ICv2 Reports Disappointing Year For Hobby Games Channel: TTRPGs Down, D&D Declines 30%

According to ICv2, 2023 was a tough year for hobby game sales. The US and Canada market increased by just 1%, which was less than the rate of inflation, growing from $2.86 billion in 2022 to $2.89 billion in 2023.

The hobby game sales channel is defined as specialist game and card stores--it doesn't include Amazon, direct sales, etc. It does include Kickstarter.

Top Hobby Channel TTRPGs (2023)

1. Dungeons & Dragons (WotC)
2. Pathfinder (Paizo)
3. Cyberpunk Red (R. Talsorian)
4. World of Darkness (Renegade Game Studios)
5. Starfinder (Paizo)
6. Warhammer 40K (Cubicle 7)
7. Marvel Multiverse Roleplaying (Marvel)
8. Kobold 5E Books (Kobold Press)
9. Call of Cthulhu (Chaosium)
10. Pirate Borg (Free League)

The only two categories to grow in 2023 were collectibles and miniatures. All other categories--board games, card games, and roleplaying games--were down. ICv2 reports a 30% hobby store sales decline for Dungeons & Dragons specifically, citing the impending new edition and lackluster movie performance, and the tail end of a pandemic-fuelled high; they also report that while the OGL crisis of last year impacted some lifestyle gamers, newer players as a whole were oblivious to the situation. The other important element ICv2 mentioned was D&D's increasing move to digital, which impacted retail sales.

Older D&D players, says ICv2, are also migrating to other games, with Pathfinder as one of the major beneficiaries.

The last 6 years has seen much larger growth rates--partly fuelled by the pandemic--ranging from 10% to 30%. 2022 saw a 7% growth over 2021. Despite the small increase, 2023 represents the 15th year of growth for the overall market. ICv2 does predict a market decline in 2024, though.

ICv2 conducts periodical surveys and speaks to publishers, distributors, and retailers, along with publicly available company information and Kickstarter data.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My 5e games are entirely made up of folks who played BG3 and wanted to start playing D&D (except for 1 guy, who had played a bit). 3 of those players have dived in hard, bought a ton of digital content, and are playing in 3 games a week. They were all CR watchers, but not until BG3 did they decide to make the leap towards actually playing.

You are a perfect person for me to ask, then:

You've obviously made the jump without any such products, but what impact, if any, would a BG3-themed starter box, BG3 dice sets for each character or a BG3 book that collected locations, magic items, etc. from the game for use in 5E have impacted your group? Would it have helped them jump over easier? Would they have wanted to have visited Moonrise Towers, etc., in 5E? Would it have just been fun things to pick up, but not important to the actual game?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Go Pathfinder! Second Edition is a great system in itself. The Remaster project is coming along well. I am not seeing a decline in our player base for my area. However, without Amazon and digital sales included in the research, I would venture the report is incomplete.

The ideal would definitely be if we could get good apples-to-apples data from Amazon and combine them. I suspect Amazon isn't interested in giving that kind of info away, though.

 

[Dire Bare]

While it does my black heart good to see Pirate Borg on that list, I am surprised to see several of those titles there but not Dungeon Crawl Classics. I wonder if Goodman does most of its sales directly.

DCC is a niche game within a niche corner of a hobby (OSR) that itself has only recently grown out of its niche. That's not a knock on the game, it's pretty awesome.

Making a living selling RPG games is hard, but with the tools and audience available today, you don't need to be in the Top 10 to be successful as a game or company. Goodman is a small outfit, and I imagine they are doing fine . . . or, at least I hope so!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

DCC is a niche game within a niche corner of a hobby (OSR) that itself has only recently grown out of its niche. That's not a knock on the game, it's pretty awesome.

Making a living selling RPG games is hard, but with the tools and audience available today, you don't need to be in the Top 10 to be successful as a game or company. Goodman is a small outfit, and I imagine they are doing fine . . . or, at least I hope so!

I suspect their absence from the chart is due to direct sales combined with a very vocal fanbase that definitely talks about the game more than the, say, Cyberpunk or WoD audience does.

And yeah, given how much new content is being produced by Goodman and third party vendors, it's clear that the game is a success, whether or not it charts.

 

[Dire Bare]

Well my local hobby shop now charges $65 for D&D books. So it isn’t really WoTC killing them as much as their own pricing plus Amazon and online places like Miniature Market, Game Nerdz etc who not only sell the books much cheaper but the miniatures too. Plus a lot of small publishers like KP, FGG and Nord have some pretty big sales throughout the year from their own website that is much cheaper than the local hobby store.

I hear you.

I get tired of folks pontificating, "Well, then don't complain when your FLGS disappears!" Stores that sell product ABOVE MSRP deserve to disappear, IMO. I've certainly stopped frequenting shops in my area that pulled that kind of crap.

My local FLGS had a brief stint of such behavior, but have since redeemed themselves in my eyes. Today, most new product is discounted slightly, often roughly 10%. Doesn't beat online retailers, but it is appreciated and helps justify me spending my limited hobby funds there. They have a clean, spacious, well ventilated and lit store with a wide variety of product (RPGs, cards, board games, miniature games). They have an absolutely huge gaming area, and regular host all sorts of games, organized play, and even community events (like mini conventions or geek-themed craft fairs). They have a warehouse full of stock not on the shelves (also an online storefront) with kiosks instore where you can search and order product. They have been pretty good about ordering stuff not on the shelves. And they are staffed by friendly folks who (usually) don't try and insert their own hobby preferences into your shopping experience. I freakin love this place! If you are ever in Boise, check out ABU Games!

It's not my job, as the customer, to support my local game store. It's the other way around. It's the job of my FLGS to convince me and the other gamers in my community that it's worth shopping and playing there, which my store does fairly well. I've certainly noticed a shift in my decades of frequenting hobby shops . . . the "old-school" stores that were unfriendly, smelly, and overpriced are going the way of the dodo. Stores that adapt and roll with the times are doing well, although I'm sure it's a constant struggle to compete with online and digital sales, increasingly so.

 

[GrimCo]

Well, it's not really surprising that sales are down. At least, sales in game stores. It would be interesting to see sales numbers from Amazon. Amazon is cheaper and if you live in area with Prime delivery, you can get stuff in 24-48h. Fast, cheap and convenient shopping without ever leaving comfort of your home.

People are going digital. Unlike physical book, digital book is more useful at the table for quick reference. Bookmarks, hyperlinks and search function make thing easier and faster than flipping trough the pages. Also, pdf is cheaper, you can share it with everyone in the group and doesn't deteriorate with time and use.

I'll buy physical only if it has good art that i like. That's it. I like to enjoy my art trough physical media.

In last 30 years, in my hometown with around 1 million people, there is 35000 high schoolers and around 75000 university students, which are prime customer demographics. In last 30 years, there was first one LGS that went bust. Then other company opened up first one, then the other store, then they closed second and eventually went bankrupt. After that new one opened up at the same location. And now we have our second. Call me pessimist, but i know sooner or later one of those, if not both are going to shut down.

I met guy who had that company with 2 stores. Their main source of income were TCG. Pokemon, Magic, Yugi. That's only thing that sold reliably and consistently, plus board games and geeky merch. On ttrpgs they had real slim margins and they stocked bare minimum and only things that were popular enough to sell rather quick. Books sitting on shelf were dead capital. Even now, our game stores have very slim pickings of ttrpg books since most people who play ttrpgs just order them from Amazon. But they have great stock of merch, collectible figures, accessories, board games and TCG.

Game stores are slowly going the video game store route, and that's Dodo bird route.

 

[Reynard]

I hear you.

I get tired of folks pontificating, "Well, then don't complain when your FLGS disappears!" Stores that sell product ABOVE MSRP deserve to disappear, IMO. I've certainly stopped frequenting shops in my area that pulled that kind of crap.

Out of curiosity, why do think of MSRP as a ceiling? Do you think the manufacturer understands the needs of every retail outlet when they make that suggestion? Do you not think that a store understands its own financial needs?

 

[darjr]

DCC may not have made the top ten but I bet a respectful bit of the 5e group is from Goodman Games.

 

[Wolfpack48]

I guess this is as good a time as any to ask who will be buying the upcoming announced releases.

6e?
Infinite Staircase?
Eve of Ruin?

I just bought Dark Tower and will be picking up Goodmans Caverns of Thracia. I’m still seeing upcoming sales in the hobby. I’ll be buying the new D&D material as well as RQ releases.

 

[Scribe]

I guess this is as good a time as any to ask who will be buying the upcoming announced releases.

6e?
Infinite Staircase?

Unless the SRD for 5.5 hits CC, I'm not buying anything Wizards.