The number I mentioned was 50M players, not 80 (the 85M were fans, however that is defined). The number of players also is not the same as number of purchases, like you are comparing here
I was referring to how it was going to be viewed by some people, which is that this means current players (or, if you want, we can go to current fans).
Remember that little thing I asked about Nintendo. Do you really think there are more fans of D&D currently than the entire population of the UK?
A Majority of the Sales (in fact, I'd say almost all that would be significant) these days are to English speaking nations (US, Canada, UK and it's cousins...) due to some interesting choices by WotC...
You are talking one out of every 5 to 6 persons in the US and UK are fans currently. If that's what you want to think, go ahead.
However, even back in the day with Nintendo and the Super Nintendo were (or the Genesis as that sold a little over 30 million) more popular than D&D is today....word of mouth, visibility, people talking about it, etc...
80 million fans over it's lifetime...I can buy that. Current fans...that's an awfully large number of people. I don't think people grasp how large a number that actually is in regards to populations of who would actually be playing D&D today, or even being fans of it.
I have NO evidence that this is actually correct (80 million fans or players) other than some statement. There is no paper trail, no visible evidence, no physical evidence, no evidence of any kind beyond a statement. Everything else I see that could be relatable (popularity of other things people are fans of which have less fans than 80 million listed, for example, number of fans of an old Playstation or Nintendo console) actually seem to indicate evidence against that 80 million (or even 50 million) number...and I don't think I'm too hard of a numbers guy to impress.
I'm far easier to believe these numbers that are being spouted than the non-fans out there who have no interest in D&D. The only ones I think they are being believed by (or even heard by) are hard core fans. No one else probably cares (if they've even heard those numbers), much less believes everything coming out on this if they understand how significant a number 50 or 80 million is in relation to a population size audience that this game is supposedly being played in.
As I said, I could possibly believe it's referring to total fans (or perhaps those who having a passing fancy to the term, even if they've never played the game) over the lifetime of D&D. I could even believe it is a number of Beyond accounts (with a ton of those being toss aways)...but without some sort of better evidence than someone simply saying the words...I'm having a hard time thinking that this is in relation to current numbers of fans or players.
If D&D had that many current fans, even with a boycott, that movie should have made an easy 200 to 250 million in theaters (for example, End game and Infinity War had around 130M+ viewers opening, and that is less than double 80 million, they broke 2 billion...250 million for a D&D movie would have been easy peasy if they truly had FANS in the numbers they are stating, even 50 million should have easily gotten 250 million (easy math)...with half a billion a more likely outcome overall...even with many hardcores boycotting).
Someone in Hollywood exec who approved the funding was led to believe the hype...that person is probably fired and Hollywood itself is probably not going to believe the hype of 50 million (much less 80 million) fans for a while (or at least until some new gullible exec tries to make a name for themselves and falls for a hype train again). That exec tossed far too much money (a more modest budget for a D&D movie may be doable I suppose...but good luck with that...TV shows are more likely now IMO) at a fairy dream based on unbacked statements and evidence supporting a different view. So...I'm not exactly full on with this hype train.
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