Pathfinder 2E Release Day Second Edition Amazon Sales Rank

[jerryrice4949]

PF2 sales rank numbers are killer and other RPG companies would be celebrating in the streets with those numbers.

The sales started very strong but in six weeks they have dropped quite precipitously. As much overhead as Paizo has this could be trouble down the line. The sales are great compared to many competitors but none of those competitors have the fixed costs of Paizo either. Probably bears watching if sales slide.

 

[darjr]

Paizo has been pairing down for a while. For instance I think the administration of PFS is only a part of someone’s job now.

Also it looks like the pf2 core book sales have kinda stabilized. Which probably means they can find a groove and be good.

Finally the setting book sold out of stock, and sustained a sales rank in the 14000. So my guess is that they are on the bubble about how many books they needed.

 

[darjr]

The setting book is back in stock and in the 5000 for sales rank.

 

[Acolyte of Zothique]

I have no animosity. Some of the comments felt like cheerleading for the game to fail to me. That's all. If that was not the intention I apologize. This kind of stuff is pretty easy to misread.

Your comments came across as 'Well this is better than 5e/superior to 5e'; sounding as if you're disparaging 5e. I understand this was not intentional but it sounded like an attack on 5e in tone if not intention.

I actually wish good fortune on PF2E - having different options for games is good - but some comments from various people regarding why they like PF2E sound like they are disparaging 5e and it annoys me no end.

Try this for instance: instead of saying 'PF2E monsters are more fun than 5e monsters' which sounds somewhat adversarial say instead 'Well I enjoy PF2E monsters because they bring more varied abilities to the game'

Stating what you like about PF2E without denigrating 5e essentially. It's all in the expression - diplomacy is an art worth practicing.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

It's all in the expression - diplomacy is an art worth practicing.

Go ahead.

 

[darjr]

And it broke 2000 again.
I think that shows steady sales. It’s not at PF1 levels, before the advent of 5e, but it could climb.

I think that people are discovering that it’s OK or great.
I wonder if initial doom and gloom hurt sales and now that it’s fading things will settle in and or climb?

but what do I know?

 

[Arilyn]

but what do I know?
[/QUOTE]

As much or as little as anyone else!

Nobody has access to Paizo's financial records, or how they are doing as a company, Paizo has PF1 books still available, PF2, Starfinder, the Adventure card game, the subscription service and their own store which has a huge amount of products, from a wide variety of RPG companies, including WOTC.

Because they sell a lot of product directly, Amazon can only give us a rough idea of sales. Plus direct sales of their own stuff means a bigger profit for Paizo. PF2 isn't selling as well as PF did initially, but is this a huge problem? We can't know, so all this talk of the end of Paizo, unless they revert to 5e is just... words fail.

 

[darjr]

I do know that I don't know the initial sales rank of the pf1 core. Camelcamelcamel didn't go back that far.

So it's entirely possible that it started just like PF2. I don't know.

I think Keepa has those numbers, and numbers going back into 4e and even the end of 3.5. But that's more money than I'm willing to spend to find out. At least at the moment. 15 pounds a month. ( what is that in dollars?)

 

[Arilyn]

I do know that I don't know the initial sales rank of the pf1 core. Camelcamelcamel didn't go back that far.

So it's entirely possible that it started just like PF2. I don't know.

I think Keepa has those numbers, and numbers going back into 4e and even the end of 3.5. But that's more money than I'm willing to spend to find out. At least at the moment. 15 pounds a month. ( what is that in dollars?)

We just can't know. Maybe Paizo is teetering or maybe flush, or somewhere in between. Speculation seems to fall on the lines of whether you like PF or not, which tells us nothing.

 

[darjr]

I don't like PF2. I'm interested in the play that campbell posted, but I don't intend to ever play or run it. I am trying to be objective. And I DO think that the amazon sales rank is a pretty good proxy.

We've compared them to the ICV2 rankings and they roughly matched, though that wasn't very rigorous.
Someone went and took a look at how many "subscribers" there were at Paizo's site, each user had a badge that said so. And those numbers, even if everyone of them bought the core via that subscription, were dwarfed by Amazon projected sales (yes a guess, but I think an OK one).

Also the comparison to the PHB sorta works out because there are many other sources to the PHB as well as the paizo core. Though I agree that Paizo makes more money on their direct sales, especially with PDF, twice as much per hardback, my guess, and most of it per PDF. Oh and we have a comparison to PF1 sales via sales rank, at least for a couple years and right at the release of 5e and a little after.

Amazon is really the only numbers we have for these two. At least in any steady supply.

I must admit though, I wan't Paizo to succeed. I wan't there to be more than one largish RPG company in the market. More than two or three would be even better.