Paizo has announced the end of its official partnership with Archives of Nethys. This will negatively effect the web directory that has been an indelible part of the Pathfinder and Starfinder communities thanks to its function as a comprehensive online references for rules and materials for those TTRPGs.
Paizo and The Archives of Nethys
In a recent post on the Archives of Nethys’ website, the owners announced that after an extensive eight-year partnership, Paizo e-mailed them stating that the partnership was terminated effective on July 24th. According to the e-mail, the termination is because under the partnership, Archives of Nethys would pay royalties to Paizo, but the site has not generated enough revenue for royalties to be collected within those eight years.
Broad elements of this partnership have been discussed before. Paizo would send Archives of Nethys early advance PDFs of both Pathfinder and Starfinder material and any corresponding art assets. The people at the site, all unpaid volunteers from the community, would then work to put all Player and GM material on the site where it can be easily searched and referenced on the same day as release.
Notably, the site isn’t paywalled. Unlike similar tools like D&D Beyond, Archives of Nethys has gotten by on fan donations and ad revenue, with all profits going into server rental and search engine costs. Any further attempts to monetize the service, according to the creators, would end up destroying its straightforward appeal.
The good news is that while the partnership with Paizo has ended, Archives of Nethys isn’t going anywhere. The site will still function but will do so under Paizo’s Community Use Policy. This means official artwork, outside of stuff like iconics or religious symbols, will be removed and the Paizo PRD will also be removed.
Most crucially, this means that the site owners and volunteers will no longer be getting book PDFs early. Logistically, this means material uploaded to the archive will slow down after the release of Pathfinder’s Bastion of Blasphemies and Dead God’s Hand books as well as Starfinder Second Edition’s Secrets of the Swarm.
Given Paizo’s recent financial strain from the Diamond Comics bankruptcy leading to the company laying off employees and scaling back various programs like Pathfinder and Starfinder Society, the termination of one of the most popular references for their game is just another indication of their dire situation.
