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.

 

[darjr]

Meanwhile in my Local Friendly Game Store...

Some stores ordered a lot.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Some stores ordered a lot.

No shortage in Germany it seems.

 

[Queer Venger]

Meanwhile in my Local Friendly Game Store...
(not meamt as a troll post... We already have two PHB in our revived live gaming group.)

Mine re-ordered and got another stock of about 2 dozen regular and alternate covers, but the early release date was sold out.

 

[Alphastream]

Their claim was that due to the large order size and the shutting down of two of the four largest US printers they couldn't do all three core books at once.

They have less available printers to talk to because most can't handle their scale

And really, they typically have this problem. 2014 5E was staggered for the same reasons of both logistics and to stagger the work. Most editions have worked this way.

 

[Alphastream]

I just find it hard to believe some of the stuff they spout when reflecting on recent stock holdings at years end, and then look at how common comparable items are with numbers and commonality compared to what I see in reality with D&D (not contesting D&D isn't popular, but more popular than the XBox Brand and it's sales??? (And note, I don't just list recent items, I also listed older items that you can compare in popularity to numbers of D&D players today from Xbox or PS players back then).

I should also note, even if you took the 40 million they stated previously, and said only 15 million of those were active D&D players...85 - 25 = 60 million.

Hasbro isn't D&D. Hasbro's stock price reflects many many factors, including the incredible losses it has had for eOne and in its toys segments. It reflects the BG3 and MonopolyGo licenses, each at times bringing in more revenue than D&D print books in some quarters. Hasbro stock will never ever reflect just what D&D has done. D&D is small compared to MtG, which is just one part of WotC, which is just one part of Hasbro. While D&D revenues have been stronger than ever, they aren't what moves the needle on Hasbro stock - especially once you factor in how valuation works for stocks to begin with. On the Mastering Dungeons podcast we've worked with our patreon supporters to break down the size of print D&D, which is likely between $104-$130M yearly based on Q1-2 2024. D&D Beyond is likely similar in size. That's out of an estimated $1.5B annually for WotC.

 

[bedir than]

Hasbro isn't D&D. Hasbro's stock price reflects many many factors, including the incredible losses it has had for eOne and in its toys segments. It reflects the BG3 and MonopolyGo licenses, each at times bringing in more revenue than D&D print books in some quarters. Hasbro stock will never ever reflect just what D&D has done. D&D is small compared to MtG, which is just one part of WotC, which is just one part of Hasbro. While D&D revenues have been stronger than ever, they aren't what moves the needle on Hasbro stock - especially once you factor in how valuation works for stocks to begin with. On the Mastering Dungeons podcast we've worked with our patreon supporters to break down the size of print D&D, which is likely between $104-$130M yearly based on Q1-2 2024. D&D Beyond is likely similar in size. That's out of an estimated $1.5B annually for WotC.

Another way to think of it is "What are Hasbro's power brands?"

• Magic
• Peppa Pig
• Transformers
• Nerf
• Play-doh

and then D&D (which is more about ambition/media than about the game)

 

[SkidAce]

Do you work at the South Hills Village Mall Barnes & Noble in Pittsburgh?

Hampton, Va.

 

[occam]

I'd wager a good chunk of players get by with borrowed books & gently (or liberally) applied piracy. hell the whole book is already programmed into one of the biggest of those sites.

You hit the nail on the head with that last point. Three times the book sales sounds like a lot... but when the books still sell out given the increase in D&D players since 2014, where will those desperate players go? To buy the book online, thus falling right into WotC's trap to convert us all to digital sales! MWAHAHAHAHA!!! It's GENIUS, I say, pure GENIUS!

 

[Hussar]

On the Mastering Dungeons podcast we've worked with our patreon supporters to break down the size of print D&D, which is likely between $104-$130M yearly based on Q1-2 2024. D&D Beyond is likely similar in size. That's out of an estimated $1.5B annually for WotC

Yeah, I think that as gamers we tend to forget that we're still pretty much a rounding error for even WotC. Maybe not so much now, but, even if your numbers are close to right, ... well ... that means that D&D accounts for less than a 1/4 of WotC. And WotC isn't exactly the majority subsection of Hasbro. WotC's doing fantastically well, so, that's why it's getting lots of news and attention, but, it does help to keep things in perspective.

 

[Stormonu]

I have to admit I was not expecting this, thought the adoption wasn't going to be near numbers equal to the 2014 launch, much less exceed it.

I can only watch and see where it goes from here. If the popularity remains and doesn't fall off, that will defy every previous experience I've had with "revised" editions. But I wouldn't mind it - having a healthy D&D is always a good thing.