From a business standpoint, was the OGL good for Wizards?

[snakeman830]

I'd add Windows 7 to the list.

I agree that the iPad definitely had better timing for release than the tablet PC and as such was more successful.  I was just pointing out that your original statement on the matter was false.

I wouldn't add Windows 7 to the list, because I still can't even get 4 hours of battery life running my Windows on my MacBook (OSX has a 7- to 8-hour battery life on the same computer), and the default settings are unfriendly towards software made for XP (which is a LOT).

Well, problem 1: you're running Windows 7 on a Mac.  The hardware between Macs and other PC's may not have any real differences, but the coding that Apple puts on there screws around with anything that isn't Apple-made.

Problem 2: you must be using the 64 bit version of 7.  The 32 bit version does not have any complications with older software (I run programs for Windows 95, 98, and XP on my computer all the time)  If you don't have a 64 bit computer, it causes battery life problems as it's trying to run everything double.

[X-Codes]

...I have a 64 bit computer, Apple hardware works FINE with Windows software (see also: Boot Camp), and I know what the hell I'm doing.  Windows 7 has shit power management.

[lieronet]

Everything is better on the PC.  Everything.  Even terrible ports that are objectively worse than the console version are better on the PC since you can mod it there.  Normal games are better since they were made on a PC and then ported over to a console.  That's not really a strike against the Xbox.

On the contrary, most modern first-person shooters and derived games (Fallout 3, Skyrim) are better on the 360.  Fuck the mods, the games were designed for controllers, and then re-programmed (badly) to work with keyboards at a later date.

I'll grant you Skyrim (not a fan anyway tbh), but any FPS is going to be better on PC. Keyboard/mouse is so far ahead of dual analogs as a control scheme for the genre it isn't even funny. Look no further than Microsoft's experiments with cross-platform play on Shadowrun for illustration. Menu navigation is similarly better on a PC for the same reasons.

Although I do grant you that Fallout: New Vegas' controls were very, very badly ported to the PC (no remappable change ammo button...).

[RobbyPants]

According to this, the idea of the OGL was to have WotC create the profitable content (core books) and have third party publishers do the modules and stuff.

The purchase was more for strategic purposes. "By us it was strategic in nature... by buying T.S.R., Wizards became clearly the top dog in the industry." It changed WotC's positioning "from the head of a category to the head of an industry."

"The strategic vision behind it was, hey-- lets let other companies, frankly, do the part of the business that doesn't make money, and we'll just do the core books. I think that was a good strategy. The problem from Wizards perspective was that Wizards never really made good on the strategy. We kept... Wizards kept doing core books and kept doing companion settings. Whereas I think, Ryan Dancey, would say the original strategy was to cut the D&D team down to like half a dozen people. And that would have been painful. One of those painful decisions companies make, but might have been exactly the right strategy to do with the brand. That's kind of why it happened. I don't think anyone could forsee the repercussions of the Open Gaming License. The amazing response."

[veekie]

Well, as Paizo demonstrates, selling modules can also be more profitable, especially with low requirements for production runs. Sure they don't individually bring in big wads of cash, being individually cheap, but they can be churned out fast, and don't really 'expire'

[caelic]

According to this, the idea of the OGL was to have WotC create the profitable content (core books) and have third party publishers do the modules and stuff.

Yep.  They called it the "evergreen model."  I question the claim that it was a good strategy--I still maintain that the glaring flaw is that there's no such thing as an "evergreen book."  Experience shows that the core rulebooks hit saturation pretty quickly.