2024 D&D Core Rulebooks Off to "Strongest-Ever" Start for D&D Books

Dungeons & Dragons got a rare shoutout during Hasbro's 3rd quarter earnings report, with Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks stating that the 2024 Core Rulebooks were off to a record start. Today, Hasbro released its third quarter 2025 earnings report, with Wizards of the Coast propping up the overall revenue for the company. Wizards of the Coast is up 33% YTD, with Magic: The Gathering having a 40% jump compared to last year. However, Cocks also called out Dungeons & Dragons in his comments, speaking to both the Core Rulebooks and D&D Beyond's Maps VTT.

Cocks' full comments (which are admittedly very brief) can be found below:

The refreshed 2024 editions of D&D’s Monster Manual, Players Handbook, and DM Guide are off to the strongest-ever start for D&D books. D&DBEYOND’S new, accessible virtual tabletop has driven weekly traffic up nearly 50% since its September launch.

Hasbro is having a good year, with total revenue up 7% compared to last year. Wizards is expected to be up 36-38% for 2025, largely due to the performance of Magic: The Gathering.

 

[Zardnaar]

So wait ... now we're guessing at the number of players, assuming that only the DM buys the PHB (not my experience) to prove ... what exactly?

The stretches to create negative spin is entertaining in a way I suppose.

5E may have sold 6 million copies is negative how?

1E sold 1.5 and we know 5E has 6 or 7 massive hits vs 3.

 

[Parmandur]

So wait ... now we're guessing at the number of players, assuming that only the DM buys the PHB (not my experience) to prove ... what exactly?

The stretches to create negative spin is entertaining in a way I suppose.

I mean, I dunno about the rest of that, but the historical sales data across editions does suggest that the PHB is mainly bought by DMs based on what people have hashed out elsewhere (the PHB only slightly outselss the DMG, consistently, which means either most PHBs are being bought by DMs or most players own a DMG), amd that matches my personal experience.

 

[AlViking]

I mean, I dunno about the rest of that, but the historical sales data across editions does suggest that the PHB is mainly bought by DMs based on what people have hashed out elsewhere (the PHB only slightly outselss the DMG, consistently, which means either most PHBs are being bought by DMs or most players own a DMG), amd that matches my personal experience.

It may just be my experience that almost everyone I've run games for eventually buy a PHB. Then again some people buy all 3 even when they don't ever DM. Nowadays most of my players use my DndBeyond account unless they also DM but that obviously has been recent.

 

[Parmandur]

It may just be my experience that almost everyone I've run games for eventually buy a PHB. Then again some people buy all 3 even when they don't ever DM. Nowadays most of my players use my DndBeyond account unless they also DM but that obviously has been recent.

Hard to say for sure, but my personal experience has been that most people I know who buy any books are the DMs. And the historical closeness of DMG sales and PHB sales suggests that is normal in the bigger picture (the PHB does outsell the DMG, but not even like twice as much, let alone 5 times as much)

 

[Audiomancer]

Hard to say for sure, but my personal experience has been that most people I know who buy any books are the DMs. And the historical closeness of DMG sales and PHB sales suggests that is normal in the bigger picture (the PHB does outsell the DMG, but not even like twice as much, let alone 5 times as much)

Speaking as someone who is exclusively a player, I always get the DMG… for all the cool magic items I’m hoping will show up in the campaign.

Other than that, I have it on good authority that nobody reads the DMG.

 

[darjr]

I mean, I dunno about the rest of that, but the historical sales data across editions does suggest that the PHB is mainly bought by DMs based on what people have hashed out elsewhere (the PHB only slightly outselss the DMG, consistently, which means either most PHBs are being bought by DMs or most players own a DMG), amd that matches my personal experience.

Wait, where did this come from? Everything I’ve seen is the core books have consistently been the top three or four or five but the PHB still outsells the other two by a lot. Maybe

 

[Parmandur]

Wait, where did this come from? Everything I’ve seen is the core books have consistently been the top three or four or five but the PHB still outsells the other two by a lot. Maybe

The PHB does outsell the DMG...but not by all that much, see the chart of lifetike sales of the AD&D 1E PHB & DMG in this older post of yours as an example:

D&D historian Ben Riggs--author of the upcoming Slaying the Dragon, which is a history of TSR-era (not that TSR, the real one) D&D--compiled some sales figures of AD&D 1st Edition's Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide from 1979-1990.

Behold! Some actual D&D sales numbers!

While working on my book #SlayingtheDragon I got a ton of primary source documents containing sales data for D&D. With the book coming out, I've been looking for a way to get that data out into the wide world. I'm going to start making charts, and simply posting them. If people want the raw data, I can post that too, but obviously, charts are prettier.

I'm starting with AD&D 1st ed Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide. You'll notice a crash in the mid-80s, and then the sales peter out with the release of 2nd edition.

The sales point to a fact that I believe hasn't been given enough play in our hobby. Namely, TSR was in a tight spot when Lorraine Williams took over the company from Gary Gygax. If it weren't for Lorraine, D&D may have died in the mid-80s.

Just an idea for your consideration...

Oh, and if you haven't preordered my book on D&D history yet, I'll put a link in the comments.

View attachment 252810

Go get his book! It’s going to be interesting!

Slaying the Dragon - Macmillan

The secret and untold story of how TSR, the company that created Dungeons & Dragons, was driven into ruin by disastrous management decisions, then ...

read.macmillan.com

The numbers are pretty close every year, with the PHB being a bit ahead: in the peak year, 1981, the PHB sold a bit over 300,000 while the DMG sold what looks like about 250,000. You can look at other sales data we have, the PHB is always selling better...but never all that much better. So either almost all players buys the DMG, or most players aren't buying even the PHB...on average...it's weird, but the latter explanation would fit what I have observed, that the DMs tend to be the ones who invest in books, not the average player.

 

[Zardnaar]

Wait, where did this come from? Everything I’ve seen is the core books have consistently been the top three or four or five but the PHB still outsells the other two by a lot. Maybe

They are.

WotC gave us a figure for first boxed set. Bookscan confirms its a big sellers along with Tashas, Xanathars , HotDQ, and CoS. Not core rules big but hundreds of thousands just on bookscan.

Some 5E splats have probably sold more than your favorite edition.

Theres no equivalent in other editions after the core boks except Keep on the Borderlands.

Its plausible the 5E phb sales are lower than assumed and 5E can still hit those 80 million plus in sales 6 years running because of those sales of other books. Typical "mid" 5E adventure book outsells a lot of the high selling TSR adventures.