Market Research Info?

[Benjow]

Hi guys, I've seen a few snippets of brand studies and other market research for the RPG industry, but I was wondering if any of you had any great sources for demographic info? I'm interesting in learning things like, what types of D&D sell well, PDF and third party publishing sales, Demographics and other info in regards to players and DMs, and if there is any info about what things DMs and players want to see online. I heard about a poll that WOTC did asking about their subscription service, anyone know anything about that?

Thanks for any of your help!

 

[Dyson Logos]

Nope.

The few companies that have done serious market research have also kept the results mostly to themselves. Wizards released some of the results that helped explain their design concepts around the time they released 3.0 (regarding the number of players, length of play and number of games played per month), but not the demographic data that would help other companies to target specific groups and advertising.

 

[tallfello]

That is also why I am here. I have distribution and I'm willing to gamble a few dollars on publishing. Not only am I looking for market data to learn what best to publish, but I am also looking for content. What are the rules about making content for d&d 4e Forgotton realms settings?

 

[Dyson Logos]

You can't.

The forgotten realms are firmly outside of even fair use or any of the licenses. You would have to contact Wizards and beg for a Realms license, which I can basically guarantee they won't give you.

 

[tallfello]

Ok the realms are out. Next questions....Can you use any WOTC artwork in the creation of an Ebook? For example pictures of dragons from the Monster Manuals? ( i read the license agreement but was confused as to whether you could or not)

If not....Is anyone aware of any good open source artwork websites that would have a multitude of D&D style artwork which you can license for free or get a paroprietry license to for a price? Something like I stock photo?

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

No, you can't use WoTC art for an E-Book... I do recall seeing a site that was intended to allow cheap, one-time access to decent art. They were pretty decent quality pics, done by people who have done some work for major third party publishers. I'll look around for the link.

Other than that I'm not aware of any fantasy stock art sorts of sites.

 

[emilycare]

I asked a similar question at a different forum and was given a link to the Wizards of the Coast results. They are a bit out of date, unfortunately.

The Escapist - Archive - Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary

There is also some information from 2001 at this site:

http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/whatis/demographics.html
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