WotC Hasbro selling D&D IP?

[Stormonu]

they will go down immediately, why would I buy the old books over the new books when I am starting with the hobby

And then they will cease to sell as Amazon runs out of stock

One would certainly hope so .
However, if you didn’t see the new books picking up the slack - they didn’t enter the top #100, for example, we ought to be able to infer that demand for the new isn’t reaching the same levels it was before they were released.

 

[Zardnaar]

The question was what impact will the release of the new edition have on the current edition. Tracking Amazon sales would give us a general idea of change in sales from 5E to the anniversary edition revision. As far as older editions, we know that 5E has outsold theem based on statements from WOTC so ... who cares? It's not relevant.

But I get it. You just don't want to put your fake internet points on the line with a prediction. And you're starting to take a joke way, way too seriously.

More like people will claim all sorts of silly things based on very incomplete data.

For example unless something goes seriously wrong 5E should outsell 2014 and 2023. It's a launch year.

Also remember that 2E was seen as a failure for years despite outselling 3.0 based on hype of early 3.0 sales.

Similar story with 4E without exact sales figures people push whatever story they like.

My personal prediction is probably a slow decline but one way or another you won't know until 2026 or 27.

Even if it loses say half its sales people will claim its a success because it's outselling 5E 2014-19 or whatever.

 

[Stormonu]

Also remember that 2E was seen as a failure for years despite outselling 3.0 based on hype of early 3.0 sales.

It was? I don’t remember anyone declaring that. I could see 2E having been long in the tooth and past its prime by the time 3E was released, but a failure?

 

[Oofta]

It was? I don’t remember anyone declaring that. I could see 2E having been long in the tooth and past its prime by the time 3E was released, but a failure?

TSR wasn't very well managed, but I don't remember 2E being a "failure" either.

 

[Staffan]

It was? I don’t remember anyone declaring that. I could see 2E having been long in the tooth and past its prime by the time 3E was released, but a failure?

I doubt the core of 2e was considered a failure, but it was the time of a dozen settings and over a hundred product releases a year, and that was definitely part of what killed TSR. And a product line that kills off the company making it can't really be considered a smashing success now, can it?

 

[GreyLord]

TSR wasn't very well managed, but I don't remember 2E being a "failure" either.

It was? I don’t remember anyone declaring that. I could see 2E having been long in the tooth and past its prime by the time 3E was released, but a failure?

It was A selling point of 3e if I recall. There were those who said 2e was a failure and 3e was the game to return to it's roots (1e) and restore the game to it's glory...or some such nonsense like that.

It's one of the reasons some said they stressed 3e going back to a 1e type approach (which, in retrospect, it absolutely did not, that was all propaganda if you look at it now), so that it would get back to the success of the earlier version of D&D.

 

[Staffan]

It was A selling point of 3e if I recall. There were those who said 2e was a failure and 3e was the game to return to it's roots (1e) and restore the game to it's glory...or some such nonsense like that.

It's one of the reasons some said they stressed 3e going back to a 1e type approach (which, in retrospect, it absolutely did not, that was all propaganda if you look at it now), so that it would get back to the success of the earlier version of D&D.

I think I know what you refer to. 2e, along with its multitude of settings, tried to focus more on non-dungeon stuff. Many adventures didn't do much with dungeons, and settings like Birthright and Planescape focused on entirely different things. But 3e, particularly early 3e, had a pretty unapologetic dungeon focus. One of the slogans of 3e was "Back to the dungeon!", and there was a focus on "Kick in the door, kill the monsters, take the treasure." This was definitely a reaction to some aspects of 2e.

That said, I don't know if those aspects were commercially unsuccessful, but 3e designers clearly saw them as a deviation from the game's roots.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm not sure "back to the dungeon" was propaganda at all. There is definitely a focus on going to adventure sites and murdering everyone there for all of the shiny new 3E treasures.

2E-style high fantasy is more of a hallmark of 5E than 3E.

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm not sure "back to the dungeon" was propaganda at all. There is definitely a focus on going to adventure sites and murdering everyone there for all of the shiny new 3E treasures.

2E-style high fantasy is more of a hallmark of 5E than 3E.

They pushed that line and member berries with Monks returning etc.

 

[Retreater]

I "think" I read that the 2E core rules outsold 3E and 3.5. But I could be wrong about that.
The context I recall is that 5e is the only version of D&D to outsell the edition before it.
But, again, I might be remembering wrong.