Seriously, Really? 11.99 for the psychic power deck on my IPhone? Well I guess it is $1.26 cheaper than the real deck. Do they know what the price point is on IPhone apps these days? That $1.26 is a lot closer to it.
I could tolerate the the full price for the digital codexs. They did update them for 6th, so they are an added value if you didn't already own one. I bought the Necron on, and all the hyper-linking to special rules is very nice.
At least their app is functional. Did Privateer ever fix their unusable train-wreck of an army builder that isn't an army builder app?
I guess that we should count our blessings. GW is at least trying to enter the digital age. The stupid pricing is a problem that can be fixed easily when the digital projects aren't selling.
ReplyDeleteI still don't know how I feel about their digital codices. They really need to fall by half or so.
They are charging too much for their digital products, but that's not really what's hurting them the most. They need to incorporate their digital products into their overall product strategy.
DeleteFor instance if they didn't release the physical psychic card deck, they could have rolled this out at 6th edition release time. I might have bough it in those circumstances.
Codex's as well. If they released the digital codex a week ahead of the physical one, that could work too. They would need to print and ship less of the physical copies and make more profit overall.
Digital releases aren't going to succeed in a vacuum. You need a feedback loop where the digital sells the physical and the physical sells the digital. Right now they have their own physical products competing with their digital ones. They aren't going to succeed by trying to sell two products that do the same thing to the same person.
At least their stuff actually works at release unlike some other..,cough...cough...War Room...cough
I'll play devil's advocate...
DeleteThe iPad/iPhone numbers in the GW playerbase just aren't there yet. How many guys have we seen at the local stores with iPads? I've counted 4 including us. Most of the guys I've seen aren't using iPhones either, though those numbers are at least higher.
Digital rules sales also hurt the independent retailers and GW's own brick-and-mortar stores. Since these don't get to partake in the revenue stream. I know from talking to Jerry that it's an issue that got Battlefront dropped from all but one of the North American distributors when they tried distributing their stuff as eBooks. So GW is not going to jump into digital with both feet, because it has a lot at stake.
To me, it's enough that they're trying. The products exist, and they don't suck yet. So pricing is the only real issue.
The distributors and LGSs need to remember that digital is killing off most print media. Borders anyone? They should count their blessings that you can't download miniatures...yet. I work with a fair amount of gamers(of the board and RPG variety) and PDFs on tablets are becoming ubiquitous. If you say you bought gaming product from a brick and mortar store they give you very odd looks like you grew up with no electricity or indoor plumbing. I have to explain the miniature gamer/game store symbiosis every time.
DeleteThey need some Android presence if they are serious about digital. I understand IOS first to test the market, but they can't be successful without tipping the hat to the other big mobile OS eventually. Smart device penetration is only going to go up. I'd have my IPad with me more when I get my second one(It's hard to pry the one I have away from my wife).