D&D 5E How much money is D&D 5e actually making?

[Urriak Uruk]

I'll say that is actual terms, how much money D&D makes isn't really that important, at least not as important as "how much is D&D revenue growing."

Investors are obsessed with growth more than profits (although at a certain point, they sour on only growth and losses).

As long as D&D continues to be a growing business for Hasbro, it will be viewed as successful, especially as it seems to be a profitable as well. I'm sure D&D only makes up a small amount of Hasbro's total revenues however.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Yeah, we have no idea how much they are making from 3rd parties.

I think their strategy is to get more and more people playing. Publishing more books might be a detriment to that.

Movies and video games have the potential to make more than all of the books.

Toys too. If D&D can break into the mainstream of toys Hasbro Execs would... I don't high five or whatever business people do.

 

[abirdcall]

Toys too. If D&D can break into the mainstream of toys Hasbro Execs would... I don't high five or whatever business people do.

Are toys still a big thing?

 

[BookBarbarian]

Are toys still a big thing?

The internet says this:

U.S. market size for the total toy industry is approximately $28 billion.

 

[abirdcall]

The internet says this:

U.S. market size for the total toy industry is approximately $28 billion.

Fair enough.

I just know that toy stores have been closing and I saw a thing commenting on how Star Wars toys aren't being sold.

It's probably just a relative thing. They could be down a lot but still be sizable.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Fair enough.

I just know that toy stores have been closing and I saw a thing commenting on how Star Wars toys aren't being sold.

It's probably just a relative thing. They could be down a lot but still be sizable.

The market is changing for sure. There's not a lot of reason to walk into physical stores anymore for one. Adult Collectors are a bigger share of the market than ever before (some of whom are angry at star wars). Hasbro even runs kickstarters now on their big stuff just to measure interest I suppose.

Game toys like Fortnite toys seem to be a new segment growing segment for kids, but preschool Toys are still about as strong as ever I think.

Eidt: oh and tariffs hit Hasbro hard

 

[abirdcall]

The market is changing for sure. There's not a lot of reason to walk into physical stores anymore for one. Adult Collectors are a bigger share of the market than ever before (some of whom are angry at star wars). Hasbro even runs kickstarters now on their big stuff just to measure interest I suppose.

Game toys like Fortnite toys seem to be a new segment growing segment for kids, but preschool Toys are still about as strong as ever I think.

Do you think that $28 billion includes electronic toys?

 

[generic]

Do you think that $28 billion includes electronic toys?

I would suspect that it includes electronic toys, but not gaming systems.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Do you think that $28 billion includes electronic toys?

Good question. Probably.

It might include board games too for all I know.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

As long as we're talking about personal experiences, because of course, we can't come close to being sure about the entire truth of it:

Speaking as the owner of a small(ish) comic and game store, which I've had since '93: We overall sell far more 5e books than any previous edition, but there's a few interesting things:

Both 3.x and 4e sold better initially than 5e, but 5e never stopped. The core-3 STILL sell as well (or better) than they did when it started. 3.x and 4e were nearly dead by (what are we at?) 5 years in. (Another interesting side-note: Both 3.5 and 4e sold better in the year after they were replaced with the next edition than they did in their last year of being the current edition.) I remember a slew of 3.5 books near the end of it that we were hard-pressed to sell one copy of - 4e never quite got that bad for us.

Now, when you take into account that I had far less competition back then (no Amazon, no D&D Beyond), I'd say 5e seems to be orders of magnitude more sell-able than previous editions.

OP's experience, seems to me, to come from one of two places: You bought a lot of books back in the day, and you're more choosy now. OR - You don't particularly go for adventures, and most 5e books are adventures. (Possibly a bit of both).

(Note: I don't remember in any specific way how those black 2nd edition revised books did, so I started with talking about 3.x).