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
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Xanathar's Guide #1 non-fiction bestseller this week
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="Lord_Blacksteel" data-source="post: 7293790" data-attributes="member: 53082"><p>I'm with you on this. If all people want is reassurance that the game is doing well then when WOTC says "Book X is selling really well for us" then that should be enough, right? </p><p></p><p>But it's not, so people dig for numbers and come up with something like this 45,000 copies for Xanathar is a few weeks. Great, or to quote someone else "So What?" What does that number tell you? Especially considering that you have no other data to compare it to. Without context, it's meaningless and you have no way of knowing if that is "good" or "bad" other than what WOTC says - because they are the only ones with the full set of data!</p><p></p><p>If you found out the latest FFG Star Wars player supplement sold 90,000 copies a few months ago would that change your opinion? What if you found out Pathfinder's Teen Investigators supplement sold 44,000? What if the last D&D hardcover sold 100,000 copies? Would that change your feelings about where the game is or how it's doing? What if it was #2 in nonfiction instead of #1?</p><p></p><p>It's the same thing when the IcV "rankings" come out. People get worked up over which game is #1 or #2 or #5 - it's meaningless when it's a limited subset of stores that are polled with no data on total sales or any hard numbers at all yet it's a big thing when a game moves up or down that list. I think the best you can come up with is that "these are some games that are doing well" yet even there we have no idea how the finances look inside the companies creating them.</p><p></p><p>Examples: </p><p> - During 4E WOTC was getting $10 a month from DDI subscriptions. How many were there? For how long? No one outside the company knows yet it's a pretty direct indication as to how the game is doing. </p><p> - Paizo gets a big chunk of sales form its direct product subscription model. How much? No idea, but it's never going to show up in any kind of publisher sales report. </p><p> - For the larger RPG publishers Amazon is a factor and the best anyone can do is their own ranking system which they have warned against using as an indicator of sales numbers. </p><p></p><p>Again, one number, from one channel, tells us precisely nothing about the state of the game. I have no reason to disbelieve WOTC that the game is doing well - it certainly looks like it's doing really well based on everything that we see - buy let's not get too wrapped up in a random number.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord_Blacksteel, post: 7293790, member: 53082"] I'm with you on this. If all people want is reassurance that the game is doing well then when WOTC says "Book X is selling really well for us" then that should be enough, right? But it's not, so people dig for numbers and come up with something like this 45,000 copies for Xanathar is a few weeks. Great, or to quote someone else "So What?" What does that number tell you? Especially considering that you have no other data to compare it to. Without context, it's meaningless and you have no way of knowing if that is "good" or "bad" other than what WOTC says - because they are the only ones with the full set of data! If you found out the latest FFG Star Wars player supplement sold 90,000 copies a few months ago would that change your opinion? What if you found out Pathfinder's Teen Investigators supplement sold 44,000? What if the last D&D hardcover sold 100,000 copies? Would that change your feelings about where the game is or how it's doing? What if it was #2 in nonfiction instead of #1? It's the same thing when the IcV "rankings" come out. People get worked up over which game is #1 or #2 or #5 - it's meaningless when it's a limited subset of stores that are polled with no data on total sales or any hard numbers at all yet it's a big thing when a game moves up or down that list. I think the best you can come up with is that "these are some games that are doing well" yet even there we have no idea how the finances look inside the companies creating them. Examples: - During 4E WOTC was getting $10 a month from DDI subscriptions. How many were there? For how long? No one outside the company knows yet it's a pretty direct indication as to how the game is doing. - Paizo gets a big chunk of sales form its direct product subscription model. How much? No idea, but it's never going to show up in any kind of publisher sales report. - For the larger RPG publishers Amazon is a factor and the best anyone can do is their own ranking system which they have warned against using as an indicator of sales numbers. Again, one number, from one channel, tells us precisely nothing about the state of the game. I have no reason to disbelieve WOTC that the game is doing well - it certainly looks like it's doing really well based on everything that we see - buy let's not get too wrapped up in a random number. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Xanathar's Guide #1 non-fiction bestseller this week
Top