Edition Bias and 4e Sales Perception

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

When I go to Dragonworld, PHB 2 is still number one, followed by dice, followed by the Legacy Era Campaign Guide *gets distracted by shiny*

PHB 2 and P3 are still bestsellers in the D&D 4 category, followed by the power cards.

But I don't know how much this translates to sales number.
Dragonworld is not Amazon.de, it's actually a brick and mortar store that also has an online service. (But which seems to have gotten quite a good reputation in Germany...) For all I know, Dragonworld hasn't sold anything for a week or so. (I doubt that).

 

[Jack Colby]

I like 4E (but don't think it plays like D&D should). I suspect the sales are not nearly what WotC would prefer, except maybe on major books "everyone" wants, like ones containing major new classes and PC races.

 

[Hussar]

I find the results here very interesting.

For those who like the game, they generally think it's selling well. And, to be honest, that makes sense. If you like the game, you're probably playing it, everyone you game with is playing it, and when you go shopping, that's what you buy and you notice other people doing the same thing because you share an interest.

What I find really interesting though is the split between the other two groups. Of those who are either neutral or dislike 4e, the opinion is deadlocked - the dislike is exactly the same at 44 each as I write this and the neutrals are 24:22 in favor of doing well.

I really wonder how this same poll would pan out with other games.

 

[Jack99]

4e is doing well I am told and I like it!

 

[Nellisir]

I'm neutral on the 4e question, but I voted "not well", or "not enough". Seems like my local chain bookstores have been ordering fewer and fewer of the new releases, and they hang around for a long time.

 

[Remathilis]

I agree with your FLGS opinion, but thats no way to do business. A store should sell stuff the customers want no matter their personal opinion.

This is purely anecdotal, but a number of gamestores I've visited are owned, or at least employ, gamers. And gamers of are notoriously strong in their opinions (much like comic-book geeks and music buffs), so you tend to get into conversations with them and they let you know what they think of the latest WotC release, of pathfinder, or Reaper Plastic Minis, etc. However, they're personal tastes don't usually equate to sales; one guy I know who works at a LGS, upon me asking if they had "WotC presents Classes & Races" proceeded to tell me "Just go buy Book of 9 Swords and play 3.5, it's gonna be the same as 4e."I bought "classes and races" at borders a week later.

Now, I'm sure there are plenty of good gamestore owners and employees, I'm not painting everyone with the same broad brush, but I've seen enough Comic-book Guy -like LGS to at least lend support to the stereotype.

 

[mudbunny]

I voted "I like/doing well" And seeing as how we are introducing personal anecdotes, my local (kinda)FLGS has told me, when I asked, that they can't stock enough 4E stuff. It shows up, and is gone within a week. Keeping in mind that my city is french (Gatineau, Quebec), it is even more impressive.

 

[Beginning of the End]

I find the poll questions to be almost meaningless.

Relative to other RPGs? Pretty awesome.

Relative to WotC's projections? Apparently not so hot. Unless WotC is making business decisions by rolling dice on random tables, there's no other way to rationally explain their decisions over the past few months.

I know for an absolute fact that their PDF sales have completely tanked.

 

[Scribble]

Out of curiosity, where is it at? I assume downtown. Next to one of the MUNI stations?

This year I've been spending a lot of time at both SFSU and UC Davis (BOY WHAT A FUN TIME IT IS TRAVELLING BETWEEN THE TWO HAH HAH HAH OH GOD KILL ME) and the difference is striking - UC Davis has a full roleplaying games club that has a weekly LARP that's well attended, where SFSU has...well, a basement. Where people play card games. Actually, it's not even a basement, it's the basement to a basement.

Nah it's over near the Haight on Divisadero, just up from Oak.

In school at one of them? I live right next door to State, so maybe I've seen you. The difference doesn't suprise me really... State seems more like a commuter school, so there doesn't seem to any huge campus related activities.

 

[alleynbard]

Note that I said "part of me".
I liked 3e a lot but got burned out after a while and felt it could be improved in many ways so I had high hopes for 4e. But it turned out to be the opposite of what i wanted and I felt betrayed. The irrational jerk in me wants someone to pay for this and would also love to have his opinion validated.

On a more rational level, the sooner 4e fails, the sooner 5e will come and the more different it will be.

That said, I'm not actively rooting for anyone to lose their job or wishing the philistines who enjoy 4e were denied further support. Not all the time, that is

Okay, fair enough.