D&D 5E DMG, PHB, and MM still in the Amazon top 100 sellers

[Zardnaar]

Low compared to other books or low compared to your expectations?
That's 28,275 units so far. Assuming similar numbers in box stores and hobby stores that puts sales at 84,825. If they sell 75% that number in the first six months that'll be sales of 148,443 in the first year of the edition. If the following year is 75% of that, it puts total sales at 259,776. Not too shabby. Comparable to half a decade of Pathfinder core rulebooks.

PF had about 250k units sold as March 2014 or so according to Eric Mona.

 

[Jester David]

PF had about 250k units sold as March 2014 or so according to Eric Mona.

That's what I remember as well. So D&D has a the chance to pass Pathfinder's mark after two years compared to their six. Puts things into perspective. Pathfinder was outselling D&D, but that was a much to do with D&D dropping as Pathfinder gaining fans.

 

[Zardnaar]

That's what I remember as well. So D&D has a the chance to pass Pathfinder's mark after two years compared to their six. Puts things into perspective. Pathfinder was outselling D&D, but that was a much to do with D&D dropping as Pathfinder gaining fans.

Depends if 5E hits saturation point though as D&D sales tend to drop drastically after the 1st year. Also depends on how many people are actually playing 5E as well. If that Amazon chart is somewhat accurate the bubble has burst and/or the honey moon period is over.

PF sales have increased every year, D&D sales seemed to have slumped after 6 months. I don't think they are doing bad or anything just the usual D&D pattern.

 

[Umbran]

PF sales have increased every year, D&D sales seemed to have slumped after 6 months. I don't think they are doing bad or anything just the usual D&D pattern.

Well PF coming out for the fist time, and 5e coming out now, are thoroughly different events. The traditional Big Dog rolling out a whole new ruleset is not the same as a relatively new player in the field of rules rolling out a largely compatible ruleset. We woudl expect different patterns.

If, in a few years, Paizo remains a large player, and they design a whole new ruleset after much playtesting and fanfare, then we might consider comparing them.

 

[S_Dalsgaard]

For comparison the Amazon.co.uk numbers are:

Player's Handbook - 506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#10 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Hobbies & Games

Monster Manual - 1,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#19 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Hobbies & Games

Dungeon Master's Guide - 549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#12 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Hobbies & Games

 

[TerraDave]

If that Amazon chart is somewhat accurate the bubble has burst and/or the honey moon period is over.

PF sales have increased every year, D&D sales seemed to have slumped after 6 months. I don't think they are doing bad or anything just the usual D&D pattern.

Sigh.

Being in the top 100, or the top 500 for that matter, is extremely high for a game book. The PHB is still selling well by any actual objective standard. What is also unusual is how well the other two books did. No other game has does anything like that.

The PFCRB? It peaked at around 600, years ago. (this is in the previous thread). It is now 3,329. The way this works, the bigger number means lower sales rank.

Now you can say the two are not comparable, so then don't compare them...If you want to compare them, we have these sales rankings. As imperfect as they are, I think they are better then thin air.

 

[Jester David]

Depends if 5E hits saturation point though as D&D sales tend to drop drastically after the 1st year. Also depends on how many people are actually playing 5E as well. If that Amazon chart is somewhat accurate the bubble has burst and/or the honeymoon period is over.

Sales in January were 88% of what they were at launch. Things only dropped 12%. There will be a decline, but things should ideally stabilize as more people convert, word of mouth spreads, lapsed players come back, people buy secondary books, and new players discover the game.

 

[TerraDave]

According to NovelRank, which purportedly tracks both sales rank and actual sales volume on Amazon, the PHB has been as high as #1 overall in books, with an average of #127.

http://www.novelrank.com/asin/0786965606

Here are the sales numbers (not ranks) by month since release:

Aug: 5,402
Sep: 5,105
Oct: 4,986
Nov: 3,066
Dec: 3,502
Jan: 4,784
Feb: 1,430*

* Feb sales as of right now (Feb 10) are underreported. Actual sales will be higher.

So, the PHB on Amazon alone has sold 28,275 copies to date. Add in all other electronic retailers (b&n.com, walmart.com, etc.), brick and mortar bookstores and game shops, and it appears it's doing A-OK.

These numbers are problematic.

If you looked, say, here, you get a very different range:

http://www.theresaragan.com/salesrankingchart.html

Amazon doesn't actually release this info, or I don't think they do, so that may be part of the problem.

 

[TerraDave]

Sales in January were 88% of what they were at launch. Things only dropped 12%. There will be a decline, but things should ideally stabilize as more people convert, word of mouth spreads, lapsed players come back, people buy secondary books, and new players discover the game.

Not to argue against myself, but other rankings do have a much bigger fall from say top 10 to 90-100 range. But staying in the top 100 (or 500) still indicates relatively strong sales.

 

[Queer Venger]

As a follow up to this thread:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...ht-now-on-quot-Amazon-s-Hot-New-Releases-quot

Five months later, D&D still holds the top three spots in Fantasy Gaming at Amazon, and seven of the top ten.

The three core rule books also remain in the top 100 of the overall Amazon ranking:

DMG: #50 (and #6 on Hot New Releases)
PHB: #54
MM: #99

The Starter Set is at #434 in Amazon's overall ranking. That might seem low, but compares well to other RPG products, which are lucky to be in the top 1000. (there is more data in the older thread).

D&D 5 is a newborn baby, its a strong begining for any version of D&D and the fact its still doing well is indicative of what I hope is a bright future. Im looking forward to 5e entering its toddler stage, of it taking its first steps. It has its first birthday coming up, and Im super excited to see what that party will look like