Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder First Print Run Sold Out

[Anselyn]

Wow. I'm reminded once again why so many people outside our hobby have such a poor opinion of gamers. [...]

You don't need the numbers. You don't have any right to the numbers. And frankly, the numbers don't matter. If it's sold well enough for Paizo to proclaim it a success, then for all it matters to any of us, it's a success. And even as a die-hard "4on," I couldn't be happier for them.

I really, really don't get it.

I think that gamers are a small community who both like being part of a community but also wish it was a bigger borotherhood. The numbers question is also about: How big and successful is the clan that I'm in?

Also, where I live I can look at the weekend papers and see the bestsellers lists for books with numbers of copies sold listed.

This week's top 10 bestsellers in hardback fiction | Books | The Guardian

It's clearly possible to publishers to share this information - or allow it to be shared. I believe these figures are taken from the EPOS machines in all bookshops. If a Paizo product pops up on the non-fiction list then I'll let you all know

 

[lrsach01]

Joshua Frost has said that Paizo will have 14,000 lbs of books available at GenCon. That's 7 TONS of books, folks. Let's do the math. If each book weighs 1.7 lbs (per Amazon), that means Paizo has on the order of 8,235 books for sale at GenCon. Joshua SAYS that they won't sell out the first day. BUT it is still POSSIBLE... if unlikely.

 

[El Mahdi]

Wow. I'm reminded once again why so many people outside our hobby have such a poor opinion of gamers.

I truly don't understand the need for people, in what should be a thread celebrating the success of a well loved company and a positive sign for the industry, to insult or belittle the people in question. Just once, what's wrong with all of us--4E-players, Pathfinder-players, whoever--just saying "Way to go, guys"? You don't need the numbers. You don't have any right to the numbers. And frankly, the numbers don't matter. If it's sold well enough for Paizo to proclaim it a success, then for all it matters to any of us, it's a success. And even as a die-hard "4on," I couldn't be happier for them.

I really, really don't get it.

Here, Here! Ari is Wise! (as always)

I'm very happy for both me and all other 3/3.5 fans, AND all 4E fans. We currently have two very strong, very popular systems for D&D. Both have strong product support. Both are selling well despite the horrible economic climate (this right here is a huge, optimism inducing indicator). And both are just simply: Fun As Hell. How can anyone bring any negativity to this?! Come on everyone, now's the time to bask in WotC's and Paizo's success. This is a win-win for any fan of D&D (well...except for OD&D and AD&D fans, but there's plenty of supported rulesets there too). This is a new golden age for D&D with multiple supported flavors of our favorite game. Enjoy It!

 

[smug]

Joshua Frost has said that Paizo will have 14,000 lbs of books available at GenCon. That's 7 TONS of books, folks. Let's do the math. If each book weighs 1.7 lbs (per Amazon), that means Paizo has on the order of 8,235 books for sale at GenCon. Joshua SAYS that they won't sell out the first day. BUT it is still POSSIBLE... if unlikely.

That's presumably not all PFRPG core rules books?

 

[Twowolves]

Can anyone think of a good reason why Paizo would not just state what the print run was?

I'm guessing it's the same exact reason WotC won't state the print run on their 4th ed PHB either.

 

[ggroy]

I'm guessing it's the same exact reason WotC won't state the print run on their 4th ed PHB either.

Strategy wise, it is better to keep the competition guessing.

 

[Rokes]

Joshua Frost has said that Paizo will have 14,000 lbs of books available at GenCon. That's 7 TONS of books, folks. Let's do the math. If each book weighs 1.7 lbs (per Amazon), that means Paizo has on the order of 8,235 books for sale at GenCon. Joshua SAYS that they won't sell out the first day. BUT it is still POSSIBLE... if unlikely.

I've read the book weights 4 lbs, 3 oz. Thought it was on the Paizo boards some where.

I think a better estimate for number of books would be around 1/3 of the total weight (maybe like 1/5 of the total products they're bringing, but far heavier than most).

That means they're bringing roughly 1100 books. There's been estimates from Paizo crew pointing to "1,000" PFRPG Core Books at GenCon...

I'm just glad I have my VIG badge.

 

[Rokes]

Strategy wise, it is better to keep the competition guessing.

+1

That's one of the biggest advantages of being a private company.

 

[Mistwell]

I'm guessing it's the same exact reason WotC won't state the print run on their 4th ed PHB either.

WOTC at least has an excuse, though not a strong one. Hasbro has strong equal competition, and the competition gets useful data out of knowing what their production runs are for the Christmas retail season, to judge shelf space available. So, Hasbro as a corporation has a policy to not release said data, and that filters down to WOTC. So while it's not a great reason for WOTC's perspective, at least "our corporate masters tell us to do this, and they have decent reasons even if they are not directly applicable to us" is an understandable one.

Paizo does not have that same concern. Maybe they have other concerns, but I don't know what they might be for this particular data point.

Strategy wise, it is better to keep the competition guessing.

What competition would that be, and how would this data help the competition or hurt Paizo in any way?

Seriously, can anyone spell out a hypothetical situation where knowing the print run of the first run of Pathfinder would meaningfully help the competition or hurt Paizo?

As for those folks complaining about my asking - why? I congratulate Paizo on selling out, and I am happy they are doing well. Asking what the print run is should not take away from that. Why are you so bothered about people wanting to know the print run?

 

[knifie_sp00nie]

I truly don't understand the need for people, in what should be a thread celebrating the success of a well loved company and a positive sign for the industry, to insult or belittle the people in question...
I really, really don't get it.

One reason is that the 4e players/fans have had to put up with over a year of every thread discussing the game getting on by people that decided they didn't like 4e. You couldn't have any sort of discussion without someone trying to start an edition war. Even Enworld, with alert moderators was unable to stop the crapping, minimizing it to roundabout jabs about print run statistics.

Now the holy grail for all the 4e haters is finally arriving and I imagine that some 4e fans would like some vengeance. They'll analyze every rule and run the probabilities through spreadsheets so they can declare Pathfinder broken or overpowered. They'll formulate arguments for how the skill system doesn't promote roleplaying and how you can't create the same characters you could in some other game system. They'll ask the question, "Is Pathfinder still a DnD clone?"

I'm sick of the edition wars, but I totally understand why some people would like to return some bile. There were a lot of people that made civilized discourse impossible for so long, why not take the opportunity to pee in their pool? The grognards didn't have the courtesy to be civil the first time around, so why take the high ground when the tables are turned?

Just basic human nature.