darjr
I crit!
I love he’s sharing this data. Even with all the caveats it’s nice to have some solid numbers.
Raw Data:
Behold! Splatbook sales numbers for D&D 3rd ed in 2001!
The first image shows total sales by product and by month. It shows the strength of 3rd edition’s debut. For example, the product with the best debut sales was Song & Silence, which sold over 72,000 copies in its first two months. Having reviewed years of TSR data where trendlines go down, down, down, and down, it is refreshing to see them go up for a change!
And how do these numbers compare to the 2nd edition splatbooks? They hold up pretty well. The second image compares the 2001 sales numbers to the 1990 2nd ed splatbook numbers. (1990 was the first full year of splatbook releases for TSR.) As you can see, 2nd ed sales edge out 3rd ed by a hair, but they had six splatbooks for sale as compared to 3rd edition’s four.
Again, I interpret these numbers to mean that 3rd edition had a solid launch and that enthusiasm for the game grew over the course of the year. But if you think I’m wrong, don’t be shy in telling me about it!
Interested in all this data? Check out my book, now in paperback! Link below.
Also, as always, raw data is below.
The first image shows total sales by product and by month. It shows the strength of 3rd edition’s debut. For example, the product with the best debut sales was Song & Silence, which sold over 72,000 copies in its first two months. Having reviewed years of TSR data where trendlines go down, down, down, and down, it is refreshing to see them go up for a change!
And how do these numbers compare to the 2nd edition splatbooks? They hold up pretty well. The second image compares the 2001 sales numbers to the 1990 2nd ed splatbook numbers. (1990 was the first full year of splatbook releases for TSR.) As you can see, 2nd ed sales edge out 3rd ed by a hair, but they had six splatbooks for sale as compared to 3rd edition’s four.
Again, I interpret these numbers to mean that 3rd edition had a solid launch and that enthusiasm for the game grew over the course of the year. But if you think I’m wrong, don’t be shy in telling me about it!
Interested in all this data? Check out my book, now in paperback! Link below.
Also, as always, raw data is below.
Raw Data:
