Inspired by the success of science fiction publisher Baen's free online library, John Nephew of Atlas Games decided to put the Fourth Edition Rulebook for Ars Magica on line last March (see 'Atlas Games Offers Free Ars Magica Rulebook').  The plan was that consumers who downloaded the game, played it, and enjoyed it would purchase the $33 softcover version of the core rulebook.  Unfortunately, according to Nephew, sales of the Ars Magica core rulebook since it has been available online have declined by 56% compared with sales from the same period in 2002. 

With the number of downloads well over 10,000, even if the core rulebook sales were down, wouldn't the sales of supplements and adventures benefit?  Not much if at all, according to Nephew, who found a decline of 9% in sales of sourcebooks versus the same period in 2002 in which very comparable products were released.  While the rate of downloads (now in the 700-800 a month range) is far greater than sales of the core rulebook had been, the increase in the number of people with access to the core rulebooks hasn't resulted in any increases in sales of Ars Magica adventures or supplements. 

With results like this it is not surprising that Nephew is not planning on putting Ars Magica Fifth Edition, which should be out in late Q4 2004, online for a free download. Several RPG publishers in additon to Atlas have experimented with free downloads of core rulebooks for mature games in hopes of selling additional ancillary products to a new group of players who were able to sample the game for free.  Though Eden Studios has reported some success with a similar program, in the case of Atlas Games all those free downloads have not resulted in an increase in sales, and it appears that the suspicion of some that free online RPG downloads hurt sales appears well founded.