Countries with biggest rpg market?

[kenobi65]

Dunno about Canada but my guess is that they are not too far away from the U.S. when it comes to how many people play RPGs (%-wise, that is).

Just to provide some population perspectives (these are mostly 2004 estimates):
U.S.: 296 million
Canada: 33 million
France: 60 million
Germany: 82 million
Japan: 127 million
United Kingdom: 60 million
Brazil: 184 million
China: 1.3 billion

The thing to keep in mind with countries like Brazil and (especially) China is that a significant percentage of their populations are either (a) extremely poor, and / or (b) living in rural areas.

 

[Arnwyn]

After the USA, I'd say England and Canada, closely followed by France.

Yeah, that's what I would guess, too (though maybe Germany instead of France).

 

[Jupp]

Just to provide some population perspectives (these are mostly 2004 estimates):
U.S.: 296 million
Canada: 33 million
France: 60 million
Germany: 82 million
Japan: 127 million
United Kingdom: 60 million
Brazil: 184 million
China: 1.3 billion

The thing to keep in mind with countries like Brazil and (especially) China is that a significant percentage of their populations are either (a) extremely poor, and / or (b) living in rural areas.

Thats why I said "%-wise". It a logical thing that you cannot count heads with countries that have such a difference to each other when it comes to the number of citizens. thanks anyway for looking up those numbers

 

[NewJeffCT]

Just to provide some population perspectives (these are mostly 2004 estimates):
U.S.: 296 million
Canada: 33 million
France: 60 million
Germany: 82 million
Japan: 127 million
United Kingdom: 60 million
Brazil: 184 million
China: 1.3 billion

The thing to keep in mind with countries like Brazil and (especially) China is that a significant percentage of their populations are either (a) extremely poor, and / or (b) living in rural areas.

True - while mainland China has 1.3 billion people, a good 800-900 million are pretty poor & living in rural areas. However, the much more weathly & urbanized East coast of China still has a good 400-500 million people, as much as the US & Japan combined. Then, you also have several million more in Hong Kong & another 23 million or so in Taiwan.

 

[Thanee]

Can't really say, but I wouldn't be surprised, if Germany would rank second place overall.

Definitely somewhere in the top five (among the UK and France).

And I have absolutely no idea how popular (non-computer) RPGs are in asia.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Klaus]

Of course, 80% of Brazil's population live in cities, not rural areas. But I digress...

The main obstacle in Brazil to become a powerful (high-level ) RPG market is the lack of a "book culture", i.e., the habit of consuming books. Books themselves are very expensive in Brazil. The brazilian edition of the PHB costs around R$70, which is 25% of the minimum wage (soon to be US$100). That's 15 Big Macs (to use one way of comparing prices)! How many Big Macs can you buy in the US with the cost of a PHB?

 

[kenobi65]

Of course, 80% of Brazil's population live in cities, not rural areas. But I digress...

I's suspected that, and actually hoped you'd chime in on this one, Claudio. But, I also suspect that Brazil has a higher percentage of its population living below the poverty line than the U.S. does. (Then again, I could be dead wrong.)

The main obstacle in Brazil to become a powerful (high-level ) RPG market is the lack of a "book culture", i.e., the habit of consuming books. Books themselves are very expensive in Brazil. The brazilian edition of the PHB costs around R$70, which is 25% of the minimum wage (soon to be US$100). That's 15 Big Macs (to use one way of comparing prices)! How many Big Macs can you buy in the US with the cost of a PHB?

A Big Mac costs $2 or so in the U.S., so the Big Mac / PHB ratio is similar.

The U.S. minimum wage is $5.15 an hour. For a 40-hour work week, that translates to gross pay of $206 (actual take-home pay would be lower, due to taxes). With a PHB costing $30, that's 14.6% of minimum weekly pay.

 

[werk]

Total guess, based on % of popultaion playing not on total player numbers.

USA
England/GB
Canada
Austrailia/NZ
Rest of Europe
South America
Asia

I know there are a bunch of guys playing in Iraq at the moment...

 

[MonsterMash]

I would say that Canada ranked #2.

eh!



With apologies to our Canadian posters

 

[MonsterMash]

Total guess, based on % of popultaion playing not on total player numbers.

USA
England/GB
Canada
Austrailia/NZ
Rest of Europe
South America
Asia

I know there are a bunch of guys playing in Iraq at the moment...

I would actually guess that Germany alone probably has more RPGers than Canada (don't forget how big the population is), but it won't be all D&D and a lot will not be on these english language message boards.