The EN World Best Sellers List 4Q2015

Books have the New York Times (and many others) Bestsellers List. Movies and television shows have websites that track box office numbers and Nielsen ratings. Comics have sales lists all over the place. What we don’t have a lot of for role-playing games are lists of what is selling. There are some publishers who go public with their sales figures, but it is harder to build an overall idea of how things are working from something like that. Now we have an EN World Bestsellers List for RPGs.
Will these lists tell us what the most popular game in gaming is right now? No, but it will allow us to have a starting point for conversations. Which is a good thing.

Thanks go out especially to Michael Webb, VP of Marketing and Data Services for Alliance Game Distributors, helped me out by putting me in touch with those he considered to be “top retailers.” Hopefully we will see these articles on a quarterly basis. These lists all refer to the stores’ last quarter of 2015 sales.

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From Angie Blackmon of Dragons Lair Comics and Fantasy Austin, TX comes:

The top five RPG items overall are…
D&D 5th Edition PHB
D&D 5th Edition Starter Set
D&D 5th Edition DM Screen
D&D 5th Edition DMG
D&D Fantasy Miniatures Icons of the Realm (Assorted Sets)

The top five RPG systems are…
D&D 5th Edition
Pathfinder Core Rules
Fate Core Rules
Star Wars RPG Edge of the Empire
Shadowrun RPG 5th Edition

This information is from our Merchandising Manager, Michael Wolff, on indie RPGs.
"First, the new version of the Dragon Age RPG released this year and it’s a marked improvement over the previous version. Green Ronin streamlined their system a lot and pulled from all corners of the Dragon Age world to make new character options, backgrounds, and campaign ideas. Even if I wasn’t a Dragon Age superfan I’d still be interested, since it’s a simple 3d6 based system that is still tactically rich and intuitive. The best part about it to me is the inclusion of “stunt points”, which occur on a doubles roll from any 2 dice. This ability lets you add flair or other effects to whatever you’re rolling, and keeps games and stories interesting, sometimes when you least expect it. I’m still itching to run a game of this, especially since it’s all (so far) in one book at a good price. They should be releasing various sourcebooks and add-ons in the coming year."

"The other main book I’ve been keeping an eye on is Star Wars: Force and Destiny. Fantasy Flight’s not exactly a small company, but the creation of a game that lets people play out their childhood fantasies of being a Jedi and using the Force is fan service incarnate. That’s not a bad thing, if you ask me. The best part, if you ask me, about the Star Wars RPGs is that they all have a unique dice system of variable success or failure which keeps games from falling into binary pass/fail mechanics, which I and others I know appreciate. Force and Destiny, like all other Star Wars RPGs, is definitely hanging around for a while, since FFG has a solid release schedule of expansions as the games age. I’m hoping that after the movie comes out, they create a campaign or book related to the Force Awakens events and characters."

"The last one I’ve noticed lately is the Dread RPG. This is the horror themed game that’s played with a set of Jenga blocks. Every time a difficult decision is made or an action happens, a player has to pull from the tower and hope it doesn’t fall. If it does, bad stuff happens. It’s gained in popularity after being played on TableTop, and because of this unique inclusion for decision making. It’s definitely more suited to one-shot type games rather than long campaigns but it still seems very different compared to its peers. This one is an older one, so it’s not getting updates anytime soon, but it’s still grown vastly in popularity thanks to Wil Wheaton."

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Travis Severance of Millennium Games in Rochester, New York provided:

Individual Products:
1. 5th ed PHB
2. 5th ed DM Screen
3. 5th ed Monster Manual
4. 5th ed DMG
5. 5th ed Starter Set

Lines:
1. D&D
2. Shadowrun
3. Pathfinder
4. Star Wars
5. Fate

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Paul Butler of Games and Stuff in Glen Burnie, Maryland provided this list of product by quantity sold.

1. Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (Dungeons & Dragons 5e)
2. Player's Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons 5e)
3. Monster Manual (Dungeons & Dragons 5e)
4. Bestiary 5 (Pathfinder)
5. Dungeon Master's Guide (Dungeons & Dragons 5e)

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Steve Ellis of Rainy Day Games in Aloha, Oregon sent in this list:

Top 5 RPG Items:
- D&D5 Sword Coast Adv Guide (Wizards of the Coast)
- D&D5 Players Handbook (Wizards of the Coast)
- D&D5 Starter Set (Wizards of the Coast)
- D&D5 Spellbook Cards Cleric (Gale Force Nine)
- D&D5 Dungeon Masters Screen (Wizards of the Coast)

Top 5 RPG Systems:
- D&D5 (Wizards of the Coast)
... HUGE GAP
- Star Wars RPGs (Fantasy Flight Games)
...another decent gap
- Mouse Guard RPG (Archaia Studio Press)
- Pathfinder (Paizo)
- Savage Worlds (Studio 2 Publishing)

Putting on my analyst cap, I think that the obvious is shown: D&D is a big seller across the country. I don’t think that surprises anyone. What I think surprises me is the fact that there really isn’t a clear “winner” for the second place spot. Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars lines look like they are battling it out with Paizo’s Pathfinder for second place, with a pretty much everything else fighting for the other places at the table. Certainly not as clear cut as you would think.

Pinnacle’s Savage Worlds and Evil Hat’s Fate games have a good standing, and it is good to see Mouse Guard getting a mention.

Hopefully we will be back next quarter, to see how these games fared into the new year. As with anything new, we are all learning what we want to do with these lists and I learned more about the questions that I want to ask retailers. With the next quarter, I hope to pick up a retailer or two who were unable to respond, and maybe even convince OneBookShelf to give us a peak into some of their best sellers.

Updated 2/18/16
Matt McElroy, the Director of Publishing and Marketing at OneBookShelf has contributed their top five best sellers for last quarter (and they will be contributing to this list going forward):

Top Five selling titles:
Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition - Onyx Path Publishing
Shadowrun: Rigger 5.0 - Catalyst Game Labs
Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - White Wolf Publishing
Chronicles of Darkness - Onyx Path Publishing
Shadowrun: Hard Targets (Deep Shadows Sourcebook) - Catalyst Game Labs


Top Five selling Systems:
World of Darkness, classic (Storyteller System)
Pathfinder
World of Darkness, new (Storytelling System)
Savage Worlds
Fate

 

[TrippyHippy]

There still doesn't appear to be a good way of integrating sales through non-retail means (eg Kickstarter, eBook or POD). These figures do not present a complete picture on what is selling in RPGs these days.

 

[SirGalrim]

Great work putting this together! Keep doing it good and hopefully you can make expand it to include more, and maybe also try to summarize the results.

 

[Chimpy]

Great to see FFG Star Wars up there in the top 5 so much.

 

[delericho]

D&D 5e still ruling the charts!

I don't expect that to change until Pathfinder 2nd Edition is released. And maybe not even then.

 

[Manchu2]

10 of Amazon's top 20 are D&D 5e products; Here is their list as of today (Best Sellers in Fantasy Gaming):
1. I Dare You: 30 Sealed Seductions
2. D&D 5e PHB
3. D&D 5e DMG
4. D&D 5e MM
5. D&D 5e Starter Set
6. D&D 5e DM Screen
7. SCAG
8. Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia
9. Sexy Truth of Dare: Pick-A-Stick
10. Minecraft: Pocket Edition
11. Minecraft: Steve the Noob 2
12. PF RPG: Core Rules
13. Out of the Abyss
14. Minecraft: Steve the Noob 3
15. Princes of the Apocalypse
16. Hoard of the Dragon Queen
17: Minecraft: Diary of Steve the noob 4
18. Pokemon Omega Ruby & Pokemon
19. Rise of Tiamat
20. Minecraft: Diary of Steve the Noob 5

 

[Queer Venger]

I don't expect that to change until Pathfinder 2nd Edition is released. And maybe not even then.

Can PF2 even be a thing?

 

[Hussar]

*Warning, Pure Speculation Ahead*

Before 5e came out, most of the polls I saw split D&D into about 40% Pathfinder, 40% 3e and 20% 4e. ((Yes, Yes, I know there was more, but, accept a flinch factor of say 10% with those numbers) There was little sense that Pathfinder or 4e managed to draw in large crowds of new players. Again, I'm not saying nobody started with those games, but, I think that overall, the number of current D&D players (in any edition) didn't particularly grow.

Then comes 5e and it's a smashing success. It appears to have gobbled up both the 4e and the 3e players. No one even talks about either game very much anymore. Again, I'm sure there are holdouts, but, by and large, 5e managed to hoover up both those groups and probably take a bite out of the Pathfinder chunk as well. Additionally, it appears that 5e is pulling in fair numbers of new (and lapsed) players as well. Either those who have never played before, or those who had gotten out of the hobby years ago (or possibly sat as hold outs for AD&D and OSR games).

Now time is passing. 5e is still front and centre of the hobby. New players are quite likely to see 5e first. The widespread Adventurers League play pretty much guarantees that if you walk into a hobby store, you're going to see 5e. And 5e has a much, much lower barrier to entry than Pathfinder. (I hope that's not a contentious point.) Which possibly means that 5e has not only sucked up existing gamers, but is taking the lions share of new gamers as well.

Move the timeline forward a few years. If this trend continues, is there anything Pathfinder can do to attract new blood? IMO, they'll probably continue nibbling off of gamers who start with 5e, then want something more crunchy. But, I don't believe that Pathfinder is going to see large growth in the near to mid future (say, next five years or so).

I'm not sure if a Pathfinder 2.0 is enough to stop the bleeding.

OTOH, does it matter? So long as Pathfinder is replacing players at the same rate that they are losing them, isn't that a win? They can keep doing exactly what they are doing - creating very high quality material for a specific setting - indefinitely. Pathfinder does not have to be the number one selling game to be a success.

 

[Manchu2]

Can there be a PF 2.0? They didn't invent a game, they just maximized use of the old OGL and created a new setting for D&D 3.0/3.5 and advanced it a bit. They don't have anything to borrow from this time; I think the new OGL and SRD will prevent Paizo or another company from re-branding 5e and calling it a new game. Because that's all PF is.

 

[delericho]

Can PF2 even be a thing?

Sure. At its simplest, a new edition can just be a case of incorporating the errata and cleaning up any egregious issues in the rules - most editions of "Call of Cthulhu" have taken that approach. They don't need to be full rewrites in the 3e/4e/5e vein.

Though if I were a betting man, I'd expect them to take a close look at the 5e SRD and also their own library of supplementary materials with a view to deciding what should come into the core and what should be allowed to fall away.

Can there be a PF 2.0? They didn't invent a game, they just maximized use of the old OGL and created a new setting for D&D 3.0/3.5 and advanced it a bit. They don't have anything to borrow from this time; I think the new OGL and SRD will prevent Paizo or another company from re-branding 5e and calling it a new game. Because that's all PF is.

Huh. And [MENTION=2303]Starfox[/MENTION] had just declared the Edition Wars over, too. A shame.

There's a whole lot more to Pathfinder than just what they inherited from the SRD.

 

[Hussar]

It would be fascinating to see what direction they go with a Pathfinder 2.0. Backwards compatibility is less and less of an issue as the game has progressed. Someone who's playing a full Pathfinder game likely doesn't care by the point about 3.5 ed books. There's more than enough in the Pathfinder library to keep people buying for a long time.

So, do they strip down the game and try to follow the 5e model of a much more simplified game? Or keep with what they have and just clean things up? A more 1e to 2e style change rather than a 2e to 3e. I imagine there's some pretty lengthy conversations going on about what is the right direction to go.

Again, presuming that it's even needed. As I said, there's nothing wrong with staying stable. The bills are getting paid, people are making money. It's not like they need to grow to survive. So long as they can maintain their subscriptions and keep a healthy player base, why do they really need a new edition? Isn't Pathfinders main bread and butter the subscriptions?