D&D (2024) 2024 Player’s Handbook is ‘Fastest Selling D&D Book Ever’

It’s only officially been out for a week, but according to Wizards of the Coast, the new Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook has already surpassed Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything to become the fastest selling D&D book ever—in the entire 50-year history of the game. It has sold three times as many copies as the 2014 version of the books did at launch.

Not only that, the 2024 Player’s Handbook was the biggest print run in D&D’s history.

In a press release today, WotC claims more than 85 million D&D fans worldwide, and says that D&D Beyond, the game’s official online platform, has over 18 million users.

 

[mykesfree]

I think we can find the answer to that here:


This sounds to me like the only account that Bookscan is currently reporting (for whatever reason) is Diamond. Diamond is a comic book distributor - their games arm is Alliance, and while it's possible that the number includes Alliance, it's actually more probable that it only includes Diamond itself.

If I were a betting man, I'd say that the 3700 copy figure is ONLY the copies sold directly to Diamond, and that means only the copies that Diamond sold directly to Comic Book Stores (you can order WotC products as a comic store through Diamond's Preorder Catalogue, without even having an Alliance account!)

In addition, a Comic and Game store (such as mine) wouldn't normally use that option - we have other game distributors, including Diamond's own Alliance!

Just so that I don't lose everyone - I am saying that the 3700 copies likely only went to the Comic Store Arm of a single distributor. Even Diamond probably got more copies than that, but through Alliance.

Bookscan is only showing reporting for 1 account - Diamond. It's missing EVERYONE ELSE. Does that make sense?

Actually that is not what this is saying. It is saying that the Author of the Book is Diamond, and the Distributor is PSI.

This is not comic book shop sales, but most likely what Diamond/PSI has sold to customers who allow their cash register sales to be tracked by Bookscan.

Amazon sales of Books and eBooks are 100% tracked by Bookscan.

 

[OB1]

Thinking about monetization, turning 'fans' into consumers I would bet is a top priority for WotC to increase revenue. And it appears that the way they are doing that is by making the game more accessible to first time players via a much better PHB (that teaches new players how to play) and DDB (which reduces the mental load for players and DMs). If the new DMG does it's job of really teaching people how to DM, that will also make it easier to onboard new players from the 85M fans.

But it's Sigil that could be the big multiplier. From the hour or so I've spent with the Alpha playtest, I was shocked by how user friendly it is already. And for a generation that has grown up online, it could be the perfect way to bring them on board.

 

[Oofta]

Thinking about monetization, turning 'fans' into consumers I would bet is a top priority for WotC to increase revenue. And it appears that the way they are doing that is by making the game more accessible to first time players via a much better PHB (that teaches new players how to play) and DDB (which reduces the mental load for players and DMs). If the new DMG does it's job of really teaching people how to DM, that will also make it easier to onboard new players from the 85M fans.

But it's Sigil that could be the big multiplier. From the hour or so I've spent with the Alpha playtest, I was shocked by how user friendly it is already. And for a generation that has grown up online, it could be the perfect way to bring them on board.

It will be interesting to see if they license it out to or use it for other games as well. We've already seen Transformers, could we see a VTT Transformers game?

 

[Parmandur]

Bookscan is only showing reporting for 1 account - Diamond. It's missing EVERYONE ELSE. Does that make sense?

That does explain the known facts in a reasonable framework.

 

[Corinnguard]

He was standing. right. behind. you. as you were looking at the shelf.

"Strange, I could have sworn that someone was standing behind me a moment ago..."

 

[Parmandur]

DDB has 18M accounts, somewhere I heard that is about 50% of D&D players. Even if it is not, it is a significant percentage and not what I would call ‘very small’

I mean, 18 million is a fraction of 85 million.

 

[Oofta]

I mean, 18 million is a fraction of 85 million.

Also higher than some people claim as the number of people actively play D&D.

 

[Parmandur]

Also higher than some people claim as the number of people actively play D&D.

But who knows?

 

[Morrus]

But who knows?

I imagine WotC has a good idea, though they’d report the fans number as it’s higher. You can get a lot of accurate figures from good market research and representative samples. I’d be amazed if at no point they’d hired a solid market research firm and asked them to find out that figure, amongst other things.

 

[darjr]

I imagine WotC has a good idea, though they’d report the fans number as it’s higher. You can get a lot of accurate figures from good market research and representative samples. I’d be amazed if at no point they’d hired a solid market research firm and asked them to find out that figure, amongst other things.

What do you think it might be at? Would you attempt an educated guess for us?