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.

 

[Superchunk77]

Just watched Roll for Combat and they looked over the Bookscan sales figures for 2014 vs 2024 for the 3 core rulebooks. Apples to apples, the physical 2024 books sold about 1/3 as much as the 2014 books. That doesn't include digital or direct sales of course. RfC didn't have the digital sales numbers (nobody does), but in order to substantiate the claim that the 2024 books are off the the "strongest start ever" the digital sales would have to be exponentially high.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Just watched Roll for Combat and they looked over the Bookscan sales figures for 2014 vs 2024 for the 3 core rulebooks. Apples to apples, the physical 2024 books sold about 1/3 as much as the 2014 books. That doesn't include digital or direct sales of course. RfC didn't have the digital sales numbers (nobody does), but in order to substantiate the claim that the 2024 books are off the the "strongest start ever" the digital sales would have to be exponentially high.

Not necessarily, since as far as I know Bookscan no longer includes Amazon sales, due to changes in how the books are distributed. There may be other sales that are no longer included in Bookscan due to that also.
Then there are the direct sales and as noted digital sales.

 

[Parmandur]

Not necessarily, since as far as I know Bookscan no longer includes Amazon sales, due to changes in how the books are distributed. There may be other sales that are no longer included in Bookscan due to that also.
Then there are the direct sales and as noted digital sales.

Particularly since Beyond sales are a full 67% of all sales now, apparently...and then FLGS whichh aren't on bookscan are also doing business.

So, no Amazon, no FLGS, no Beyond...

 

[Superchunk77]

Not necessarily, since as far as I know Bookscan no longer includes Amazon sales, due to changes in how the books are distributed. There may be other sales that are no longer included in Bookscan due to that also.
Then there are the direct sales and as noted digital sales.

If I'm reading google correctly Amazon sales in Bookscan were never a reliable data point. So it wouldn't influence the Bookscan results. Direct and digital seem to be the only outliers that could account for the gap. But then again, digital wasn't even an option for 2014 so how would we even gauge that?

 

[UngainlyTitan]

If I'm reading google correctly Amazon sales in Bookscan were never a reliable data point. So it wouldn't influence the Bookscan results. Direct and digital seem to be the only outliers that could account for the gap. But then again, digital wasn't even an option for 2014 so how would we even gauge that?

Well did Bookscan break out Amazon sales separately? Because if not, that just makes the data more unreliable.

 

[Zardnaar]

Well did Bookscan break out Amazon sales separately? Because if not, that just makes the data more unreliable.

Bookscan included Amazon data at one point?

 

[Superchunk77]

Bookscan included Amazon data at one point?

BookScan includes print book sales from Amazon, along with sales from major chains and many independent bookstores. However, it does not track ebooks, which are handled separately. BookScan also has limitations, as it doesn't include sales from all outlets, such as certain big-box stores, libraries, or independent bookstores that do not report their sales data. Source Google.

 

[Zardnaar]

BookScan includes print book sales from Amazon, along with sales from major chains and many independent bookstores. However, it does not track ebooks, which are handled separately. BookScan also has limitations, as it doesn't include sales from all outlets, such as certain big-box stores, libraries, or independent bookstores that do not report their sales data. Source Google.

I dint use it for concrete numbers of overall sales.

More for trends and big selling items.

 

[Superchunk77]

I dint use it for concrete numbers of overall sales.

More for trends and big selling items.

That was exactly what RfC was using Bookscan for in their video. So unless there were hundreds of thousands of copies of the 2024 core books sold in digital format, the "strongest start ever" quote sounds more like creative word play rather than concrete sales.

 

[mamba]

Just watched Roll for Combat and they looked over the Bookscan sales figures for 2014 vs 2024 for the 3 core rulebooks. Apples to apples

not really, WotC does not report their direct book sales to Bookscan for example, and by now that apparently is a pretty sizable chunk of the market. There most likely are other differences in the data collection approach too (Amazon)