Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present

This is a compilation of the icv2.com retailer surveys of Top Five Roleplaying Games. They are generally compiled quarterly (with some exceptions). ICv2 notes that "the chart [are] based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers." Thanks to jodyjohnson for sterling compilation work and to ZsuEtAm over on WotC's D&D forums for finding the pre-2008 entries.

• These are not based on actual sales figures. With very few exceptions, sales figures are not available for any of these products.
• These do not take into account online sales, direct sales, Amazon, or anything other than hobby retail sales (although they do include Kickstarter).
• These are based on interviews with hobby game retailers and distributors.
• The RPG industry is tiny. ICv2 estimates its total size (US) as only $65M; see the table below.
• Note the addition of Kickstarter sales included in the 2015 figures onwards.

US Hobby Game Market ($ millions); based on figures from ICv2​

Category	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Collectible games	$450​	$550​	$625 (+14%)​	$750 (+12%)​	$725 (-3%)​	$625 (-14%)​
Miniatures	$125​	$125​	$175 (+40%)​	$205 (+17%)​	$270 (+32%)​	$285 (+7%)​
Boardgames	$75​	$125 ($160)​	$250 (+56%)​	$305 (+22%)​	$345 (+13%)​	$370 (+7%)​
Card & dice games	$35​	$55 ($60)​	$105 (+75%)​	$130 (+24%)​	$150 (+15%)​	$150​
Roleplaying games	$15​	$25​	$35 (+40%)​	$45 (+28%)​	$55 (+22%)​	$65 (+18%)​
Total​	$700​	$880 ($920)​	$1,190 (+29%)​	$1,435 (+21%)​	$1,545 (+8%)​	$1,495 (-3%)​

For timescale context, I highly encourage you compare chart changes with events listed in my chart TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History.



In the below chart, I've listed games only for space reasons, unless more than one company produced games with the same or similar names (e.g. multiple Star Wars games), in which case I noted the company in parenthesis. Where ties exist, I put the incumbent first.

For a color-coded (by company) version from Summer 2008 up until Spring 2014 (sorry, I made it before finding out about the 2004-2007 data!), click here.

Period	#5	#4	#3	#2	#1	Events (click for more)
Q3 2004	-	-	GURPS	World of Darkness	Dungeons & Dragons	WoW and Facebook both launched this year.
Q4 2004	Mutants & Masterminds	Mongoose*	GURPS	World of Darkness	Dungeons & Dragons
Q1 2005	Green Ronin**	Mongoose*	Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2E (Black Industries/Green Ronin)	World of Darkness	Dungeons & Dragons
Q2 2005	Green Ronin**	Mongoose*	Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2E (Black Industries/Green Ronin)	World of Darkness	Dungeons & Dragons
Q4 2005	Mongoose*	Green Ronin**	Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2E (Black Industries/Green Ronin)	World of Darkness	Dungeons & Dragons
Q1 2006	Exalted	Mutants & Masterminds	World of Darkness	Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2E (Black Industries/Green Ronin)	Dungeons & Dragons
Q2 2006	Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2E (Black Industries/Green Ronin)	Mutants & Masterminds	Exalted	World of Darkness	Dungeons & Dragons
Q3 2006	GURPS	Exalted	Mutants & Masterminds	World of Darkness	Dungeons & Dragons	White Wolf merges with Eve Online publisher CCP.
Q4 2006	BESM	Mutants & Masterminds	Exalted	World of Darkness	Dungeons & Dragons
Q1 2007	Scion	Exalted	World of Darkness	Mutants & Masterminds	Dungeons & Dragons
Q2 2007	Scion	World of Darkness	Warhammer Fantasy 2E (Black Industries/Green Ronin)	Star Wars (WotC)	Dungeons & Dragons
Q3 2007	Exalted	Battlestar Galactica	Scion	World of Darkness	Dungeons & Dragons
Q4 2007	Shadowrun	Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2E (Black Industries/Green Ronin)	World of Darkness	Warhammer 40k Roleplay	Dungeons & Dragons
Q1 2008	Mutants & Masterminds	World of Darkness	Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy	Exalted	Dungeons & Dragons
Summer 2008	Exalted	Shadowrun	World of Darkness	Warhammer 40K: Dark Heresy	Dungeons & Dragons
Fall 2008	Pathfinder	Shadowrun	World of Darkness	Warhammer 40K: Dark Heresy	Dungeons and Dragons	Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition released.
Winter 2008-2009	Shadowrun	Star Wars (WotC)	World of Darkness	Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy	Dungeons and Dragons
Q2 2009	Shadowrun	Song of Ice and Fire	World of Darkness	Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy	Dungeons and Dragons	Kickstarter launched.
Q3 2009	Shadowrun	Song of Ice and Fire	World of Darkness	Pathfinder	Dungeons and Dragons	Pathfinder RPG launched.
Q4 2009	World of Darkness	Rogue Trader/Dark Heresy	Warhammer Fantasy RPG 3E (FFG)	Pathfinder	Dungeons and Dragons
Q1 2010	Dragon Age	Rogue Trader/Dark Heresy	Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3E (FFG)	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Q2 2010	Rogue Trader/Dark Heresy	ShadowRun	Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3E (FFG)	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Q3 2010	Dresden Files	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader	Warhammer Fantasy 3E (FFG)	(Tie) Pathfinder	(Tie) Dungeons & Dragons	Dungeons & Dragons Essentials launched.
Q4 2010	Mutants and Masterminds, inc. DC	Dragon Age	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Q1 2011	Mutants and Masterminds, inc. DC	Dragon Age	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Q2 2011	Shadowrun	Dragon Age	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Dungeons & Dragons	Pathfinder	For the first time, D&D is not the top-selling RPG.
Summer 2011	Shadowrun	Dragon Age	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Dungeons & Dragons	Pathfinder
Q4 2011	The One Ring	Dragon Age	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Dungeons & Dragons	Pathfinder
Spring 2012	Marvel Heroic Roleplaying	Dragon Age	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Dungeons & Dragons	Pathfinder	D&D 5th Edition announced and public playtest begins.
Summer 2012	Dungeon Crawl Classics	Dragon Age	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Dungeons & Dragons	Pathfinder
Fall 2012	Iron Kingdoms	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Dungeons & Dragons	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder
Spring 2013	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Iron Kingdoms	Star Wars (FFG)	Dungeons & Dragons	Pathfinder
Summer 2013	Fate Core System	Iron Kingdoms	Dungeons & Dragons	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder
Fall 2013	Iron Kingdoms	Dungeons & Dragons	Fate Core System	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder
Spring 2014	Numenera	Fate Core System	Shadowrun	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder
Summer 2014	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Shadowrun	Star Wars (FFG)	Dungeons & Dragons	Pathfinder	D&D 5E launched.
Fall/Holiday 2014	Fate	Numenera	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Spring 2015	Iron Kingdoms	Shadowrun	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Fall 2015	Fantasy Age	Dragon Age	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Spring 2016	Fantasy/Dragon Age	Shadowrun	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Fall 2016	Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition	Shadowrun	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Spring 2017	Shadowrun	Adventures in Middle Earth	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Fall 2017	Star Trek Adventures	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder	Starfinder	Dungeons & Dragons	Starfinder released.
Spring 2018	Genesys (FFG)	Star Wars (FFG)	Pathfinder	Starfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Fall 2018	Vampire (White Wolf)	Starfinder (Paizo)	Star Wars (FFG)	Legend of the Five Rings (FFG)	Dungeons & Dragons	Pathfinder 2E announced.
Spring 2019	Pathfinder	Vampire 5th Edition	Star Wars (FFG)	Starfinder	Dungeons & Dragons
Summer 2019	Star Wars (FFG)	Vampire 5th Edition	Shadowrun 6E	Pathfinder	Dungeons & Dragons	Pathfinder 2E released.

*Mongoose Publishing is a company name rather than a game, but this is what ICv2 reported.


**Green Ronin is a company name rather than a game, but this is what ICv2 reported.

Below may not be the clearest of graphs, but it maps the positions of games with 3 or more entries in the ICv2 charts over time.

​

 

[Deuce Traveler]

This is pretty informative, so thank you. I think it is interesting to see D&D fall so far down from summer of 2013 until spring of 2014, but it could be due to the edition change and everyone attempting to relearn the system.

 

[Bolongo]

I think it is interesting to see D&D fall so far down from summer of 2013 until spring of 2014, but it could be due to the edition change and everyone attempting to relearn the system.

Well, the edition didn't actually change then, but IIRC 2013 was when 4e almost completely dropped off the WotC production schedule.

 

[ephemeron]

I hadn't realized that the various Warhammer/40K RPGs were that big -- well, before last fall or so, I guess. It's also fascinating to see how different licensed-property games have waxed and waned in popularity.

How much do we know about how the size of the overall industry changed over this period?

 

[TrippyHippy]

I recall that reports suggested that the Warhammer 40K RPGs were the top sellers in the UK, ahead of Pathfinder - although that is just a fraction of the market compared to the US. They may have drifted off now a bit due to the attention given to FFG’s Star Wars series instead, the sense that they had completed their five core games, and the fact that most gaming IPs tend to have a limited lifespan of significant sales (about 3 years is normal).

It’s also worth noting that even though the World of Darkness games appear to have declined a lot, this is mainly due to them making a quite dramatic change in their business plans. They no longer distribute through traditional game shops, but through online downloads, POD and Kickstarter. I don’t think these figures count those things, so it would be interesting to be able to get a round figure on how much their paying fanbase compares to other companies.

D&D hardly released any new product last year, so their decline is accounted for. Expect them to be back at the top next year. I’d also be interested to see how The One Ring would do, depending on the extent of the distribution into the US.

 

[Morrus]

This has just been updated with data from 2004-2007, thanks to ZsuEtAm over on WotC's D&D forums. That gives us a full ten years of charts!

 

[MartyW]

This is pretty informative, so thank you. I think it is interesting to see D&D fall so far down from summer of 2013 until spring of 2014, but it could be due to the edition change and everyone attempting to relearn the system.

As another poster noted, 5e was not put out yet (although the play test was under way). No new 4e product was being put on store shelves.

No new product = no sales, therefore it's not surprising the sales numbers dropped to the floor as everyone awaited the new release.

I'd be horribly surprised if Q4 2014 didn't see D&D back in the top spot. The Player's Handbook and Monster Manuals have been top sellers on Amazon. Even though Amazon sales are not reflected in the distributor's reports, I'm certain the traditional retail channels will see the same spike and D&D will reclaim #1.

 

[lud]

...

 

[lud]

I find it interesting to see from your compilation the pattern of the 3rd fantasy game in the lower part of the charts.

Starting in 2009 we have:

Song of Ice and Fire who loose its place to
Warhammer Fantasy RPG 3E that is replaced by
Dragon Age who is in turn replaced by
Iron Kingdom RPG who is at the end of this cycle...

 

[Lord Rasputin]

Spikes by games coincide with new editions, since the core rule books always are the big sellers. To pick uncontroversial examples, GURPS got a new edition in 2004, but hasn't since, so it hasn't shown up again. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay got new editions in 2005 and 2009, explaining its spikes then.

What the Essentials line did for D&D 4th was work like a new edition. Right before it came out, Pathfinder tied it, but D&D pulled into the lead again once the Essentials line got folks to update their core rule books. Once that boost was done, Pathfinder climbed into the lead.