ICv2 Summer 2014 Ranks

[delericho]

Nah. Two weeks of a quarter isn't enough.

Nitpick: four weeks. ICv2 deals with sales through game stores, and many of those got the products early due to Wizards' preferred retailer programme.

And we are talking about the single best-selling physical product for what is still the world's best-known RPG, and of course the flagship for the new edition. A single day may be silly, but I don't think four weeks is.

 

[delericho]

My reading of all this is that it's almost time to stick a fork in D&D. We don't just have two weeks, we have four for premium stores - and a strong opening that's fallen off. It wouldn't surprise me if over half the total sales for the PHB are in that first month.

Woah, that's harsh!

(In the UK things are significantly worse - add a zero).

I wouldn't put any stock in the Amazon UK numbers. They're terrible for RPG materials, and especially D&D - they're offering virtually no discount, and not only did they not get the books early but they were actually behind even the 'regular' street date.

Indeed, although it's only slightly related, my "Firefly RPG" pre-order was claiming they wouldn't ship until February. Eventually I gave up and bought from my FLGS - Amazon offered a really good pre-order price on that one, but there's a limit to how long I'll wait.

 

[Paraxis]

My reading of all this is that it's almost time to stick a fork in D&D. We don't just have two weeks, we have four for premium stores - and a strong opening that's fallen off. It wouldn't surprise me if over half the total sales for the PHB are in that first month. The MM is already languishing outside the top 100 on Amazon. (In the UK things are significantly worse - add a zero).

And from local experience, people are losing interest fast. 4e caused rioting - Next is just causing people to play it and shrug.

I doubt any forks will be stuck. D&D is the roleplaying game brand, not a brand THE brand. WoTC has already said the future plans are all about making money in tie ins, we have seen D&D brand slot machines, D&D board games, they have mentioned a few D&D video game app things are planned, the court case over rights to a new D&D movie and so on.

It doesn't matter much though, I played plenty of Pathfinder it is a good game, just not want I want to play right now. D&D could be 5th on that list it wouldn't change what I do every Friday and Sunday night.

I do think that when we see numbers for this fall D&D will be number 1. But from the little we have seen as to what lies ahead, it looks like the current plan is something like HoTD every quarter, they will not be able to keep it compared to what Paizo publishes.

Also remember that those sales do not reflect Amazon or other online distributors, I am certain that with all those sales 5e made plenty of money at launch.

 

[TerraDave]

This is from ICV:

The launch of the new edition of WotC’s Dungeons & Dragons was like a shot of adrenaline for the RPG category, but although the two D&D releases that shipped in the summer season sold well, they were insufficient to knock off Pathfinder, which hung on to its #1 slot in the category.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/29995.html

 

[Gundark]

I am suspious of these results. I did some travelling this summer and stopped at a lot of LGS. Almost all of them except one stated that 5e had been outselling Pathfinder. In one case 5e had completely replaced Pathfinder. OTHO this wasn't a full Quarter either,

 

[sgtscott658]

I guess the moral of the story is, if it aint broken dont fix it.

 

[exile]

Speaking anecdotally, I can say that Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia still seem to be pretty solidly Pathfinder country. That said, I have found a group with which I am playing 5e about once a month. This is about the same frequency with which I play Pathfinder; but there is a lot more PF organized play happening around me.

 

[jodyjohnson]

I surprised and saddened...

... and depressed

... and in great pain and distress

phhhhhhhhhttttt!

I'm OK now, it was just gas.

I love 5e but I don't expect the WOTC plan of 'few products' will beat the Paizo 'splat or two a month plus AP' plan long term.

And I'm fine with that.

 

[MartyW]

My reading of all this is that it's almost time to stick a fork in D&D.

It's way too early for any forks to be stuck anywhere.

The Player's Handbook is still in the Top 100 of ALL BOOKS sold on Amazon. It only fell out of the top 50 in the last few weeks or so. That means it has stayed an Amazon top seller for over 2 months. With Christmas on the way, it may well climb back up the charts.

The Monster Manual is currently #39 in the Fantasy & SF category. It was briefly in the Top 100 of all books, but appears to have fallen back (which makes sense since it has more appeal to DMs and will not be bought by most players).

In either case, though, these are both best sellers and I'm guessing they are selling at a pace that is making Hasbro increasingly happy.

Just because it does not appeal to you, doesn't mean it's not doing well. To the contrary -- it's doing amazingly well and as Gen Con numbers are indicating, the whole hobby is really on the upswing.

Your conclusion that it "needs a fork" is colored by your obvious bias.

 

[Mercurius]

My reading of all this is that it's almost time to stick a fork in D&D. We don't just have two weeks, we have four for premium stores - and a strong opening that's fallen off. It wouldn't surprise me if over half the total sales for the PHB are in that first month. The MM is already languishing outside the top 100 on Amazon. (In the UK things are significantly worse - add a zero).

And from local experience, people are losing interest fast. 4e caused rioting - Next is just causing people to play it and shrug.

I was going to give you a "laugh point" but realized that you weren't kidding, and thus my "laugh" is of a different variety.

Come now, don't you think this is a tad hyperbolic? Stick a fork in D&D?