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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Maggan" data-source="post: 3283443" data-attributes="member: 6616">I like making unfounded statements on message boards. So I'll make up some numbers and see if I end up somewhere fun. Doubtless someone will inform me that I don't have any facts to back this up, that I'm committing several major sins for speculating without license, and that the numbers I'm basing this on are crap.Which I already know. I'm pulling all these numbers out of my ears, but feel free to take the field anyway!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> Here we go ...SJG is bringing in 2.4 million dollars. That was mainly from Munchkin (55%) and GURPS. No number for GURPS is given, but let's be generous and say that it makes up the rest of the gross.That means GURPS pulled in 1,08 million dollars.Let's say that they managed to snatch 3% of the market (according to really old and totally unreliable numbers compiled with great gusto by Kenneth Hite, for 2005). Let's say that this is the same as last year.This means that the total grossed by RPGs is 36 million dollars. Which tallies somewhat with Hites estimation of between 20 and 40 million dollars value for the total RPG market.According to the same column by Hite, D&D accounts for 53% of the roleplaying market share.So, 53% of 36 million is ... hmmmm ... 19,08 million dollars that D&D the RPG brought in last year. And WotC would have to sell around 650 000 books to bring in the 19,08 millions. With two books per month released, let's say 24 per year, if all books pulled collectively (which they don't) they would have to sell 27 000 copies each. Hmmm ... I always figured the numbers would be higher.EDIT: as pointed out below, WotC only gets about 10 bucks of a book costing 30 dollars,<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> which changes the numbers a bit. It would mean that they sell over 100 000 of each book, which sounds more plausible.Let's also say they've got a 10% profit margin (because you can't make money on rpgs, or so I'm told), means that the cost for running the D&D RPG brand would be somewhere around 16 to 17 million dollars per year.So 30 million for the D&D license ... hmmmm ... maybe. It's expensive to run it so anyone would have to have more money on hand than 30 million ... Heh, okay the numbers are bad, and my calculations are probably wrong, but maybe at least my thought experiment has given som vague indication as to the magnitude of money D&D the RPG could bring in./M</blockquote>

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