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.

 

[Charlaquin]

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure every set of core books has outsold the previous set. The more important question is by how much, and if growth met projections or not.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure every set of core books has outsold the previous set. The more important question is by how much, and if growth met projections or not.

I feel like they use weasel words that don't have actual numbers of timeframes or anything, and that this announcement has been made for every single edition (in whole or in half) since the beginning of time.

It's always new, improved, and better-selling than before!

(BTW, I like 5.5e, and this is not a comment on quality)

 

[Charlaquin]

I feel like they use weasel words that don't have actual numbers of timeframes or anything, and that this announcement has been made for every single edition (in whole or in half) since the beginning of time.

It's always new, improved, and better-selling than before!

(BTW, I like 5.5e, and this is not a comment on quality)

Agreed on all counts.

 

[Scribe]

View attachment 420349
Seeing how MtG is the main thing that makes Hasbro Money right now, they're right to absolutely right to gloat about their FF and Spiderman Earnings since their last earnings call. They need to sell the story that this was successful and more importantly will continue to be successful. No point in talking about D&D unless you got big news. This earnings call isn't for the fans.


View attachment 420352Also to nobody's surprise, MTG continues to outscale the rest of Hasbro Total Gaming

Ah thanks for the details, that's what I figured. The cardboard must flow.

 

[Superchunk77]

I feel like they use weasel words that don't have actual numbers of timeframes or anything, and that this announcement has been made for every single edition (in whole or in half) since the beginning of time.

It's always new, improved, and better-selling than before!

(BTW, I like 5.5e, and this is not a comment on quality)

Yup, creative marketing citing no real metrics or numbers, timeframes......nothing. I have zero interest in the 2024 rules/books and basically anything D&D related that WotC puts out these days. But this quarterly report is a big nothing burger for D&D.

 

[AlViking]

I feel like they use weasel words that don't have actual numbers of timeframes or anything, and that this announcement has been made for every single edition (in whole or in half) since the beginning of time.

It's always new, improved, and better-selling than before!

(BTW, I like 5.5e, and this is not a comment on quality)

I wouldn't be surprised if the first month or three 2024 PHB outsold the first month or three of the 2014 PHB because the fanbase has grown so much. But we'll never know, nor will we know how many people are simply going online and not purchasing books at all. Doesn't really add much to HASBRO's bottom line much one way or another so they have no reason to emphasize it either.

 

[bedir than]

Yup, creative marketing citing no real metrics or numbers, timeframes......nothing. I have zero interest in the 2024 rules/books and basically anything D&D related that WotC puts out these days. But this quarterly report is a big nothing burger for D&D.

It did reference timeframe. It's talking about from launch to the equivalent point in time.
As these calls are for investors, that's enough detail.
It won't be enough to shutter the click-baiters into insisting that 2024 was a failure though.

 

[Parmandur]

I suppose that made sense. 2014 didn't have a massive sales # at launch, right? But more of a constant uptick of new gamers during the past decade. So 2024 would stand to reason to have a large initial sales volume. I'd be curious to see how the 2024 books do compared to 2014 over time.

Even as of a couple Quarters ago, 2024 difas well as the first 3 years of 2014 sales...which means that it had already done as well as the lifetime sales of 3E, 3.5, or 4E.

 

[Scribe]

As these calls are for investors, that's enough detail.

Quite the opposite unless one (kinda sorta correctly) thinks investment runs off of vibes.

The 'enough' level of detail is that MtG carries Hasbro on its broad back with the percentages and numbers to prove it.

 

[Parmandur]

I wouldn't be surprised if the first month or three 2024 PHB outsold the first month or three of the 2014 PHB because the fanbase has grown so much. But we'll never know, nor will we know how many people are simply going online and not purchasing books at all. Doesn't really add much to HASBRO's bottom line much one way or another so they have no reason to emphasize it either.

We did get some specific numbers a year ago:

“The English language version of the 2024 Player's Handbook alone achieved in just one month what took nearly two years for the 2014 edition across all language versions available in that timeframe,” she said in a recent video interview. Suffice it to say, therefore, that the new rules are plenty popular, so much so that Wizards has already ordered a second printing.

“This is a huge, kind of unprecedented print run for us,” she added. “I felt that we had aggressively planned for player demand, and the player demand has exceeded it.”

Wizards of the Coast says it ordered a whole bunch of copies of the Player’s Handbook to meet demand

Compared to 2014, Wizards ordered three times as many copies in the initial run — then ordered even more

www.polygon.com

Due to the transitive property, per the below that means that in the first month the 2024 PHB outsole eE, 3.5, and 4E lifetime PHB sales: