Hobby Games Down 3% But RPGs Up 18%

ICv2 has produced some new industry figures which suggest that US and Canada hobby game sales dropped by 3% in the last year; however, the tabletop RPG category, which is the smallest subcategory of hobby games, increased by 18%.

Chart from iCv2

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Of the hobby games category, 40% is collectible games, 45% is miniatures and board games, and 14% is card, dice and roleplaying games.

Roleplaying games rose from $55M in 2017 to $65M in 2018.

You can read more over on ICv2.

 

[Staffan]

Damn. RPGs have gone from $25M in 2014 to $65M in 2018. That's 160% in 4 years.

Also, I'm guessing that the right-most column is mislabeled.

 

[Hussar]

Holy crap.

And, let's be honest here, that's pretty much all 5e D&D. RPG games in 2013, without a WotC D&D is 15 million. Now, 65 million. Looks like 5e hit that old benchmark they wanted for 4e. Well done them.

The amazing thing is, we're now 5 years into the edition cycle, or just about, and it's been pretty much straight line growth year on year on year. It'll crest eventually, I realize that, but, wow, let's ride the wave dudes.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

I'll take Useless Numbers at My Table for $1000, Alex.

 

[mykesfree]

I wonder if this includes Online sales as well as Walmart, Target, and Barnes & Nobel? If not, what people are buying in total is much greater, and that overall games are much higher than what these numbers are showing.

 

[MNblockhead]

I'll take Useless Numbers at My Table for $1000, Alex.

Huh?

 

[jmucchiello]

I'm guessing Mr Lewis believes that his gaming table and play habits are unaffected by these numbers.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Huh?

It looks like Jeopardy. You know, the game show?

 

[Jacob Lewis]

I'm guessing Mr Lewis believes that his gaming table and play habits are unaffected by these numbers.

Sorry, but you must phrase that in the form of a question.

 

[GrahamWills]

Possibly the most interesting thing is the linear increase -- a percent $10/year increase. That seems suspiciously exact, so my guess is that their methodology has a lot of estimates (well, actually, they say that it does) so it's a best guess rather than a highly accurate figure.

It also suggests that individual products are irrelevant to the growth. Or rather, nothing transformative has been released since 2014. This is a very strong state of affairs as it it suggest that people just want to play RPGs rather than jumping on the bandwagon for one reason or another. It could easily be nearly all 5E, (even if you'd expect a difference in the 2014/20-15 gap if it were) but it generally feels like a solid "every year we add X many new players/dollars" curve that suggests a stable category experiencing solid, but limited growth.

Which is good news!