ICv2 Summer 2014 Ranks

[danbala]

I'm not fine with that, not because I care who is #1, but because I want to see more than just a trickle of products from WotC. I don't want to 2-3-4E glut, but more than what seems to be planned. I think they're right in wanting to tone down the glut, but I hope they don't go too far to the other extreme and go back to 1E output. But so far that seems to be the plan.

I expect to see a trickle. Based on staffing and their light schedule, it seems that "D&D: the game" is on maintenance mode to support "D&D: the brand." They aren't trying to make money with "D&D: the game", just not lose it. The goal is to support the value of the license.

 

[delericho]

The problem with anecdotal evidence is that it's anecdotal.

Yep. And the plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.

However, it's always worth repeating that these ICv2 charts are of little actual value as data, beyond simple interest. Because they miss out probably the two biggest sources of sales: internet sales (especially Amazon) and Paizo's direct sales/subscriptions. (Previously DDI was also a key factor, but I think it's probably less so these days.)

 

[DaveMage]

If Hasbro is happy it is because they carefully kept costs down and probably had modest expectations. The goal of this edition is just to have something published to support licensed products, not to be the top selling RPG.

Exactly.

5E the RPG is a great game, but WotC sees it like the 9-iron in a set of golf clubs. Just one of the tools in the toolbox.

 

[sgtscott658]

Huh? WoTC is a corporation and should be hell bent to crush the competition out there. Anything less will just put them in hot water with Hasbro.

Exactly.

5E the RPG is a great game, but WotC sees it like the 9-iron in a set of golf clubs. Just one of the tools in the toolbox.

 

[Umbran]

Huh? WoTC is a corporation and should be hell bent to crush the competition out there. Anything less will just put them in hot water with Hasbro.

That's an overly simplistic view of how business works.

D&D: the game is a nice thing. Worth a few million dollars, here and there. But D&D: the Brand, is potentially worth a good deal more. You do not spend effort on crushing competition when you can make money where you have little competition. You don't spend effort on crushing the competition when doing so may hurt your larger value.

 

[sgtscott658]

I do agree that the brand is worth alot but if the paper and pencil version fails to to grab the majority of consumers then this will probably be the end of the line for the D&D paper and pencil brand. The rest of the D&D brand property will probably survive via computer and media sources I would think.

Edit: Well we will all see by next summer how things pan out and maybe look back these posts and have a laugh.

That's an overly simplistic view of how business works.

D&D: the game is a nice thing. Worth a few million dollars, here and there. But D&D: the Brand, is potentially worth a good deal more. You do not spend effort on crushing competition when you can make money where you have little competition. You don't spend effort on crushing the competition when doing so may hurt your larger value.

 

[Bluenose]

That's an overly simplistic view of how business works.

D&D: the game is a nice thing. Worth a few million dollars, here and there. But D&D: the Brand, is potentially worth a good deal more. You do not spend effort on crushing competition when you can make money where you have little competition. You don't spend effort on crushing the competition when doing so may hurt your larger value.

Where are they taking D&D where there's little other competition, though? Novels, PC or console or app-store games, films, miniatures, toys; those are hardly uncompetitive markets.

 

[billd91]

However, it's always worth repeating that these ICv2 charts are of little actual value as data, beyond simple interest. Because they miss out probably the two biggest sources of sales: internet sales (especially Amazon) and Paizo's direct sales/subscriptions. (Previously DDI was also a key factor, but I think it's probably less so these days.)

Honestly, rating overall sales of any RPG product isn't ICv2's goal. They're a resource for the hobby/comic store market so they focus on what's going on in the hobby/comic store world. If PF is selling best in the hobby retail market, that's of value to the hobby retailers. But if huge numbers of people are buying an RPG off Amazon and it's not showing any blip in ICv2, how much value is that RPG to the hobby retailer? Probably not much because the consumers of that game are using another channel to get it.

 

[Umbran]

Where are they taking D&D where there's little other competition, though? Novels, PC or console or app-store games, films, miniatures, toys; those are hardly uncompetitive markets.

They are, and they aren't. Specifically, those area all places where competition is not simple "win/lose".

When I go to the market to buy a bag of flour, I'm going to buy only one bag - one company gets the sale, the other does not.

When I go to the movies to see a film, I may pick one for right now, but that does not preclude me from seeing another film later. I can go to the movies lots of times.

So, in some places it is not necessary to "crush the competition" to succeed. The competition can do just fine, and you can succeed too. RPGs are already somewhat like this. When you step out into fiction, computer or mobile games, and so on, you are talking about a much, much larger potential market, and again, your sales are not neatly precluded by another's. With limited resources, you compete where you are likely to make the most money, not merely against what one originally thinks of as your "competitors".

And, if we want to go pie-in-the-sky, if D&D comes out with a good movie that nets a profit of several hundred million dollars, all the PnP sales will look like diddly by comparison, hardly worth considering in the grand scheme of things. Crushing Paizo in RPG book sales won't even be on the radar then.

 

[Mercurius]

I expect to see a trickle. Based on staffing and their light schedule, it seems that "D&D: the game" is on maintenance mode to support "D&D: the brand." They aren't trying to make money with "D&D: the game", just not lose it. The goal is to support the value of the license.

Yeah, I get that - but again, I worry that they might do a variant of what they did with 4e by focusing on the "two birds in the bush" rather than the one in hand, that is, us, the serious fans of the RPG.