Roll20 Now Has 10 Million Users

Roll20's user base has doubled since 2020, and is now at a height of 10 million users.

In 2020 Roll20 had 5 million users, and it had 3 million users two years before that. In February 2021 it reported 8 million users.

A recent blog post says that "From 2017 to the end of 2019, Roll20 grew five times over (in both staff and revenue), and the pandemic more than doubled that growth."

Dicebreaker reports that the platform reported in a press release that new updates were coming, including a UI overhaul, performance improvements, and new features for GMs.

In other news, Roll20 now has a new CEO, Ankit Lal. Nolan T. Jones,co-founder of the company, is stepping back.

 

[Morrus]

Yeah, I agree on that stuff. I think Goodman Games also has good official Foundry support, but yes, if the game doesn't have "official" support it is more work. Which definitely holds it back.

Part of the problem with that is that getting that support done officially (as opposed to having it done by volunteers) is eye-wateringly expensive for a small TTRPG company. And you have to add to that the fact that most folks won't be pleased about paying for a VTT implementation when they have already bought the book.

(And that's just one VTT; folks will want the same support on a half dozen of them).

We're doing official implementations for Foundry, Roll20, and FG for Level Up, but it's a BIG task which takes as long as it took to make the game in the first place, and the costs involved are staggering.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Yeah, I agree on that stuff. I think Goodman Games also has good official Foundry support, but yes, if the game doesn't have "official" support it is more work. Which definitely holds it back.

I haven't tried it beyond basic SWADE, but Savage Worlds has some official support on Foundry as well. (Deadlands and Savage Pathfinder both have stuff.)

 

[CleverNickName]

Do people use it for the video calling? We usually have Zoom for that, and Roll20 for the battle maps/character sheets/dice rolling.

Same here (but Discord instead of Zoom).

 

[Dire Bare]

Then it's more like 10 million visitors have passed through the front doors? Not so much 10 million users using Roll20?

If you feel the need to get nit picky . . . sure.

 

[Jd Smith1]

We use Discord chat (no video), and Roll20 just as the battle board; I set the screen image to a map of Harn when we are out of combat.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

If you feel the need to get nit picky . . . sure.

Sometimes people just ask for clarification of things so that they don't get the wrong impression.

 

[Uta-napishti]

Roll20 is clunky old and slow, but does everything (not well, but does it). So it can fit somewhere in everyone's stack. We use it mostly for communal dice rolling sharing, and in some games folks have their character sheets there. We do voice on discord. When Roll20 freaked out the other night and their maps broke for everyone, we switched to Owlbear for maps, and still kept R20 going in another tab for dice rolling / character sheets.
In my opinion R20 needs three things: 1) technical debt cleaned up (can be done inhouse, or maybe they could license The Visual Collaboration Platform for Every Team | Miro or something and put a character sheet / dice rolling overlay on it and 2) they need to work on their MarketplaceFirst of all, Open their marketplace to content less than $4.99. That's too much for a one shot adventure or just some random maps. Their philosophy is "what is worth hosting is worth paying for", but I think the price point is wrong, and they would boost their ecosystem by allowing cheaper content, and 3) On a related note they should give away more content away with paid subscriptions netflix style. If you got a bunch of D&D subclasses, feats and Magic Items (from a Third Party Publisher would be fine) , and adventures free as part of your R20 subscription, those would become some of the most played content in D&D, and would boost playing on the platform. I'm sure they could get third party publishers to give them a good deal to bundle some amazing things with their subscription.

 

[payn]

I've seen some comments about VTTs in regards to what they offer. I have also heard the trepidation about having to buy material over and over again. Some systems are an absolute beast (D&D, Pathfinder, etc..) so the automation is nice. The click and drag compendiums are so convenient. Everyone wants automation, updated materials, and all at a low low price. You get 2 out of the three in my experience.

What I like about Foundry is that it forces me to learn how to do this stuff myself. Its time consuming, but it will never go away. I can always add what I need to. I dont have to pay twice/thrice/etc for materials. It also looks great, which I'm a snob about. I am happy to hear about Roll20's success tho. It means more support overall for the VTT space, eventually. Progress is sometimes slow when it comes to hobbies like TTRPGs.

 

[timbannock]

Part of the problem with that is that getting that support done officially (as opposed to having it done by volunteers) is eye-wateringly expensive for a small TTRPG company. And you have to add to that the fact that most folks won't be pleased about paying for a VTT implementation when they have already bought the book.

(And that's just one VTT; folks will want the same support on a half dozen of them).

We're doing official implementations for Foundry, Roll20, and FG for Level Up, but it's a BIG task which takes as long as it took to make the game in the first place, and the costs involved are staggering.

You guys are always very open about stuff, but I don't want to presume, so I'll ask: will you and the team be sharing some of that financial side of things at any point, such as in a retrospective once you have the VTT support fully operational on a few platforms? As an indie publisher, I've dabbled with some VTT support (Fantasy Grounds) and found it not at all worthwhile...but that's because I'm operating on an infinitely smaller setup than ENPublishing would. It'd be interesting to see what things look like at that level.

(I hope I'm not being a jerk asking this. Money might be a private matter, and if you don't want to share it, that's your business!)

 

[Hussar]

Yeah, I hear the point about buying things twice. But, there are two counter points to that.

1. Don't. Just buy the VTT implementation of the book. You don't actually need both to play. I haven't bought a WotC physical book since the core 3. But, I do own many of the VTT versions. If money is the issue, it is one way to go.

2. You do get a HUGE amount of functionality with the VTT version that the print version can't give you. So, it's not like you're buying the same material twice. It really isn't. The fact that when I make an adventure, everything (more or less) is drag and drop, it's just so fast. I can completely stat a 10th level adventure in about an hour. And I mean a meaty adventure. Something that's going to take a full level to complete. I certainly could never do that on a tabletop.