Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Hasbro CEO: "D&D is Really on a Tear"
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="jodyjohnson" data-source="post: 7668382" data-attributes="member: 5590"><p>When I look at the history of D&D with Wizards of the Coast I see experimentation with release schedules building a results-based expectation level with core book and supplement sales.</p><p></p><p>3.0 was their first dip in the pool with a 2nd edition style release schedule (numbers from a member of the brand team quote sales around 500,000 PHB). Follow-up core books were Monster Manual 2, and Fiend Folio. Plus a wide range of class splats. The main lesson from TSR was to support only one setting heavily - FR. Greyhawk was the default setting but only received minor support and the rest were licensed or received only token support.</p><p></p><p>3.5 was the experiment with the quick revision release which ended with 2 PHB, 2 DMG, and 3 extra Monsters Manuals (III, IV, V). Plus enough supplemental books to fill a shelf. Numbers from a member of the brand team quote sales around 350,000 PHB. Forgotten Realms continued to get content and Eberron was the new setting and got a full line of setting books.</p><p></p><p>4th was the experiment with the parsed out content but quick release schedule. 3 PHB, 2 DMG, 3 Monster Manuals all within 2 years. We still got rehashes of the class splats plus most of the monster books. They still released enough supplements to fill a shelf it was just crammed into 4 years instead of 5. I don't know how many it sold overall, but I think it launched well. Comments about alienating half the base might suggest that anywhere between 175,000 and 250,000 gamers still played it (assuming half the base of 3.0 or 3.5 PHB buyers). And conversely 175,000 to 250,000 gamers (or more) found it anathema. [Erik Mona lists 250,000 PF CRB sold as of March 2014).</p><p></p><p>4e also had the experiment with Setting support as Campaign book, Player book, and a module. The Realms, Eberron, and Darksun got that treatment (DS was tweaked slightly - Guide, Monster book, module). They also experimented with the mini-setting with Underdark and Neverwinter.</p><p></p><p>Essentials was the experiment with the easily accessible size and more traditional class 'powers' scheme and non-core 3 format (Rule Compendium, 2 Heroes PHB, a DM Kit, and Monster box).</p><p></p><p>After the Paizo Pathfinder experimental playtest in 2008 with 50,000 players over a year, Wizards follows up in 2012 to develop 5e with a playtest of 175,000 players (which if the sales numbers are valid is roughly a third of the Wizards era D&D players) over 2 years.</p><p></p><p>They have full sales data on 3 full sets of class splats (3.0, 3.5, 4e) plus extensive data from DDI. They have data from the full setting support of Forgotten Realms (3.x) and Eberron (3.5), plus the 4e run of the campaign three-some.</p><p></p><p>I find it interesting then that they went with the slow release schedule experiment (probably not 1e era slow) with limited splat. It is a strategy they don't have sales data on. But Mearls indicated that is the strategy the surveys show fans want and their hypothesis that splat reduces the lifespan of an edition may turn out to be true if 5e can last.</p><p></p><p>Or perhaps with 6th edition they may find the one plan to rule them all.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jodyjohnson, post: 7668382, member: 5590"] When I look at the history of D&D with Wizards of the Coast I see experimentation with release schedules building a results-based expectation level with core book and supplement sales. 3.0 was their first dip in the pool with a 2nd edition style release schedule (numbers from a member of the brand team quote sales around 500,000 PHB). Follow-up core books were Monster Manual 2, and Fiend Folio. Plus a wide range of class splats. The main lesson from TSR was to support only one setting heavily - FR. Greyhawk was the default setting but only received minor support and the rest were licensed or received only token support. 3.5 was the experiment with the quick revision release which ended with 2 PHB, 2 DMG, and 3 extra Monsters Manuals (III, IV, V). Plus enough supplemental books to fill a shelf. Numbers from a member of the brand team quote sales around 350,000 PHB. Forgotten Realms continued to get content and Eberron was the new setting and got a full line of setting books. 4th was the experiment with the parsed out content but quick release schedule. 3 PHB, 2 DMG, 3 Monster Manuals all within 2 years. We still got rehashes of the class splats plus most of the monster books. They still released enough supplements to fill a shelf it was just crammed into 4 years instead of 5. I don't know how many it sold overall, but I think it launched well. Comments about alienating half the base might suggest that anywhere between 175,000 and 250,000 gamers still played it (assuming half the base of 3.0 or 3.5 PHB buyers). And conversely 175,000 to 250,000 gamers (or more) found it anathema. [Erik Mona lists 250,000 PF CRB sold as of March 2014). 4e also had the experiment with Setting support as Campaign book, Player book, and a module. The Realms, Eberron, and Darksun got that treatment (DS was tweaked slightly - Guide, Monster book, module). They also experimented with the mini-setting with Underdark and Neverwinter. Essentials was the experiment with the easily accessible size and more traditional class 'powers' scheme and non-core 3 format (Rule Compendium, 2 Heroes PHB, a DM Kit, and Monster box). After the Paizo Pathfinder experimental playtest in 2008 with 50,000 players over a year, Wizards follows up in 2012 to develop 5e with a playtest of 175,000 players (which if the sales numbers are valid is roughly a third of the Wizards era D&D players) over 2 years. They have full sales data on 3 full sets of class splats (3.0, 3.5, 4e) plus extensive data from DDI. They have data from the full setting support of Forgotten Realms (3.x) and Eberron (3.5), plus the 4e run of the campaign three-some. I find it interesting then that they went with the slow release schedule experiment (probably not 1e era slow) with limited splat. It is a strategy they don't have sales data on. But Mearls indicated that is the strategy the surveys show fans want and their hypothesis that splat reduces the lifespan of an edition may turn out to be true if 5e can last. Or perhaps with 6th edition they may find the one plan to rule them all. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Hasbro CEO: "D&D is Really on a Tear"
Top