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Wizards of the Coast has pulled the plug on Paizo Publishing’s license to produce the Dungeon and Dragon magazines.

Today, Wizards of the Coast and Paizo Publishing announced the conclusion of Paizo’s license to publish Dragon and Dungeon magazines. The magazines will cease publication following the release of the September issues, which ship to subscribers and newsstands in August. The final issues will be Dragon #359 and Dungeon #150.

Wizards of the Coast will be moving the kind of content currently found in Dragon and Dungeon to an online model.

What’s Paizo doing instead? Well, they’re switching their machine over to producing a new magazine monthly book called Pathfinder, a “96-page, perfect-bound, OGL-compatible full-color softcover Adventure Path book.”

Personally, I think this stinks. As much as I like Paizo as a company, I’ve never gotten into their Adventure Path adventures, and now, it seems, that’s pretty much all they’re left with.

I’m not sure what WotC was/is thinking, but it apparently isn’t an issue about profitability, as publisher Erik Mona explained on Paizo’s message boards:

» Ikor wrote: Were the magazines losing money?

Absolutely not. As far as I know, the sales of the magazines were not a factor in this decision. We’re actually very pleased with the sales of the magazines, and in particular with our growing subscriber lists.

Here’s hoping that enough readers decide to give Pathfinder and our GameMastery Modules a try. We’re extremely excited about the new opportunities we’ll have with the new arrangement.

–Erik

Betcha dollars to donuts that Steve Jackson Games’ Pyramid sees its subscriber numbers swell nicely in the weeks to come.

The full text of the announcement is after the cut.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
Dear friends,

Today, Wizards of the Coast and Paizo Publishing announced the conclusion of Paizo’s license to publish Dragon and Dungeon magazines. The magazines will cease publication following the release of the September issues, which ship to subscribers and newsstands in August. The final issues will be Dragon #359 and Dungeon #150.

Wizards of the Coast will be moving the kind of content currently found in Dragon and Dungeon to an online model. Both companies remain on good terms and continue to discuss future opportunities for publishing partnerships.

Today also marks the official announcement of Pathfinder, a new monthly 96-page, perfect-bound, OGL-compatible full-color softcover Adventure Path book printed on high-quality paper for use with the world’s most popular roleplaying game. Over the last several months, the same editors who bring you Dragon and Dungeon have been developing the next evolution in RPG campaigns, and we hope you’ll take some time to look at what we have to offer. Pathfinder will debut in August at hobby retail stores, bookstores, and here on paizo.com, and-though it’s a book, not a magazine-we’ll be offering a subscription service for gamers eager to add a vorpal edge to their campaigns. In fact, you can subscribe to Pathfinder right now and receive a free bonus Player’s Guide to the first Pathfinder Adventure Path: Rise of the Runelords.

Speaking of subscriptions, the discontinuation of Dragon and Dungeon will leave many of our valued subscribers with excess subscription credit. Paizo has set up a special Transition Page that offers multiple options to these subscribers.

We’re sure many of you have questions about this development, so we’ve developed a special Frequently Asked Questions page that covers many of the issues you’ll wonder about. If you don’t see your question listed there, drop by the new Magazine Transition forum on our Customer Service messageboards, which we will be monitoring closely.

If you’re concerned about the future of Paizo, you can relax. We’re very excited about Pathfinder, our GameMastery line of RPG modules and accessories, our Titanic Games line of deluxe board games, and Planet Stories, our recently announced line of classic science fiction and fantasy novels. No Paizo staffers have lost their jobs as a result of this development-in fact, we’re so enthusiastic about our future that we’ve recently hired several new employees. However, if you’re wondering what you can do to help Paizo succeed in our new ventures, please visit our What Can I Do to Help? page.

Dragon and Dungeon have been the backbone of Paizo Publishing for five years since we spun off from Wizards of the Coast’s periodicals department in 2002, and both magazines have been an integral part of the RPG publishing world for decades. Bringing the magazines to you every month has been a true honor, and we in the Paizo family look forward to the continuing honor of serving your gaming needs for years and years to come.

Sincerely,

Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC
April 19, 2007