D&D 5E PHB is #3 right now on "Amazon's Hot New Releases"

[Mistwell]

I did say that day was their best day they ever had which was Christmas last year where they were selling 400+ items a second.

No you didn't, you said "To be fair that is a good day but still." I hardly think "best day in the history of the company, during a holiday" is the equivalent of just "a good day", as the later implies it's a lot more common than simply a unique day in history.

2014 has seen about $4.2B in non-electronic book sales for Amazon. 2000 saw about $2.77B in non-electronic book sales for Amazon. That's only a 66% increase in 14 years, and not the massive jump you keep implying by quoting things like total Amazon customers or total Amazon revenue or total Amazon product sales in a day (none of which had anything to do with books in particular).

Now that I have compared the 2000 book sales to the 2014 book sales, and we see they are not even double at this point (for books), do you see what I am getting at when I say 2000 was a good year for Amazon's book sales and therefore number of reviews for a popular book from 2000 shouldn't be simply dismissed due to the year? Sure, their book sales have increased 66% in 14 years, but that has also had 14 years of reviews (they did not all happen in the first month). It's noteworthy that 5e has this many good reviews, this quickly.

 

[Zardnaar]

No you didn't, you said "To be fair that is a good day but still." I hardly think "best day in the history of the company, during a holiday" is the equivalent of just "a good day", as the later implies it's a lot more common than simply a unique day in history.

Now that I have compared the 2000 book sales to the 2014 book sales, and we see they are not even double at this point (for books), do you see what I am getting at when I say 2000 was a good year for Amazon's book sales and therefore number of reviews for a popular book from 2000 shouldn't be simply dismissed due to the year?

Customer reviews do not really matter that much either though only sales. Social media did not exist back in 2000/2003 either. People were not talking about D&D on facebook for obvious reasons.

Don't get me wrong I think they have had a good launch but any version of D&D could likely have done the same thing. Mike himself said it was the 1st year that matters and they do not have much in the pipeline it seems not even a FRCS. And there is not a large OGL network either to pick up the slack. That alone will probably mean 5E will not match 3.0 so I do not think there will be a new D&D silver age maybe a bronze age if 5E is reasonably popular.

The dark clouds on the horizon IMHO is how many people will actually play 5E once the honeymoon is over? Tey probably have a better rules system than PF for example but at GenCon more people wanted to play PF than D&D during an anniversary year at an event D&D more or less used to dominate if not invented. More people also seem to be playing 3.5/PF online than 5E as well and right now should be the height of 5Es popularity in the honeymoon period.

4E had a good launch as well and they claimed it was doing better than 3rd ed and we all know how that turned out. Reception has been better for 5E but the pool has also shrunk as well. Morrus interviewed Darcey for example and he estimated D&D now was around 1/3rd the size of 3rd ed. Now one may claim he is biased but we also know the relative size of D&D staff vs Paizo and compared to 3.0or even 4E they had a FRCS type book out very quickly. Hell they had to delay the DMG for 3 weeks.

They made a good version of D&D IMHO, they have lost the network of D&D players that used to exist and IDK if they can rebuild that. The RPGA network seems to have collapsed. They do not have the staff to support D&D like they used to. Adventurers of Elemental Evil or whatever it is called is not exactly a riveting title to get people to fork over money now is it?

 

[Mistwell]

Customer reviews do not really matter that much either though only sales.

I disagree. Quality matters, not just quantity. For months now we've heard how some may just buy it as a collector and then not buy anything more, or how all that matters it the long term and initial sales are just hype. But if people who buy the book really like it, like it enough to go give it a 5 star review, that is meaningful. It's not the only meaningful thing, it's not an overriding factor, but it's meaningful. And I don't know why you want to dismiss it, but I don't think it's wise to simply dismiss it.

Social media did not exist back in 2000/2003 either. People were not talking about D&D on facebook for obvious reasons.

Of course social media existed back then, it was just different social media. Blogging was already big, AOL was huge, Usenet was huge (and had a lot of D&D players discussing D&D), then Friendster and MySpace were big. Just because the names have changed (Twitter and Facebook) doesn't mean there wasn't any. And, I still have no idea what this has to do with Amazon reviews.

Don't get me wrong I think they have had a good launch but any version of D&D could likely have done the same thing.

We know that is not true. We know this launch has gone better than the 4e launch. Are you now arguing Amazon was not relevant, social media was not relevant, when 4e launched too? That's what I am talking about here, you're being dismissive, and mixed in there are all these false claims like this one, and the one about Amazon, and about social media, a series of arguments you know are exaggerations to try and diminish the successful launch of 5e. Why?

I do not think there will be a new D&D silver age maybe a bronze age if 5E is reasonably popular.

We shall see, but all I am talking about is where we are right now, not where we will be. Do you have some vested interest in it not doing as well as 3e or something?

The dark clouds on the horizon IMHO is how many people will actually play 5E once the honeymoon is over?

Don't you think more positive reviews in the first month than 4e got in the history of the game is a good sign then for people liking it enough to play it? Not the ONLY sign, but one good sign among many signs out there?

4E had a good launch as well

It never got to #1, or close to #1, on Amazon. It never had this many positive reviews on Amazon, or close to this many positive reviews. It's why people are mentioning it. But you keep acting like those things didn't happen or are not meaningful, unless it's convenient for you to mention "sold well" like you just did. Make up your mind...did 4e launch well, in which case 5e launching HUGELY better than it means something, or did 4e not launch well, in which case why did you mention that factoid?

 

[TerraDave]

Don't get me wrong I think they have had a good launch but any version of D&D could likely have done the same thing. .....

4E had a good launch as well and they claimed it was doing better than 3rd ed and we all know how that turned out. ?

Ya, sure, any edition of D&D would have been a number 1 seller. Nothing remotely like that has happened in 30 years, but whatever you say.

Nothing will stop you from repeating this right? It doesn't matter that I have posted actual rankings from 4E and PF, (ie other editions of D&D) and that they are not remotely close to what 5E has done. That we have actually been told, and can infer, ourselves, that 5E has beat that famous number for 3E.

And you, in turn, have no evidence, at all, for what you have been posting (including what you say above about 4E claims). But sure, whatever you say.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

I think we can all agree that it doesn't actually matter. In terms of continued product support, the question isn't whether the
PHB will be profitable (though it seems like it probably will); it's whether the profit margins of the brand as a whole happen to hit whatever arbitrary goals Hasbro has set for D&D this time around.

 

[Parmandur]

Given the selling out on Amazon, and what WOTC has said, It seems reasonable to suppose, barring evidence otherwise, that 5E has outdone that old 3E number.

 

[fjw70]

The PH is still available at Amazon.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The RPGA network seems to have collapsed. They do not have the staff to support D&D like they used to.

The RPGA was incorporated into WPN and the various 'Living ______' stuff a long time ago, wasn't it? And, that last incarnation, LFR, was cut off by WotC in 2010 or 2012, I think it was, though the guys running it did come through with all the promised adventures through 30th level, surprisingly enough.

Maybe they're regretting that now? AL seems to have picked up pretty quickly in my area, though...

 

[Imaro]

The PH is still available at Amazon.

Correction... The PHB is back in stock again. It was unavailable for a couple of days.

 

[Mistwell]

never mind, someone already said what I was going to say