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.

 

[bedir than]

Honestly I am kind of surprised people keep repeating the Under monetized thing, when that was said almost two years ago before they did a lot of their current monetizing.

It'll keep getting brought up until the CEO or CFO say that D&D finally hit their billion dollar brand target

 

[Velderan]

Honestly I am kind of surprised people keep repeating the Under monetized thing, when that was said almost two years ago before they did a lot of their current monetizing.

Because Cynthia Williams pointed to the recurring spending you see in digital games in that same conversation where she said the brand is under monetized as an example of where she'd like to see them grow, so a lot of people look at D&D Beyond and more specifically the upcoming VTT as a way to unlock that spending pattern in their fans. Who knows what they have planned, they've not revealed any sort of pricing structure for the VTT (that I've seen anyhow).

ETA: Keep in mind they just brought in someone who came from a company that made more money off of a single digital horse microtransaction than their subscription model was bringing in.

 

[Zardnaar]

[D

Because Cynthia Williams pointed to the recurring spending you see in digital games in that same conversation where she said the brand is under monetized as an example of where she'd like to see them grow, so a lot of people look at D&D Beyond and more specifically the upcoming VTT as a way to unlock that spending pattern in their fans. Who knows what they have planned, they've not revealed any sort of pricing structure for the VTT (that I've seen anyhow).

ETA: Keep in mind they just brought in someone who came from a company that made more money off of a single digital horse microtransaction than their subscription model was bringing in.

People complain about microtransactions but games are underpriced.

Here someone was complaining about the price if game and asked about how much they used to cost. They were shocked to learn the games weren't only cheaper adjusted for inflation but cheaper in absolute terms.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

ETA: Keep in mind they just brought in someone who came from a company that made more money off of a single digital horse microtransaction than their subscription model was bringing in.

Said company has also seen its biggest resurgence in years by a very conscious, very dramatic pivot to listening to what players want, rather than just what the company did.

People can be more than one thing.

 

[Oofta]

Because Cynthia Williams pointed to the recurring spending you see in digital games in that same conversation where she said the brand is under monetized as an example of where she'd like to see them grow, so a lot of people look at D&D Beyond and more specifically the upcoming VTT as a way to unlock that spending pattern in their fans. Who knows what they have planned, they've not revealed any sort of pricing structure for the VTT (that I've seen anyhow).

ETA: Keep in mind they just brought in someone who came from a company that made more money off of a single digital horse microtransaction than their subscription model was bringing in.

I'm sure there will be plenty of ways to spend money on the VTT if that's what people want. Just like I can buy minis, terrain and all sorts of extra things I don't really need. Sounds like they're backing several video games as well.

But I wouldn't be too concerned about corporate spin when it's aimed at investors. If people find stuff useful, they'll buy it but there's no way to buy anything that will give you a more powerful PC for example.

 

[dragoner]

CEO's say a lot of things w/o what they say having relation to any reality other than who they are talking to at the moment. For all the face time, they do surprisingly little.

 

[Velderan]

Said company has also seen its biggest resurgence in years by a very conscious, very dramatic pivot to listening to what players want, rather than just what the company did.

People can be more than one thing.

To be clear, I am only stating why people keep bringing this stuff up. I don't agree completely because the business models aren't an apples to apples comparison. I will say I don't see how the VTT wouldn't have some form of microtransactions but that doesn't mean they will be bad. But we just don't know until they start sharing pricing info and people will speculate in the absence of info.

But man, if they look at one of the things Blizzard did to bring back some customers and launched a D&D Classic line I would be on board for that!

 

[Velderan]

[D

People complain about microtransactions but games are underpriced.

Here someone was complaining about the price if game and asked about how much they used to cost. They were shocked to learn the games weren't only cheaper adjusted for inflation but cheaper in absolute terms.

There's plenty of things that are actually cheaper today than they were in the past. A $50 PHB in 2014 is about $66 today for starters.

 

[Mistwell]

Scott Thorne over at ICV2 chimes in. No new information unfortunately but I thought to note it icv2 covered it.

Rolling for Initiative – 3,773 Copies Sold?

Column by Scott Thorne

icv2.com

Dang. That's a sort of Shots Fired type reply from a big hitter in the industry.

I agree with him 100%. I'm just surprised he wrote about it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

CEO's say a lot of things w/o what they say having relation to any reality other than who they are talking to at the moment. For all the face time, they do surprisingly little.

A great candidate to be replaced with AI and probably the least likely to be replaced.