[OT] Size of RPG market

[Krug]

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/2489.html

CCGs is the largest single category in the games business, and despite the decline of Pokemon, the market for CCGs is still robust, at around $750 million at retail in 2002, thanks largely to the rise of Yu-Gi-Oh! and the continued strength of the classic Magic brand from Wizards of the Coast. The rapid development of the Collectible Miniatures Game category created by WizKids has also helped to fuel the market for miniature games, which was probably around $170 million at retail in 2002. The subset of board games carried by pop culture retailers is difficult to quantify, although that market definitely grew substantially in 2002. One of the most surprising findings for us was the relatively small size of the roleplaying game market, at only around $35 million retail.

 

[Crothian]

Actually, I thought the RPG market was smaller. Glad to know I am wrong.

 

[trancejeremy]

Hmmm. On the one hand, I guess that's around a million RPG books sold a year (maybe 1.5 million). But that still seems somewhat, er, pathetic, compared to movies or sports salaries

 

[Crothian]

Well, that's what happens when you compaire fringe hobby with a national past time. Gen Con, the biggest gaming convention has how many people go to it? Compare that to how many people goto a single sporting event?

 

[Krug]

There's a lot of subsidiary income not covered. D&D computer RPGs, for example.

 

[Angcuru]

Sports suck, gaming doesn't.

The difference between us and sports fans is that we THINK. As well as get to interact with the entertainment.

 

[Piratecat]

The difference between us and sports fans is that we THINK.

Speaking of thinking, you may want to do so before posting! A ton of gamers are also sports fans. Insulting a huge range of people is a guaranteed way to get a lot of angry responses. I think it's probably best not to generalize.

Folks, please don't respond to this statement; I'd rather keep the thread on topic.

 

[Holy Bovine]

I never really thought about how big the RPG market was but 35 million doe sseem very small when you consider how many RPGs are currently out there and in print. Even if you figure WotC has 90% of the market that is very little compared to what Hasbro can get for selling a retread of Monopoly with a Harry Potter theme

*sigh* now I feel bummed because I fear that so many of the small companies must be just scrapping by - and I buy a lot of stuff from those small companies.

Hey! I guess that's how I can keep them going

 

[jdavis]

gaming books normally have a longer lifespan than CCGs. Yea there are a lot of books out there but there isn't the addiction value of the cards and the books are normally good for several years, card games seem to go from fad to fad. THe one that suprised me was the minatures, I didn't realize they were that popular.

 

[Crothian]

THe one that suprised me was the minatures, I didn't realize they were that popular.

I'm not. They are the big thing at all the gaming stores I seem to go to. It's rare to not see people there wargaming or talking about them. More and more it seems the people running the store pay more attention and know more about minatures then RPGs.