Fantasy D20 -- PDF Sales Continue to Slow . . .

[philreed]

Not overall PDF sales -- they continue to grow -- but specifically D20 System fantasy products. This has been a growing trend for months now but this month it's especially obvious with 5 of the top 25 products at RPGNow this month fantasy D20 System. There was a time when 20 or 21 of the top 25 would have been D20 fantasy products.

http://www.rpgnow.com/toplists.php

Even if we expand out to look at all 50 top products this month that's 12 of 50 that are D20 fantasy products. For comparison purposes 11 of the 50 are D20 Modern-related products.

I'd be curious to hear if anyone has noticed a similar change in print sales.

 

[Psion]

Does this mean total sales have slowed as well? Or just the proportion of fantasy products.

The market as a whole may be slacking off, but d20 fantasy enjoying more support in print, perhaps those that are enjoying modern and future offering are being forced to go to electronic support to "get their fix." (shrug)

(FWIW, I almost skip immediately to the d20 fantasy section of PDFs at RPGnow these days; I'm not currently playing d20 modern; my modern/sf fixes are with spycraft and T20, which have very little electronic support these day.)

 

[Bobitron]

I know I have been buying pdf's, but my recent mix has included more sci-fi and d20 Modern stuff. July was a slow month for me in general in terms of purchases. Last month was more representative; the d20 Fantasy products I purchased in June were the Fantasy Grounds license, A Dozen Holy Books and Divine Tablets, Thieves in the Forest, and the True20 Ruleset.

Reviewing my history at RPGNow and DriveThru, the only fantasy pdf product I purchased in July was All For One & One For All, by Avalanche Press. I can't even say for certain that I purchased anything in print. Blame me, Phil.

 

[Napftor]

I thought the thread title was going to end with "...Film at 11."

But seriously, maybe the fantasy pdfs that are selling have that "what the heck is in that?" factor going for it. I noticed that AA: Options for the Dead was a hot seller last month as opposed to Prestige Secrets: Assassins. The first offers something you might not have thought of on your own and the second is, meh, more info on a class. Please note that I've not seen either pdf but this is only a guess.

 

[philreed]

Does this mean total sales have slowed as well? Or just the proportion of fantasy products.

Overall sales continue to grow. As near as I can determine it is primarily D20 fantasy PDFs that have seen a drastic slowdown in sales. Which could mean almost anything, ranging from people are moving on to people have enough for now to there are so many PDFs that few stand out anymore.

Check out the top categories, though. It's interesting.

 

[Rasyr]

Well, I can really only talk about our sales, which are not d20 Fantasy products. Overall, our sales, both pdf and print, continue to see slow growth.

But, your question got me to wondering, and when I wonder about stuff, I like to ask questions, so that is what I did. I figure that in a few days, I should have enough replies to my questions to be to answer (in a general sort of way), whether or not this downturn you noticed is also being experienced by print products as well. I will share the results of those answers when I get them.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I wonder how much of that is due to growth in the sci-fi market vice decline in fantasy, though. There certainly seems to be more interest in the futuristic (non-Star Wars) stuff here in recent months.

 

[Krug]

There's just too many PDFs coming out. I've stopped buying them as well, since there are so many.

 

[Nellisir]

If I had to guess, I'd say that 1) there are more s-f/modern/superhero pdfs available than anytime in the past, and that's taking a big chunk out; 2) the publishers have stabilized and gained experience, and the prices are doing the same -- there are fewer "exploratory" products from first time publishers that really knock your socks off, and more "line" products that might not stand out so much (but are probably better laid out).

It's always seemed to me that alot of publishers flock to the outer fringes of the market, and leave weird gaps in the center. What is it with assassins, anyways? In 17 years of gaming, no player has ever asked me if he could play an assassin. I'd rather see something like "Joe's Book of Enchantment" for diviners, illusionists, or conjurers.

Cheers
Nell.

 

[johnsemlak]

Check out the top categories, though. It's interesting.

Overall sales rankings may be deceptiive, since it appears that d20 Fantasy isn't listed as a category, but is broken into subcategories, several of which are ranked in the top 25.

Also, many products in the top 25 list currently aren't d20 Fantasy, but are accesories designed to be used with the d20 system (and others). E.g. Skeleton Key's adventure tiles.