Submitted by RobBoyle on
The Eclipse Phase core book PDF is now available! You can order the hardcopy book or get a bundle hardcopy + PDF deal from Catalyst through their BattleShop.
Note that we're making the PDF available for the low price of only $15 ($10 if you take the bundle deal with the hardcopy). This is substantially lower than standard industry PDF pricing for an equivalent book. If anyone's wondering, this is part of the reason we took a bit longer to get the PDF out, as Posthuman Studios and Catalyst Game Labs negotiated on a PDF price point that would get this game in as many hands as possible while still meeting Catalyst's business needs. As Cory Doctorow has noted, the biggest danger to new authors (or in this case, a new game) is obscurity. This is part of the reason we pursued the Creative Commons license, allowing our fans to share the game with their friends. The RPG publishing industry is a business with low profit margins, however, and PDF sales are often viewed as supplemental and necessary income that can mean the difference in a company's well-being or even survival. We're taking a risk here, and we're hoping the gaming community will reciprocate and show us some love back. So if you receive this PDF from a friend who shared it in accordance with the Creative Commons license, and you like it, please support the cause by buying the PDF and/or bundle. To some degree, this is an experiment, and we hope to make it work. If it does, it may very well affect how Catalyst and other game companies go about biz in the future. So to be blunt, we need your support!
* Edited 11/23 to change all "pre-order" terminology to "order," since the book is now available.
Note that we're making the PDF available for the low price of only $15 ($10 if you take the bundle deal with the hardcopy). This is substantially lower than standard industry PDF pricing for an equivalent book. If anyone's wondering, this is part of the reason we took a bit longer to get the PDF out, as Posthuman Studios and Catalyst Game Labs negotiated on a PDF price point that would get this game in as many hands as possible while still meeting Catalyst's business needs. As Cory Doctorow has noted, the biggest danger to new authors (or in this case, a new game) is obscurity. This is part of the reason we pursued the Creative Commons license, allowing our fans to share the game with their friends. The RPG publishing industry is a business with low profit margins, however, and PDF sales are often viewed as supplemental and necessary income that can mean the difference in a company's well-being or even survival. We're taking a risk here, and we're hoping the gaming community will reciprocate and show us some love back. So if you receive this PDF from a friend who shared it in accordance with the Creative Commons license, and you like it, please support the cause by buying the PDF and/or bundle. To some degree, this is an experiment, and we hope to make it work. If it does, it may very well affect how Catalyst and other game companies go about biz in the future. So to be blunt, we need your support!
* Edited 11/23 to change all "pre-order" terminology to "order," since the book is now available.
Category:
The release date and assorted info should be brought up to speed. : ) I'm eyeholes deep in the PDF and waiting with bated breath for the dead tree version.
-tF
the price point definitly prompted my purchase. otherwise i probably would have waited for the hardcopy from the FLGS, which i'll still surely buy. i dont generally consider myself to be cheap, but i guess i am. I hope your pricing, distribution, and licensing decisions lead to measurably improved market saturation and profits -- showing us the way to the future and all that.
cheers!
I've been very excited for this since I learned of it (a scant couple weeks ago!), and I just finished purchasing the corebook/PDF bundle from BattleShop. Their site leaves a lot to be desired, though, and I suppose I should have asked some questions before shelling out my cash. I'm not sure where better to ask, but here seems good enough, so:
1) I noticed that BattleShop tells me I can download the PDF only seven times, and that the download link expires this coming Friday (August 28th). While I only need one copy (and will back it up profusely), the extremely limited availability time-wise strikes me as... less than stellar. Their site says nothing about why this link is only available for less than a week; do you guys have a better answer? Will I be able to find a new link when the first expires? I didn't even see a purchase agreement or PDF replacement policy during checkout and can't find one anywhere on the site. I would have paid the extra $5 at DriveThru where they don't limit the timeframe of availability (they limit PDFs to 5 downloads with a "write us if you need more" policy).
2) I realize it calls the book a preorder *here*, but the BattleShop pages gave no indication that the book wouldn't be immediately available... nor how long it would take them to ship it to me when it WAS available. When should I expect the book? The forums mentioned it'll take up to a month for the actual physical books to ship from the printers, but a vague ETA would be better for my peace of mind (given I've just shelled out a fair chunk of change to a rather sketchy provider).
I apologize for the wordiness - I haven't even had a chance to read my copy yet! - but I figured it'd be better to ask ASAP (shouldn't have let my excitement get the better of me).
2) We do not have a street date for the book yet. I would anticipate that copies will ship in October, but that is _not_ a guarantee.
3) We're well aware that in some ways, the BattleShop is lacking, and that's one of Catalyst's major projects this year, to bring the store into 2009. ;-)
Best.
MorphGame. Ever!