D&D 5E Amazon: PHB has new competition and Tales from the Yawning Portal...

[Zardnaar]

I think it was during 4e that they said adventures didn't sell, commenting on adventure sales in either 3e/4e. But I forget where. I wonder if it was related to the standard 4e sales slump...


Fewer products that sell better as they appeal to a wider audience? Sounds like a winning strategy to me.

It's certainly working. Instead of having to reboot the edition to boost flagging sales like they did after this length of time in 3e and 4e, they've got another hit book. And the PHB is still strong to boot.

4E is innocent on this one. It dates from the early 3E era with conclusions based on data from the 90's. Its why they went with the OGL.

 

[TerraDave]

At this point we are very confident that D&D hasn't sold this well in a long time. Probably not for the lifetime of all those new players out there.

In these threads in the past we have dug up historic sales ranks for amazon. In the 3e or 4e era a book that is not the PHB would be lucky to get into the top 1000. It would not come near the top 100.

 

[TerraDave]

As for TftYP

It seems to be doing better then CoS did.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...mber-1/page2&p=6849864&viewfull=1#post6849864

Which I think was the only other adventure to hang with the core rule books for very long (or at all). So, strongest debut for a 5E adventure yet.

EDIT: I just checked back, its at #76 and PHB is at #59.

 

[TerraDave]

For some perspective on these numbers...

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?243902-Amazon-Sales-Rankings-amazing-data!

 

[Jester David]

When you look historical like that and see D&D is normally something that hovers in the 1000-1500 range then look at the current <100 rating it's staggering. Because it's not just the latest book, it's also the PHB too.

(And it's a reminder that Pathfinder is still technically doing well at 4000ish, despite being that much further behind, because it's not that their sales haven't slipped that much, it's that 5e is just doing that much better.)

 

[darjr]

Staggering. Yes that's the perfect word.

 

[darjr]

Wow, in 2008 the sales rank of the gift box and PHB were well outside 1000 the year 4e was released.

Compared to the PHB at #61 two YEARS after its release.

#1,085: Adventurer's Vault
#1,449: D&D 4E Gift Set
#2,734: 4E Player's Handbook
#2,863: Forgotten Realms Player's Guide
#4,949: 4E DM's Screen


Are these apples and apples?

 

[darjr]

Mike Mearls on the Shane plays podcast says it feels like a second golden age of D&D. I agree.

[video=youtube;iFKBrC5T-vs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFKBrC5T-vs[/video]

 

[Zardnaar]

Amazon existed in 2000 but so did gamestores and Amazon was a lot less prevalent. I would not bother comparing 2E and 3E Amazon sales. Yes Amazon and 2E overlapped.

Main point being gamestores barely exist now so Amazon sales would be up for that factor alone.

 

[Henry]

Staggering. Yes that's the perfect word.

Why not "stunning", "restraining", or "blinding"? Or even "knocking unconscious"?

While true apples-to-apples comparison would be hard to pin down due to the number of variables involved, it's still indicative of a hell of a lot of sales for an RPG product, there's no denying. It would seem that both Wizards and Hasbro Corporate are both quite happy with the numbers, and THAT is perhaps the most important metric of all to consider for sales.