Forgotten Realms and Spelljammer TSR sales from Ben Riggs

[billd91]

I might have expected higher numbers for Forgotten Realms, but then we are looking at just 3 products and not the whole panoply of FR setting supplements.

The idea of FR competing against itself is an interesting one. It may be that the success of regional setting supplements undercut the broader setting supplements like the box sets, something that wouldn't have had the same effect for earlier Greyhawk sales.

 

[darjr]

I would love to see the sales numbers of the 3.0 FR book sales numbers. I have heard nard numbers I can’t repeat but I don’t know their accuracy.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Baldur's Gate 3 -

Steam Spy automatically gathers data from Steam user profiles, analyzes it and presents in simple, yet beautiful, manner. Steam Spy is designed to be helpful for indie developers, journalists, students and all parties interested in PC gaming and its current state of affairs.

steamspy.com

According to steamspy BG3 sold 2 million to 5 million copies on steam and that doesn't include those that bought it on GOG or Stadia. BG3 is still in early access.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I'm a bit surprised the numbers weren't a bit higher too, but the original Gray Box didn't completely crash after its first year like the others and hovered around a fairly respectable 25k for several years after. I'm really surprised at how well FRA did as well - it did much better than most of the other follow-ups so far...

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I would love to see the sales numbers of the 3.0 FR book sales numbers. I have heard nard numbers I can’t repeat but I don’t know their accuracy.

Are the hard numbers really high? Because I remember Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting being an award winning book.

I'll add AFR was the best selling MtG summer set. And dispite CLB getting screwed by Whale Bait 2022, WotC sold a ton of product (but it will still be a disaster through no fault of it's creators thanks to foolish business decisions by WotC).

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I might have expected higher numbers for Forgotten Realms, but then we are looking at just 3 products and not the whole panoply of FR setting supplements.

The idea of FR competing against itself is an interesting one. It may be that the success of regional setting supplements undercut the broader setting supplements like the box sets, something that wouldn't have had the same effect for earlier Greyhawk sales.

Actually what I meant was different editions of FR seemed to be competing with each other, the Greybox was still selling pretty well when the next edition FR hit.

 

[Jer]

These sales numbers give more credence to the stories that the sales people didn't tell the creative people what was selling and what wasn't, or try to set any direction for the lines. And when you compare these numbers to the Greyhawk numbers from yesterday it gets more puzzling - the Greyhawk Adventures hardback in its initial publication year of 1988 did better numbers than the Realms boxed set in '87! If anyone in the financial side had been looking at the sales numbers you'd think they'd suggest pushing Greyhawk harder.

I do think that the Realms popularity grew through the computer game side of things. And also there's a good reason to use the Realms over Greyhawk - TSR had a signed contract from Ed Greenwood showing they owned the Realms outright lock, stock and barrel. TSR also owned Greyhawk - but their ownership of it was through the fact that Gygax published Greyhawk through TSR before he was forced out and so who knows if the computer game rights might be at risk over that. If there was any thought to what the creative side was publishing beyond "keep cranking out content" it might have been a choice to push the setting they owned free of entanglements over the one that had possible questions over it.

 

[Jer]

Actually what I meant was different editions of FR seemed to be competing with each other, the Greybox was still selling pretty well when the next edition FR hit.

Keep in mind that the Forgotten Realms Adventures book wasn't really intended to replace the grey box - it assumed you had the boxed set written for 1e and had some 2e updates in it (as well as new material). The full campaign setting didn't get replaced until the '93 revision.

 

[Parmandur]

I think the big thing that the Forgotten Realms had foing for it over and against Greyhawk and Dragonlance was the continued involvement of Greenwood: Ed was still involved through the 90's, I to the Aughts and Teens. At the point he stepped a bit away, the Forgotten Realms is pretty well permanently set, WotC coudn't change it of they wanted to now, for business reasons.

Whereas Gygax, Weis and Hickman were long gone in the early 90's...and the reboots bombed, hard.

 

[DarkCrisis]

The grey FR box set is such a great item. So glad i have it even though my Dragonlance box set sees more use.