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.

 

[Oofta]

Who doesn’t?

Hmmm...like they always say "I have the body of an athlete, it's in my chest freezer in the basement."

 

[darjr]

A few questions on the fastest selling.

How do preorders and possibly different preorder windows in 2014 vs 2024 factor in?

Do digital copies count?

Do physical digital bundles count as 2?

I wouldn’t be surprised if digital is included in that count. But note that the number of Tasha’s sold from previous, likely more valid, bookscan data was the floor of the number of actual books sold. By a lot. I don’t remember how much it was estimated to be low.

So it’s still probably a lot of real books. Maybe.

 

[SteveC]

It seems obvious that something is very wrong here. The book has obviously sold more copies than we're seeing. The thing I will point out is that Bookscan reported Tasha's did 130K books. But that didn't include the FLGS or other sources of sales either. So while something is amiss (and I suspect we'll see what it is pretty soon) it is comparing apples to apples as far as Tasha's is concerned.

This is a really odd situation, I have to admit. I am honestly wondering what if anything my own Foundry purchase got reported as, if it was reported at all. Color me confused about the whole thing.

 

[Zardnaar]

It seems obvious that something is very wrong here. The book has obviously sold more copies than we're seeing. The thing I will point out is that Bookscan reported Tasha's did 130K books. But that didn't include the FLGS or other sources of sales either. So while something is amiss (and I suspect we'll see what it is pretty soon) it is comparing apples to apples as far as Tasha's is concerned.

This is a really odd situation, I have to admit. I am honestly wondering what if anything my own Foundry purchase got reported as, if it was reported at all. Color me confused about the whole thing.

Most likely explanation is glitch or delay in reporting the sales.

Just wait a few weeks and I bet the numbers change.

 

[mamba]

How do preorders and possibly different preorder windows in 2014 vs 2024 factor in?

WotC has not given details, but usually preorders count towards day one sales

Do digital copies count?

I assume so, anything else would be weird / distorting the number of copies sold, and WotC wants to have a high number. So anything else would be a surprise

Do physical digital bundles count as 2?

I assume so

 

[mamba]

Who doesn’t?

which of the two options?

 

[mamba]

So while something is amiss (and I suspect we'll see what it is pretty soon) it is comparing apples to apples as far as Tasha's is concerned.

that assumes that sales get reported to Bookscan ‘immediately’. If the Tasha sales numbers of the first week trickled in over the next two months, then this is not apples to apples

 

[SteveC]

that assumes that sales get reported to Bookscan ‘immediately’. If the Tasha sales numbers of the first week trickled in over the next two months, then this is not apples to apples

Definitely this! I would think that in 2024 it would be something that your point of sale software would handle automatically, but ... who knows. Back many moons ago, before the days of real Internet, I worked a bookstore job and we filled out manual forms and had to keep track of inventory using ... shudder ... ledgers.

But you're 100% right, the information may come in over time.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Bookscan tracks bookstore book sales. But the early sales were the hobby cover. Perhaps that's why the number seems so ridiculously low? (Someone must have already proposed that theory?)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Bookscan tracks bookstore book sales. But the early sales were the hobby cover. Perhaps that's why the number seems so ridiculously low? (Someone must have already proposed that theory?)

I believe that was floated on Monday on the Lazy DM talk show.