ICv2 Summer 2014 Ranks

[Jester David]

From yesterday but I didn't see a thread.

Top 5 Roleplaying Games – Summer 2014
	Title	Publisher
1	Pathfinder	Paizo Publishing
2	Dungeons & Dragons	Wizards of the Coast
3	Star Wars	Fantasy Flight Games
4	Shadowrun	Catalyst Game Labs
5	Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch	Fantasy Flight Games

Pathfinder retains its top spot while 5th Edition puts Dungeons & Dragons back on the chart, but not enough to place at #1.

I kinda expected this. ICv2 only has three charts a year, so Summer would be May - August or June - September. 5e, while selling well, was only on sale for a fraction of that. If the period ended in August, the PHB would barely have had time to sell. Meanwhile, Pathfinder had several big books and lots of content during May, June, and July.
So it's too early to tell if D&D will unthrone Pathfinder. But just making it to #2 is pretty impressive.

 

[Paraxis]

So it's too early to tell if D&D will unthrone Pathfinder. But just making it to #2 is pretty impressive.

No it is not impressive, from the charts posted about the amount of games that are played on Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds here a week or so ago Pathfinder and D&D are almost 80% of the games played. So it is no surprise at all that D&D skyrocketed past everything not D&D or Pathfinder.

It will take back the number 1 spot next time though, now if they keep it that will be the question. It seems that WoTC is going the route of few published products and trying to make money off the brand, while Paizo floods the shelves with product every month. So I think after the huge initial sales of the 3 core books, D&D will taper off and Paizo will climb back to the #1 spot.

 

[Morrus]

I kinda expected this. ICv2 only has three charts a year,

It varies a lot. Sometimes 3, sometimes 4.

 

[Jester David]

Not it is not impressive, from the charts posted about the amount of games that are played on Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds here a week or so ago Pathfinder and D&D are almost 80% of the games played. So it is no surprise at all that D&D skyrocketed past everything not D&D or Pathfinder.

It will take back the number 1 spot next time though, now if they keep it that will be the question. It seems that WoTC is going the route of few published products and trying to make money off the brand, while Paizo floods the shelves with product every month. So I think after the huge initial sales of the 3 core books, D&D will taper off and Paizo will climb back to the #1 spot.

It's impressive because D&D did it with just the Starter Set and two weeks of PHB sales.

 

[Hussar]

I think it speaks a lot more about just how tiny third place really is.

 

[MartyW]

D&D will taper off and Paizo will climb back to the #1 spot.

I would agree to that statement if WotC doesn't start filling their pipeline with other product. I think the core books will likely give then 2 quarters at the top. If they don't start coming out with other game accessories, world books, etc the initial spike will taper.

On the other hand, that may be OK with Hasbro. With a small design team, fewer releases may still be acceptably profitable. ICv2 report really only tells us about sales, not market share. They may be fine with a steady pace of core book sales, even if Paizo keeps putting out splat books that keep it at the top.

 

[DaveMage]

Actually, there was a third D&D product - the Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure.

 

[delericho]

I'm actually rather surprised at that - I was sure that D&D would storm into #1 and stay there for at least the next several months. And although the PHB was only out for about 2 weeks of that period, I would have expected them to claim #1 based on the first day sales.

I do wonder, though, just how strongly Amazon skews this - with a $50 RRP and well-publicised 40% discounts being available, perhaps they soaked up almost all of the sales of the book? (After all, we know they sold a lot of copies - see the "PHB now #X at Amazon" thread.)

 

[Morrus]

I'm actually rather surprised at that - I was sure that D&D would storm into #1 and stay there for at least the next several months. And although the PHB was only out for about 2 weeks of that period, I would have expected them to claim #1 based on the first day sales.

Nah. Two weeks of a quarter isn't enough. One day is silly.

I honestly didn't expect to see D&D at #2 let alone #1 for Summer 2014. My prediction was that we'd see it appear in the Fall 2014 figures, published in early 2015. I'll keep my prediction of #1 for that chart!

 

[Neonchameleon]

I'm actually rather surprised at that - I was sure that D&D would storm into #1 and stay there for at least the next several months. And although the PHB was only out for about 2 weeks of that period, I would have expected them to claim #1 based on the first day sales.

I do wonder, though, just how strongly Amazon skews this - with a $50 RRP and well-publicised 40% discounts being available, perhaps they soaked up almost all of the sales of the book? (After all, we know they sold a lot of copies - see the "PHB now #X at Amazon" thread.)

My reading of all this is that it's almost time to stick a fork in D&D. We don't just have two weeks, we have four for premium stores - and a strong opening that's fallen off. It wouldn't surprise me if over half the total sales for the PHB are in that first month. The MM is already languishing outside the top 100 on Amazon. (In the UK things are significantly worse - add a zero).

And from local experience, people are losing interest fast. 4e caused rioting - Next is just causing people to play it and shrug.