the sales price you can expect to pay.
According to the D&D Beyond Community Update, dated May 23 2023:
New Release Print Price Increases
May 23rd, 2023
This space is dedicated to communicating clearly and transparently with our players- even when the topic isn't particularly fun. Since the release of the 2014 D&D core rulebooks, we've kept book prices stable. Unfortunately, with the cost of goods and shipping continually increasing, we've finally had to make the decision to increase the price of our new release print books. We're committed to creating high-quality products that deliver great value to our players and must increase our prices to accomplish that.
This will go into effect starting with Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants and new releases after Glory of the Giants. Digital pricing is unaffected by this MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) increase, as digital products don't need to be printed or shipped. The increase also doesn't impact backlist titles. While we can't promise that there will never be a change to the prices of digital products and backlist titles, we have no plans to increase either.
Well, it seems that having no plans of changing digital prices lasted a whopping 56 days...
While I can understand that getting a physical product that has increased prices due to printing, shipping and storage costs (just to name a few) has a higher price tag, can anyone explain to me the exact reason for a $20 increase in a digital price, considering the book would cost nothing more than it used to to produce digitally? Perhaps if they allowed us to get PDF copies of the digital products, this increase in price might make sense.
That Spelljammer change must be retroactive. I just checked my order log -- 33.00 AFTER TAX.
I know a lot of folks working 3rd party in the physical space - they all say the same thing. "Yes, production costs have gone up over the last five years ...but marginally, really. And as the pandemic has waned and supply chains have returned to normal, shipping costs have begun to normalize which accounted for a significant portion of the increase."
...but the idea that you're going to charge people 50 dollars for what is essentially a .pdf I can't DOWNLOAD...is wild.
I'm absolutely at my breaking point with WotC. So many horrifically self-inflicted (well...Hasbro and WotC c-suite inflicted) wounds over the last few years. It's hard to imagine that this went into effect without so much as a word being issued to the public. But this is WotC's new normal it seems. I was absolutely just waiting and hoping for this bundle, too. When I realized Terlizzi was back...damn...so excited. But it looks like that art will ONLY be in the physical books? Nah. No thanks. You can't gouge me time and time again and expect me to keep coming back for more. So, I think I'm done now. I've been an absolutely loyal DnD Beyond customer since the beginning. I love the digital space, and it's made it incredibly affordable and intuitive for me to bring dozens of new folks into the hobby.
...but I think a whole slew of us have just about had it with the insanity. HASBRO/WotC have become one of the most anti-consumer companies in all of nerd-dom, and I just don't think I can continue supporting that.
I guess this is the final straw.
To be clear, and to address an earlier point about "undercutting" FLGS. I don't think that's true. It's clearly not been true all throughout the age of Drive Thru and a slew of other avenues for digital sales. I think digital only and physical only are two distinct crowds. In fact, I would guess that any overlap that happens is only when a physical-only consumer buys a bundle that includes the digital asset and never the other way around. No one who's digital only is going to consider buying physical, and I feel like it's been that way for a very long time.
According to the D&D Beyond Community Update, dated May 23 2023:
New Release Print Price Increases
May 23rd, 2023
This space is dedicated to communicating clearly and transparently with our players- even when the topic isn't particularly fun. Since the release of the 2014 D&D core rulebooks, we've kept book prices stable. Unfortunately, with the cost of goods and shipping continually increasing, we've finally had to make the decision to increase the price of our new release print books. We're committed to creating high-quality products that deliver great value to our players and must increase our prices to accomplish that.
This will go into effect starting with Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants and new releases after Glory of the Giants. Digital pricing is unaffected by this MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) increase, as digital products don't need to be printed or shipped. The increase also doesn't impact backlist titles. While we can't promise that there will never be a change to the prices of digital products and backlist titles, we have no plans to increase either.
Well, it seems that having no plans of changing digital prices lasted a whopping 56 days...
While I can understand that getting a physical product that has increased prices due to printing, shipping and storage costs (just to name a few) has a higher price tag, can anyone explain to me the exact reason for a $20 increase in a digital price, considering the book would cost nothing more than it used to to produce digitally? Perhaps if they allowed us to get PDF copies of the digital products, this increase in price might make sense.
This is unrelated. Spelljammer was released in 2022 and has the same price tag and page count. This is what you pay for three small books, not one big one.
I don't know. The Spelljammer "boxed" set all three books combined has a page count of 192 pages. Yes it comes with a screen, but DDB hasn't really developed a "digitally enhanced edition" of screens in any substantial way, and a couple of poster maps, which DDB will reproduce but for me at least lacks the poster experience. By Comparison, WotC put out a world, character options and adventure book in the form of the Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, that comes in at 224 pages (it also introduced the idea of background feats and feat progressions ... compared to Spelljammer's cliff notes on Spelljamming). I think people feeling ripped off by purchasing less content for 40% more $ is understandable. Since "physical analog" being represented here in the price is a slip case and three bindings that are literally immaterial to its use on DDB.
I think the boxed sets do challenge DDB's business model. Content-wise, you're getting "a book." I feel the honest thing to do is to let people buy "a book" to serve as their primary text or as a digital supplement for those who wanted to buy the prestige physical format of having "that book" split into three bindings and put in a slip case. But for now, they're married to some relationship with MSRP of the physical book.
I do understand there's supposedly more meat to the Planescape book, but I've been buying physical books and adapting them via hombrew as I've need them for at least over a year now.
I don't know. The Spelljammer "boxed" set all three books combined has a page count of 192 pages. Yes it comes with a screen, but DDB hasn't really developed a "digitally enhanced edition" of screens in any substantial way, and a couple of poster maps, which DDB will reproduce but for me at least lacks the poster experience. By Comparison, WotC put out a world, character options and adventure book in the form of the Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, that comes in at 224 pages (it also introduced the idea of background feats and feat progressions ... compared to Spelljammer's cliff notes on Spelljamming). I think people feeling ripped off by purchasing less content for 40% more $ is understandable. Since "physical analog" being represented here in the price is a slip case and three bindings that are literally immaterial to its use on DDB.
I think the boxed sets do challenge DDB's business model. Content-wise, you're getting "a book." I feel the honest thing to do is to let people buy "a book" to serve as their primary text or as a digital supplement for those who wanted to buy the prestige physical format of having "that book" split into three bindings and put in a slip case. But for now, they're married to some relationship with MSRP of the physical book.
I do understand there's supposedly more meat to the Planescape book, but I've been buying physical books and adapting them via hombrew as I've need them for at least over a year now.
Date doesn't track with any promotion that I'm aware of. I assume it does include my bundle discount, which doesn't equate to $16 dollars. And may include any digital promotion they were doing for Spelljammer.
The point was, though, that I'm 100% certain I didn't pay 49.99 for it. And as far as I'm aware, I wasn't eligible for any promotion and there was no sale (...as I said, outside of my bundle discount).
For 3 non-downloadable .pdfs that you can't have access to offline?
Get the app. Offline use. Bang.
Uh...yeah. I do. And it's gotten substantially better. But I wouldn't call it conducive to the kind of work one usually wants to do with markup and such on owned .pdfs
For 3 non-downloadable .pdfs that you can't have access to offline?
Get the app. Offline use. Bang.
Uh...yeah. I do. And it's gotten substantially better. But I wouldn't call it conducive to the kind of work one usually wants to do with markup and such on owned .pdfs
Why is this product $49.99?
Let the Mists surround you...
It's price testing. They want to know how much they can charge for the digital-only product.
It also makes the digital+physical combo a better value and will drive more upgraded sales.
I buy the bundle so it's a non-issue for me but that's my hunch as to why.
Digital products cannot undercut physical products by too much - if you make it a vastly superior deal to purchase digital, then the physical product might not sell very well. That is not exactly fair to local game stores or other small businesses, who would be disproportionately harmed if large numbers decided “eh, I prefer physical, but this digital deal is too good to pass up—I guess I’ll just go digital this time around.”
That is also bad for many consumers - if stores do not want to gamble on books which might not sell due to digital undercutting, there are fewer options available to consumers who enjoy physical products. And it is bad for Wizards, who generally likes to have their new, shiny book on display at stores, advertising the product.
How much is the physical book selling for?
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
$50 is the same price as Spelljammer: Adventures in Space was and still is. If you want the three books together in digital only format, this seems to be the sales price you can expect to pay.
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It's the same price as spell jammer...which makes sense because it's akin to that 3 book bundle.
Expect it to be like that in the future for a 3 book bundle.
Because you'll pay it.
According to the D&D Beyond Community Update, dated May 23 2023:
New Release Print Price Increases
May 23rd, 2023
This space is dedicated to communicating clearly and transparently with our players- even when the topic isn't particularly fun. Since the release of the 2014 D&D core rulebooks, we've kept book prices stable. Unfortunately, with the cost of goods and shipping continually increasing, we've finally had to make the decision to increase the price of our new release print books. We're committed to creating high-quality products that deliver great value to our players and must increase our prices to accomplish that.
This will go into effect starting with Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants and new releases after Glory of the Giants. Digital pricing is unaffected by this MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) increase, as digital products don't need to be printed or shipped. The increase also doesn't impact backlist titles. While we can't promise that there will never be a change to the prices of digital products and backlist titles, we have no plans to increase either.
Well, it seems that having no plans of changing digital prices lasted a whopping 56 days...
While I can understand that getting a physical product that has increased prices due to printing, shipping and storage costs (just to name a few) has a higher price tag, can anyone explain to me the exact reason for a $20 increase in a digital price, considering the book would cost nothing more than it used to to produce digitally? Perhaps if they allowed us to get PDF copies of the digital products, this increase in price might make sense.
Let the Mists surround you...
As others have already pointed out - it's the same price as the 3-book Spelljammer set from almost a year ago.
That Spelljammer change must be retroactive. I just checked my order log -- 33.00 AFTER TAX.
I know a lot of folks working 3rd party in the physical space - they all say the same thing. "Yes, production costs have gone up over the last five years ...but marginally, really. And as the pandemic has waned and supply chains have returned to normal, shipping costs have begun to normalize which accounted for a significant portion of the increase."
...but the idea that you're going to charge people 50 dollars for what is essentially a .pdf I can't DOWNLOAD...is wild.
I'm absolutely at my breaking point with WotC. So many horrifically self-inflicted (well...Hasbro and WotC c-suite inflicted) wounds over the last few years. It's hard to imagine that this went into effect without so much as a word being issued to the public. But this is WotC's new normal it seems. I was absolutely just waiting and hoping for this bundle, too. When I realized Terlizzi was back...damn...so excited. But it looks like that art will ONLY be in the physical books? Nah. No thanks. You can't gouge me time and time again and expect me to keep coming back for more. So, I think I'm done now. I've been an absolutely loyal DnD Beyond customer since the beginning. I love the digital space, and it's made it incredibly affordable and intuitive for me to bring dozens of new folks into the hobby.
...but I think a whole slew of us have just about had it with the insanity. HASBRO/WotC have become one of the most anti-consumer companies in all of nerd-dom, and I just don't think I can continue supporting that.
I guess this is the final straw.
To be clear, and to address an earlier point about "undercutting" FLGS. I don't think that's true. It's clearly not been true all throughout the age of Drive Thru and a slew of other avenues for digital sales. I think digital only and physical only are two distinct crowds. In fact, I would guess that any overlap that happens is only when a physical-only consumer buys a bundle that includes the digital asset and never the other way around. No one who's digital only is going to consider buying physical, and I feel like it's been that way for a very long time.
This is unrelated. Spelljammer was released in 2022 and has the same price tag and page count. This is what you pay for three small books, not one big one.
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
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It's not, Spelljammer: Adventures in Space was $49.99 from pre-order onwards
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Fair price for 3 books imho
I'm very literally looking at it on my other monitor right now.
33.99 base price -- 36.03 after tax.
So, to be clear: My initial post was incorrect. It was 36.00 and not 33.00 after tax, but still...I'm staring at it.
For 3 non-downloadable .pdfs that you can't have access to offline?
Get the app. Offline use. Bang.
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
EXTENDED SIGNATURE!
Doctor/Published Scholar/Science and Healthcare Advocate/Critter/Trekkie/Gandalf with a Glock
Try DDB free: Free Rules (2024), premade PCs, adventures, one shots, encounters, SC, homebrew, more
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What's the receipt dated for, and does that date track with the many many sales D&D Beyond has for its books?
I don't know. The Spelljammer "boxed" set all three books combined has a page count of 192 pages. Yes it comes with a screen, but DDB hasn't really developed a "digitally enhanced edition" of screens in any substantial way, and a couple of poster maps, which DDB will reproduce but for me at least lacks the poster experience. By Comparison, WotC put out a world, character options and adventure book in the form of the Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, that comes in at 224 pages (it also introduced the idea of background feats and feat progressions ... compared to Spelljammer's cliff notes on Spelljamming). I think people feeling ripped off by purchasing less content for 40% more $ is understandable. Since "physical analog" being represented here in the price is a slip case and three bindings that are literally immaterial to its use on DDB.
I think the boxed sets do challenge DDB's business model. Content-wise, you're getting "a book." I feel the honest thing to do is to let people buy "a book" to serve as their primary text or as a digital supplement for those who wanted to buy the prestige physical format of having "that book" split into three bindings and put in a slip case. But for now, they're married to some relationship with MSRP of the physical book.
I do understand there's supposedly more meat to the Planescape book, but I've been buying physical books and adapting them via hombrew as I've need them for at least over a year now.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Date doesn't track with any promotion that I'm aware of. I assume it does include my bundle discount, which doesn't equate to $16 dollars. And may include any digital promotion they were doing for Spelljammer.
The point was, though, that I'm 100% certain I didn't pay 49.99 for it. And as far as I'm aware, I wasn't eligible for any promotion and there was no sale (...as I said, outside of my bundle discount).
Uh...yeah. I do. And it's gotten substantially better. But I wouldn't call it conducive to the kind of work one usually wants to do with markup and such on owned .pdfs
Then I guess this bundle isn't right for you. :(
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
EXTENDED SIGNATURE!
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Try DDB free: Free Rules (2024), premade PCs, adventures, one shots, encounters, SC, homebrew, more
Answers: physical books, purchases, and subbing.
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