Report To The Stakeholders

[Ronnke]

Originally Posted by philreed

Question: How often do you visit the New Releases page on our site?

Rarely.
GURPS is my primary interest and that information is more reliably found elsewhere (ie Kromm's journal). One thing I do find really annoying is the secrecy surrounding GURPS upcoming releases. On Kromm's journal the words "secret writing project" are almost synonymous with anything GURPS. The fact there is a GURPS speculation thread, while fun for the GURPS fan, it's probably not good for the line in general. We often don't know about a product until it actually hits w23. For me, it has become a ritual to check w23's new release page every GURPSday just to see if we are getting anything. It's hard to get excited about something you don't know is coming.

Originally Posted by philreed

Question: Where do you buy our games?

W23 for PDF's. I'm in Australia, so shipping of physical products from w23 is a killer. I picked up Discworld and Mars Attacks from Amazon (US), because I could not source those books in Australia.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by Ronnke

One thing I do find really annoying is the secrecy surrounding GURPS upcoming releases.

Company policy is that we don't discuss the specifics of unannounced releases until we're ready to make the announcement. Kromm is following that policy. Given the delays DFRPG has caused to the rest of the GURPS PDF schedule, I would argue he's right to do so, rather than set up expectations that might not come to fruition.

Originally Posted by Owen Smith

I'd complain that penalises those of us without a FLGS (anyone outside the US it seems to me).

Only if W23 and FLGS are your only two options. There are plenty of other online sellers, many of whom discount with gay abandon. W23 doesn't discount (as a general rule; we do run specific promotions from time to time) because we're not trying to compete with our retail partners but offer an alternative - not THE alternative.

[Ronnke]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

Company policy is that we don't discuss the specifics of unannounced releases until we're ready to make the announcement. Kromm is following that policy. Given the delays DFRPG has caused to the rest of the GURPS PDF schedule, I would argue he's right to do so, rather than set up expectations that might not come to fruition.

That's fine, just the consequence of not knowing what's in the pipeline, is there is nothing to get excited about, there are no talking points for the various forums, blogs, etc where roleplayers hang out. I'd also argue that your statement "until we're ready to make the announcement" has on many occasions been the day of release when we see it appear on w23. Perhaps this could be relaxed a little.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Ronnke

That's fine, just the consequence of not knowing what's in the pipeline, is there is nothing to get excited about, there are no talking points for the various forums, blogs, etc where roleplayers hang out. I'd also argue that your statement "until we're ready to make the announcement" has on many occasions been the day of release when we see it appear on w23. Perhaps this could be relaxed a little.

I respect the policy though your right that lack of a sales build up might have an effect on sales, especially for bigger projects. However for regular projects or non physical ones I think its ok.
For physical ones we do hear about it sooner at least typically when they go to press. We need those early enough we can tell our FLGS.

[Mack_JB]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

W23 is intentionally uncompetitive. It's an alternative to the FLGS for people who need one, not a replacement.

That may come back to bite you one day though. Like it or not, traditional retail is dying, and ten years from now, the FLGS may be a fond memory just as dedicated model railroad shops are now. Of course, a FLGS can give you play areas, something train stores couldn't -- but from what I'm hearing, many of these FLGS don't bother to either stock GURPS products or run games featuring it.

So what about making the GURPS line something you can only get directly from W23 or SJG? Keep Munchkin, Ogre, Car Wars, et. al. in the FLGS, of course; just make GURPS a "boutique line" that can only be gotten direct. Cutting out all the middlemen also means things could be offered slightly cheaper. There's a precedence for this in various other hobby areas, but it would be something new for SJG.

Just thinking out loud.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by Mack_JB

That may come back to bite you one day though.

It's not fixed in stone. For now, this is the solution that works for us. If it stops working for us, we'll figure out what to do then.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Ronnke

, I picked up Discworld and Mars Attacks from Amazon (US), because I could not source those books in Australia.

None of the options included Australian shipping.

How did you get them here?

[Ronnke]

Originally Posted by lachimba

None of the options included Australian shipping.

How did you get them here?

I got lucky, Amazon Prime had a copy of Discworld and as such included their cheap international shipping. I check regularly as I have friends that want to pick up the book, but I haven't seen it on Prime since. I had to bite the bullet on Mars Attacks and paid higher shipping which was still considerably less than w23. I have preordered a 2nd copy of Discworld (player copy) from Good Games AU, but they don't list Mars Attacks. Which is pretty slack for a SJG distributor.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Ronnke

I got lucky, Amazon Prime had a copy of Discworld and as such included their cheap international shipping..

How much was that shipping?

My plan to get my copy is still coming to fruition.

You should do a review. Many people don't seem to have come through on that front.

[Ronnke]

Originally Posted by lachimba

How much was that shipping?

My plan to get my copy is still coming to fruition.

You should do a review. Many people don't seem to have come through on that front.

All up, landed in my grubby hands, Discworld was AU$68. Which is a damn sight less than the AU$123 it would have cost me to get it from W23.

My review for DRPG should be on Amazon.