D&D 5E Given WotC plans with the RPG will 5e always be the #1 seller?

[Morrus]

You know what we need? We need a bot which detects when the bi-weekly "WotC/Pathfinder sales figures" conversation is starting up again, and it can paste in the entire conversation automatically, word-for-word. Saves everyone all that typing!

 

[Ranes]

You know what we need? We need a bot which detects when the bi-weekly "WotC/Pathfinder sales figures" conversation is starting up again, and it can paste in the entire conversation automatically, word-for-word. Saves everyone all that typing!

That's just mean. Then we couldn't all just copy and paste our earlier posts.

 

[Umbran]

Heh. Just bumping the old thread once a month would do the trick. There has to be a way to build a bot to do that.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The PHB2 was according to wikipedia the #28 book on the USA today best seller list. The #27 book was "A lion called Christian".

That's cute, but you make enough assumptions in there - for instance, that books, in effect, only sell when they're on that list - that the conclusion's just about worthless.

And, however badly you might infer D&D to have once been selling, you'll have to conclude that lower-ranked-at-the-time Pathfinder was selling even less. No reason to think that, as D&D takes off on the crest of a new Ed, Pathfinder is somehow going to rally to challenge it.

It's very obvious that Pathfinder has very dedicated fans, and that's a great niche for Paizo to go on tapping, though. And, even if Paizo were to abandon them, the OGL is still there and another small enterprising 3pp could always step in.

 

[BryonD]

Lower than 4e and Essentials during the period you claimed that 4e/E sales were dropping so alarmingly. That indicates that alarmingly low for D&D was still better than remarkably good for Pathfinder.

Right, as the new shiny 4E was losing prestige and more and more people were discovering what Paizo had done, there was a a period before the lines crossed.

Again, in case you ever do come up with anything to indicate that such an unusual drop was happening.

Just our hate rosters.

The ranking data is from IcV2 - it's far from definitive, but it's not nothing. Pathfinder didn't take the top spot until after the Essentials roll-out, when the pace of new D&D releases slowed to a crawl. It didn't hold that spot consistently until D&D product stopped, entirely.

Oh, I agree. Many people find it curious as to exactly *why* production slowed. I mean, there are these crazy theories about popularity and such.
But you and I know it was all about the hate campaign.

Yes. It doesn't matter /why/ there's demand for something, only that there's demand, and that you step in with something that fills it.

True.

 

[DaveMage]

This thread may not be a full on edition war, but it definitely prominently features at least one edition warrior….

Well, if you hadn't helped cause Paizo to rise to such prominence, none of this conversation would be taking place. So you only have yourself to blame, Mr. Smarty-pants.


Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an Advance Class Guide pdf to go read....

 

[Rygar]

That's cute, but you make enough assumptions in there - for instance, that books, in effect, only sell when they're on that list - that the conclusion's just about worthless.

And, however badly you might infer D&D to have once been selling, you'll have to conclude that lower-ranked-at-the-time Pathfinder was selling even less. No reason to think that, as D&D takes off on the crest of a new Ed, Pathfinder is somehow going to rally to challenge it.

It's very obvious that Pathfinder has very dedicated fans, and that's a great niche for Paizo to go on tapping, though. And, even if Paizo were to abandon them, the OGL is still there and another small enterprising 3pp could always step in.

So now you're trying to make the claim that the PHB2 sold hundreds of thousands of units but was only able to make the list once? Seriously? At this point it's a certainty that WOTC could release their sales figures and you would claim they're a lie.