ICv2 Fall/Winter 2014 Hobby Game Rankings: D&D Up To #1

ICv2 has released its quarterly hobby game rankings. No surprises here - Dungeons & Dragons has taken the top spot back after several years at #2, as expected, though how long it can hold it without an aggressive release schedule remains to be seen. Pathfinder follows at #2, and Numenera, Fate, and Star Wars all make showings in the top 5. As always, the charts are based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers. This is for Fall/Winter 2014.

1	Dungeons & Dragons	Wizards of the Coast
2	Pathfinder	Paizo Publishing
3	Star Wars	Fantasy Flight Games
4	Numenara	Monte Cook Games
5	Fate	Evil Hat Games

You can see the list on iCv2. And check out the historical compilation here.

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[Jester David]

It will be really interesting if D&D retains the next quarter in the top spot, because it will mean D&D core book sales still outperformed over Pathfinder's usual aggressive release schedule.

That's my thoughts as well. The Spring will be the test. It looks quite possible as the core rulebooks continue to outperform Paizo on Amazon.

 

[delericho]

And there's still the good-for-Paizo news that Pathfinder didn't drop to #3.

Now that would be a shock.

 

[Jester David]

Now that would be a shock.

Unlikely but not impossible.
FFG released the Beta of their Jedi sourcebook, which might have pushed some attention to their Star Wars game.
Meanwhile, former Pathfinder players buy 5e, and money they would spend on PF products goes to the pricey D&D books. Pathfinder released the Advanced Class Guide, which is arguably one of the weaker products they've ever done, and the Monster Codex, aka the 6th monster product. It would have been very easy for people to ignore the offerings of Paizo for 4 months, letting Pathfinder slip to #3.

It's not surprising that Pathfinder held onto #2. But it wouldn't have blown my mind to see it drop to #3.

 

[fjw70]

Unlikely but not impossible.
FFG released the Beta of their Jedi sourcebook, which might have pushed some attention to their Star Wars game.
Meanwhile, former Pathfinder players buy 5e, and money they would spend on PF products goes to the pricey D&D books. Pathfinder released the Advanced Class Guide, which is arguably one of the weaker products they've ever done, and the Monster Codex, aka the 6th monster product. It would have been very easy for people to ignore the offerings of Paizo for 4 months, letting Pathfinder slip to #3.

It's not surprising that Pathfinder held onto #2. But it wouldn't have blown my mind to see it drop to #3.

It would have been a shock to me. Didn't D&D hold onto the #2 stop through the 5e playtest (if I remember correctly)? If so that would tell me no one else is even in the same ballpark as D&D (both the 5e and PF editions).

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I wanna know how the heck they released a Star Wars RPG with no Jedi rules and there wasn't rioting in the streets!

 

[Staffan]

I wanna know how the heck they released a Star Wars RPG with no Jedi rules and there wasn't rioting in the streets!

1. By making it awesome.

2. By stating ahead of time that they'll be doing more-or-less the same game with three different focuses: lowlifes on the Rim (aka Star Wars goes Firefly), Rebellion military, and the Force. In other words, "You're getting your Jedi, just wait."

3. By setting the games in the original movie era, where Jedi are damn rare.

4. By having rules for "dabbling" in Force use in the other two games. You'd easily be able to make pre-Dagobah Luke, for example.

 

[Jester David]

It would have been a shock to me. Didn't D&D hold onto the #2 stop through the 5e playtest (if I remember correctly)? If so that would tell me no one else is even in the same ballpark as D&D (both the 5e and PF editions).

D&D fell off the charts during the playtest.

 

[fjw70]

D&D fell off the charts during the playtest.

Ah, I guess my memory failed me. Looking back at a few charts looks like they stayed on the charts for most of the playtest, but I stand by my conclusion that D&D and PF are in a league of their own.

 

[TrippyHippy]

1. By making it awesome.

2. By stating ahead of time that they'll be doing more-or-less the same game with three different focuses: lowlifes on the Rim (aka Star Wars goes Firefly), Rebellion military, and the Force. In other words, "You're getting your Jedi, just wait."

3. By setting the games in the original movie era, where Jedi are damn rare.

4. By having rules for "dabbling" in Force use in the other two games. You'd easily be able to make pre-Dagobah Luke, for example.

All of which is true, although I would beg the question as to how WEG managed to include all those things in one core rulebook, while still feeling like it had provided more source material in it’s page count that was less than a third of the three FFG SW corebooks put together?

Let’s face it…..it was a cunning FFG marketing ploy to release separate games - it wasn’t as if the original trilogy didn’t have characters representing all three games simultaneously, and it is a bit of an arbitrary split in the FFG ’trilogy’ to make it appear so.

 

[Morrus]

All of which is true, although I would beg the question as to how WEG managed to include all those things in one core rulebook, while still feeling like it had provided more source material in it’s page count that was less than a third of the three FFG SW corebooks put together?

Let’s face it…..it was a cunning FFG marketing ploy to release separate games - it wasn’t as if the original trilogy didn’t have characters representing all three games simultaneously, and it is a bit of an arbitrary split in the FFG ’trilogy’ to make it appear so.

There's nothing wrong with cunning marketing ploys.