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.

 

[mamba]

If I'm reading google correctly Amazon sales in Bookscan were never a reliable data point. So it wouldn't influence the Bookscan results.

there is a difference between not reliable and completely absent, and even if they still were not reliable, two unreliable numbers do not get you to a reliable difference between them

 

[Superchunk77]

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)

Those are assumptions. I'm looking for actual sales data.

As noted earlier, Amazon books are already included in Bookscan.

 

[mamba]

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.

Chances are there are hundreds of thousands of unaccounted copies, from DDB alone digital, print and bundles of the two (which would count as two copies sold...)

 

[mamba]

Those are assumptions. I'm looking for actual sales data.

there is no point in looking for actual sales data unless you get the same slice of actual data for both the 2014 and 2024 books, and you are not getting that. Whether you use the Bookscan numbers or not, you are at best reading tealeaves

As noted earlier, Amazon books are already included in Bookscan.

as also noted earlier they never were reliable to begin with, and I am not sure the 2024 numbers are included, as the items are no longer categorized as books

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Apples to apples, the physical 2024 books sold about 1/3 as much as the 2014 books.

In the same time period?

 

[bedir than]

We're listening to the dude that said only 3,000 copies were sold in the first month?

 

[darjr]

Book scan used to include Amazon because they were sold as books, not anymore. Bookscan also lost most of the numbers that changed distribution from third parties to Hasbro. You can’t rely on recent bookscan numbers after Hasbro took over major distribution to big outlets.

 

[darjr]

We're listening to the dude that said only 3,000 copies were sold in the first month?

He based it in bookscan don’t ya know!

 

[FrogReaver]

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 don't know whether it happened, but even data from the same 'source' years apart may have had an update to it's methodology or data labels and past data may not have been retroactively updated or even the capture rate of that method has changed outside methodology or data labels. It may very well be that the methodology, labels and capture rate applies here, but until we have high confidence that is the case we cannot just assume that the comparison is apples and apples.

 

[FrogReaver]

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.

It's wouldn't be surprising that in 2024 more sales are skewing digital than 2014. The exact ratio isn't know but we can guess it's substantially higher.