Yeah, it doesn't necessarily mean a universal sell-out. But Amazon might not have more coming in.I’m not sure it means the latest printing is sold out based on Amazon possibly running out of stock. Maybe.
I know of one time before Amazon ran out and WotC said there were books in the “system” outside of Amazon that got shifted over.
This sales rankings are built on the backs of the exploited.
Congratulations on cheering that on?
It's just the little engine that could. Wow. Could you imagine, back in 2014, telling someone that not only would the 5e PHB outsell pretty much any core book by a significant margin, but also would STILL be one of the best selling books on Amazon ten years later?
Crazy.
I might have believed it outselling any previous edition's PHB, actually. IIRC, back in 2014 I thought 5th had hit a sweet spot, design wise, and was well suited to be the baseline reference edition for Hasbro efforts to license the brand. More logical/systematic than AD&D ever had been, much less build-a-character complexity (and better internal math) than 3rd edition, far more respectful of the game's legacy than 4th.It's just the little engine that could. Wow. Could you imagine, back in 2014, telling someone that not only would the 5e PHB outsell pretty much any core book by a significant margin, but also would STILL be one of the best selling books on Amazon ten years later?
It hit #1 quickly. Then sold out at Amazon soon after. Several times. Then hit #1 again. There is a graph somewhere I think in this thread. They had to delay and stop printing of the DMG to satisfy immediate demand.I might have believed it outselling any previous edition's PHB, actually. IIRC, back in 2014 I thought 5th had hit a sweet spot, design wise, and was well suited to be the baseline reference edition for Hasbro efforts to license the brand. More logical/systematic than AD&D ever had been, much less build-a-character complexity (and better internal math) than 3rd edition, far more respectful of the game's legacy than 4th.
But the sales curve for 5th edition has just been bonkers. No edition of the PHB, from the founding of Amazon to 2015, ever shows up on Amazon's hundred best-selling books of the year. And then in 2016, the 5e PHB, in its third year, suddenly shows up at #92. Then it posts #40 in 2017, #21 in 2018, and #38 in 2019. The slide down to #100 in 2020 and then off the list for 2021 was sorta normal-looking, but then it bounced back on at #74 in 2022.