[HOE] The Unity price (was Unity Opinions)

[PEGShane@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/19/2002 10:56:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time, hwoolseylists@yahoo.com writes:


> Next, this is not intended as a complaint, but a
> question. Does the price reflect a change in price
> structure at Pinnacle? I was very surprised at the
> length of the adventure compared to the price.
> Pinnacle usually give us 128 pages for $20. Only
> getting 96 pages of Pinnacle's large-type design
> (which I like - it's easy to read and feels friendly)
> for that price was a change. I would not be surprised
> to learn that costs have gone up, or that price
> structure needed to change for Pinnacle's bottom line.
> I'm just curious if this represents a lines-wide
> change we should expect from now on. I still feel I
> got my money's worth from the story.


Not in general. I raised the Unity because adventure just don't sell that well and I just can't afford to lose money on certain products any more (we've done that in the past). And in case you haven't noticed, *many* stores decided HOE was a flop long ago. That's a problem because it doesn't bring in any new players who might have looked at our stuff while "browsing." Funny thing is, we sell just as much HOE as we do the Weird West, but a lot more of it is done online, meaning you fine folks can't find it in your local store so you *have* to order direct.

An even greater and unfortunate truth is that all non-d20 RPGs are suffering greatly right now. That's why I've gone the dual-stat route, to keep our games alive, but it's still a daily struggle.

All those folks who are buying premium items like the lithographs *really* help, so we're lucky, but we're not out of the woods yet. Remember that we're still paying out an incredible amount of debt from last year's unfortunate "acquisition." Most companies would have gone bankrupt and then continued business as usual the same day--that really is how it works 90% of the time. In fact, I could name (but won't) several well-known companies that have gone bankrupt and it didn't even slow down their business (long discussion--but essentially you can go bankrupt and *buy* your own assets back almost immediately because a bank that should theoretically seize your property generally can't sell it--how would a bank promote and sell game materials?). I decided to take the high road and work like a dog to get PEG back in the black, and am making great headway. But we ain't there yet.

So thanks to all those of you who continue to shell out your dinero for my stuff. I appreciate, praise, and thank all of you every day. In fact, in a recent interview in Games Unplugged, Tim Brown noted that "PEG has some of the most loyal fans he's ever seen." And Tim's worked in the industry for over 20 years (he started with GDW), so that's very flattering. I don't consider everyone here fans though--more like friends. That's why I don't mind critical discussion over our projects. It's also why I hope any comments I make to the contrary are taken as a differing opinion--not a corporate mouthpiece just trying to sell stuff.

So again, thanks all!

Shane