Just before Christmas, the good folks at Adamant Entertainment dropped the price of all their PDF products to just $1. Considering these are the guys who released the utterly lovely ICONS RPG, that’s not a sale you wanted to miss.
Now they’ve upped the ante even further by announcing it’s not a sale, but a major shift in pricing policy. In their own words:
A lot of media producers talk a lot about “piracy” — how to stop it, how to get around it, how to design their businesses to deal with it. This is folly. People want to support the things that they enjoy, and overwhelmingly prefer safe, legitimate sources to do so — as long as you make in convenient and make it reasonably priced. That’s all there is — there’s no stopping unauthorized file sharing, and it’s ridiculous to tailor your business to try and address it. Companies should instead spend their effort figuring out ways to make it easier for customers to purchase… which is what we feel our new experiment allows.
Everything is now a dollar, for as long as their experiment continues. That includes their ICONS range, Thrilling Tales, Venture 4th, the whole lot. They figure that if the price point is low enough, piracy becomes redundant. I hope they’re right, and plan to do all I can personally to ensure that their experiment is a success.
So this is what I want you to do.
Head over to the Adamant Entertainment store at RPG Now immediately. Take a look at their awesome products and if you’ve a dollar to spare & see something you like, buy it. Don’t sit on the fence!
Whether you buy something or not, please spread the word. This is potentially hobby-changing news. Adamant Entertainment’s positive attitude needs your support and if it works for them, more content creators will follow suit.
Thanks for listening.
UPDATE: Thanks to PayPal’s fees, the price has been increaed to $1.99. It’s disappointing that PayPal are the spanner in the works for getting a one dollar price point, but there you go.
Over the weekend I filled out my Mars RPG collection and started buying Imperial Age T20. Eight pdfs for $8. great deal. I’m going to target Icons next..
And let me point out one of my favorite urban fantasy games from GMS, Underworld. Its a bit old, but a fun rules light game in the Neverwhere vein.
The moment the sale kicked in, I went and bought all of the ICONS Adventures from them that i’d been saving for when I got some extra money. I expect to continue for as long as they have good things to buy.
I just read on Fictitious Entry that the prices went up to $1.99. Apparently, Paypal needs to get paid, too. Still a good price, of course.
However, I think an “across the board” price can irk a few gamers. “You mean I can buy this core book for $2, and I still have to pay $2 for this tiny supplement?” – Not this gamer, but at least a few.
Yeah. Sad to see that PayPal is the stumbling block for $1 pricing, but there you go. $1.99 is still an amazing price though.
When it comes to everything being the same price point, I guess it comes down to expectation of quality. If you’ve bought the rule system for $1.99 and it’s great, you’ll buy the 16 page supplement from the same author, partly as a thank you but also because you know you’re going to get something good. That’s the theory, anyhow :)