I like the release of actual sales figures for the Starter Set. 126,000 in North America in 2014 (from the July release); 306,000 in North America in 2018. I wonder what we can extrapolate from that!
UPDATE! WotC's PR agency has reached to note that Bloomberg's figure refers to the number of people who have played the game since 1974, not annually!
I question the assumption about native English speakers being the sole audience. English is not my first language, and it isn't for any of the people I play with IRL, but we still use the English copies of the PHB etc. Firstly because there are no Dutch translations, and secondly because even if there were, hardly anyone would buy them because we're all familiar *enough* with English.
I also question the figure of 40 million people that the original post says. Without knowing how they came up with this number, one cannot say if it is accurate, guesswork, or hyperbole.
Which is different from my experience. We rotated DMing duties right from the get go. The notion of a single DM group never actually occurred to us until I got into 2e era. I wish more players would actually step up into the DMing role. Makes for MUCH better players.
I agree - I’m also of the opinion that, just as every DM owes it to themselves to be a player at some point, each player should try DMing at least once or twice, because it does give greater appreciation for both sides of the table in my experience.
Hmm. I understand your underlying point and agree with it, but think this statement misses the reality of the fact that a large number of players are very casual D&D fans and don't think about D&D between sessions. They show up to hang out and have fun, then go about their lives. They probably don't own any materials beyond a set of dice and maybe a Player's Handbook, and many not even that. It is hard for me to justify a "should" statement about these folks DMing.
For those that are more serious, I think your point applies - but that it is largely a moot point, because I would guess that the majority of serious fans are also DMs, or have DMed.
So 40 million since 1974. So under a million per year. BOY WHAT A NICHE HOBBY.UPDATE! WotC's PR agency has reached to note that Bloomberg's figure refers to the number of people who have played the game since 1974, not annually!
Other than English, D&D is currently in print in four other languages, with four more rolling out about now:
"GF9 partnered with Wizards of the Coast in 2017 to translate Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition into multiple languages and oversee local market partnerships (see “Parlez-Vous 'D&D'?”). The first editions were for French, German, Italian, and Spanish. A Portuguese edition for Brazil was also in the works, but was delayed due to a licensing dispute (see “GF9 Delays Brazilian Language Release of 'D&D'”).