D&D 5E PHB is #3 right now on "Amazon's Hot New Releases"

[Alphastream]

The RPGA network seems to have collapsed.

The RPGA name was retired because it had negative connotations for many. While for some (myself included) it had sentimental value, it really turned off (wrongfully) many potential players and meant nothing to the greater populace. It's meaning (a network of gaming clubs) was no longer accurate and didn't communicate well.

When the name was retired, play continued in the same way as before: living campaigns and store-based Encounters. The total sum of those programs (plus other minor programs, such as convention specials and the 2-year Lair Assault) was completely respectable. Any RPG other than Pathfinder would kill to have such a program (and Paizo would like to have various of D&D's more successful organized play aspects). The Encounters program has become a fantastic dependable name, recognized across the gaming space and continues to resonate well with new stores and players.

With 5E, D&D launched Adventurers League, the name for the overall organized play program. Store-based Encounters, Expeditions living play for stores and public locations, home play using published adventures, and Epic special convention premiers all fall under Adventurers League. The program has been a runaway success.

Here's the thing, and it is something your posts repeatedly seem to miss. RPGs are not a zero-sum game. The potential market is far greater than the existing RPG player base. It is possible for RPGs to grow simultaneously as they draw in new players. This is nothing new. Since the beginning of RPG history D&D has been great at drawing in gamers who then try other games. Everyone can have growth. In the case of organized play, Gen Con was great proof. Both D&D and Paizo/Pathfinder had their biggest Gen Con events ever this year! Many gamers play both programs (and many play several other great organized play programs.) That's awesome! Awesome for the companies, awesome for fans, and awesome for all RPGs in the hobby. True RPG fans don't wish other companies a bad year. They wish other companies a great year so all that growth will bolster the hobby and their own favorite game(s).

D&D is selling better than ever. Pathfinder is incredibly strong. Small and medium RPGs are able to launch highly successful launches through Kickstarter. Tabletop games are seeing huge growth. Organized play is receiving widespread recognition in and outside of the hobby. This is a great time to be an RPG fan!

 

[Sailor Moon]

"All" these rankings tell us is that the PHB has been a top selling book, relative to all other books, for around seven weeks now. At one point it was the top selling book. And not just on Amazon.

We also do know that no other role-playing book has come close to this in the last decade (including anything for 4E or Pathfinder). We have been told that the 3E PHB sold a lot in 2000. Mearls has said that 5E is doing better at this point...but sales where huge for 3E in its first year. We can neither confirm nor deny that 3E got into the top ten on any rankings (though it does seem like someone would have posted about it if it had).

Thats "it".

I would say the Pathfinder stuff was bought mainly from Paizo itself, not to mention you can get everything via the SRD. I would say it's the top RPG book sold out of Amazon but that's it.

 

[TerraDave]

Its dipping a little bit

#4/#9/#1

It is hard to compare to past releases, but through the way-back machine, I was able to find out that (for bestsellers) the:

4E PHB did get up to 33, fell to 54. then plumeted.


PFCRB got up to 369 (and maybe a bit higher, based on what I poasted above), but seemed to stay in the hundreds longer.

So the starter set, which I think got into the top and 10 and is now at 199, looks good by those numbers.

The PHB is something else. The difference in sales as you move into single digits is massive.

Was able to find the 3.5 PHB about one month out. #123.

Very hard to go all the way back to 2000 for 3E...but again if someone else wants to try.

 

[darius0]

This is the best I can find. The PHB 3.0 was featured on the main page apparently a few days after reviews start appearing in Amazon's records.

Check this out too . It states that the 3.0 PHB was #1 on Amazon’s hardcover fiction list on about August 27th, 2000.

 

[aramis erak]

Customer reviews do not really matter that much either though only sales. Social media did not exist back in 2000/2003 either. People were not talking about D&D on facebook for obvious reasons.

People WERE talking about 3E on the internet in 1999. In several venues. ISTR Kenzer & co having their forums up by then, And RPGNet was rolling. (1996). The Forge was newly up, but promptly denigrated all things d20.

And the mailing lists for a number of game systems were talking about it. There was a LOT of chatter online. It looked very different due to different media, but it was there.

And boards like the Delphi forums, and AOL forums.

 

[Zardnaar]

People WERE talking about 3E on the internet in 1999. In several venues. ISTR Kenzer & co having their forums up by then, And RPGNet was rolling. (1996). The Forge was newly up, but promptly denigrated all things d20.

And the mailing lists for a number of game systems were talking about it. There was a LOT of chatter online. It looked very different due to different media, but it was there.

And boards like the Delphi forums, and AOL forums.

There were things like bulletin boards but you did not have things like facebook, twitter, youtube and apps on cell phones linking them all together. Computer use has doubled or tripled since 2000 depending on what country you are in, you could not msg the D&D designers on twitter or watch them on youtube.

Its a slight difference of scale. I'm willing to bet you will find more positive reviews on the latest Game of Thrones book than Shakespeare or the bible as well.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

This is the best I can find. The PHB 3.0 was featured on the main page apparently a few days after reviews start appearing in Amazon's records.

Check this out too . It states that the 3.0 PHB was #1 on Amazon’s hardcover fiction list on about August 27th, 2000.

Whoah, wait a minute. I think you buried the lede here: 3e was "fiction" but 5e is "nonfiction." This time we get to use real magic!

If only Jack Chick knew how right he was...

 

[MwaO]

Total products? Sure. Books? Not as huge as you think, as Mistwell has cogently argued a few pages back.

I remember the outrage that happened last time when people would talk about buying books on Amazon instead of their FLGS. Now it is a point of pride that Amazon is where many books are being sold?

Seems to be a change?

 

[Alphastream]

I remember the outrage that happened last time when people would talk about buying books on Amazon instead of their FLGS. Now it is a point of pride that Amazon is where many books are being sold?

Seems to be a change?

I don't see this as anti-FLGS or pro-Amazon. I think its simply impressive that Amazon sales are high. And, Amazon is established enough to be important/meaningful. It is perhaps even more impressive, because now the LGS that are WPN members (and who run a high volume of Magic and D&D organized play) are allowed to sell these products two weeks in advance of Amazon. I've heard several cases of people canceling their Amazon orders to purchase from their FLGS because they wanted to get their books as soon as possible. I know other people who used to order from Amazon who know turn to their FLGS for the same reason.

It is great to see 5E do well on Amazon and at the FLGS. I visited a board game store in Belgium recently, and they were carrying the Starter Set and had made several sales despite not normally catering to RPGs. The stores I visit in Portland and Houston are seeing well beyond expected sales. Great news for our hobby.

 

[Mistwell]

There were things like bulletin boards but you did not have things like facebook, twitter, youtube and apps on cell phones linking them all together.

I wish you would stop repeating claims that have already been refuted...unless you have a response to the refutation.

Myspace.
Friendster.
AOL.
Usenet.

These were all big at the time. Bigger than mere "message board". They were, in fact, HUGE. MySpace surpassed Google as the most visited website in the United States at one point.

Computer use has doubled or tripled since 2000 depending on what country you are in, you could not msg the D&D designers on twitter or watch them on youtube.

This is another one of those Zard-specials, where you cite a generic set of data that has little to do with the topic but imply it has a lot to do with the topic. Nobody cares, say, computer use in Zibabwe for this topic. We're talking about internet usage, in the United States, which is where the overwhelming bulk of "D&D discussions on the internet" would be found. Right now internet usage is at 81% of Americans. By comparison, in 2000 it was about 51% of Americans. Now that is certainty growth, but it's not "doubled or tripled". We're also talking about gamer nerds - who were the first adopters of the Internet. I am sure the number of Americans online in the gamer nerd community has increased since 2000, but it's definitely not the wild numbers you're trying to imply here.

Its a slight difference of scale. I'm willing to bet you will find more positive reviews on the latest Game of Thrones book than Shakespeare or the bible as well.

Wow talk about disingenuous. We're comparing a book from 2000 to a book from 2014, where Amazon physical-book sales have raised about 30% and internet usage has raised about 30% as well in that period of time. So you compare it to books thousands of years old, which definitely never had any internet access when they released?

Why the constant exaggerations here Zard? It's not persuasive once someone reveals what you're doing, in fact it's the opposite. By doing this so much in this thread, you're decreasing the credibility of your arguments in general. It's like crying wolf.