D&D 5E D&D 5e nearing 800,000 copies sold?

[Sacrosanct]

We need a thread stickied with sales figures from various editions. I swear it comes up every couple months, and there's always debate as to what is accurate, and then someone finally links to a credible source. We could save a lot of time.

 

[Volourn]

It must have sold well enough since D&D has been around for 4 decades or so. Specific numbers at this point for past editions aren't too important as long as they keep track now .

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I just find it hard to believe that after three full years of release, as of this month, and constant strong sales, that the PHB by itself has not sold over 1 million copies. It is up to a 7th printing now and there are an unknown number of print runs within each of those printings.

 

[Morrus]

D&D 5e nearing 800,000 copies sold?

I just find it hard to believe that after three full years of release, as of this month, and constant strong sales, that the PHB by itself has not sold over 1 million copies. It is up to a 7th printing now and there are an unknown number of print runs within each of those printings.

700K is a LOT of sales! I can’t imagine either number beyond being “a lot”.

 

[AmerginLiath]

They cover a lot of cool topics, like when he used to work at TSR and after suffering long with foot stools and death trap office 'chairs' they actually found a secret moon room full of chairs! Real chairs! I wonder what ever happened to those chairs. Does WotC have them now?

Don't overlook the most important part: since these were TSR days, finding that treasure horde netted the workers a lot more XP than they got fighting deadlines!

 

[Sunseeker]

I just find it hard to believe that after three full years of release, as of this month, and constant strong sales, that the PHB by itself has not sold over 1 million copies. It is up to a 7th printing now and there are an unknown number of print runs within each of those printings.

That was my thought as well. 800k seems awfully low after 3 years.

 

[Prakriti]

800k seems low to me too when compared to other media. Diablo 3 sold 30 million copies, for example. The Nintendo Wii sold 100 million units, and The Hunger Games (the book series) sold 65 million. Pretty humbling.

On the other hand, 5E is doing really, really well for a tabletop game. And I'm optimistic enough to think that the upward trend will continue -- maybe even to the point where D&D sales will compare favorably with video game sales in the not-too-distant future.

 

[Morrus]

800k seems low to me too when compared to other media. Diablo 3 sold 30 million copies, for example. The Nintendo Wii sold 100 million units, and The Hunger Games (the book series) sold 65 million. Pretty humbling.

The entire tabletop gaming industry - including boardgames, CCGs, etc. - is only just over $1B - the size of one major video games release, or one blockbuster movie. Of that $1B, RPGs have only 3% of the hobby game industry. It's teeny tiny.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?563442-How-big-s-the-RPG-market

 

[Shasarak]

There is also stories of a fleet of cars, gold plated bathroom taps, cocaine and hookers being involved as well (it was the 80's) but IDK how reliable those stories are. Some of the grog sites are interesting anyway.

Hookers and Blow, living the Name Level Characters dream, man.

 

[Hussar]

Hang on, I read that article that Morrus linked.

Even with a perennial best-seller, the major toy and hobby manufacturers are always looking for ways to keep their product looking fresh and exciting. That's the challenge faced by TSR Inc., a pioneer company in the role-playing game industry.

The company's first product, and still its flagship, is Dungeons & Dragons (D & D), a group play game which is virtually synonymous with fantasy games. Developed in 1973, when it sold only 1,000 copies, it is now selling at the rate of 750,000 copies per year.

TSR credits its success to the same qualities it takes to play D & D -- skill, imagination, and good judgment, with some luck for good measure. The demonstrate this marketing ability by being willing to change part of their success formula when the market calls for it. …

750k copies of what? PHB? I seriously doubt it. 750k copies of all their books? That I could believe a lot easier. Considering the highest selling single product was the Red Box and it topped just a bit over a million, I really, really doubt that any single AD&D book was selling at that rate.

That article is a bit lacking in detail.