Roll20 RPG Usage Stats: Growth Everywhere During Pandemic!

Roll20 has posted its latest Industry Report, revealing that the first quarter of 2020 shows growth for almost every game on its platform during the pandemic. D&D, of course, remains by far the most popular (up from 50% to 53% after a dip last year), with Call of Cthulhu and Pathfinder coming in behind. Call of Cthulhu has seen a bit of a drop from 12% to 8.5%, while Pathfinder is approximately steady.

(See the Quarter 1 2020 report here).

Cyberpunk Red saw high growth of over 100%, as did Tormenta, City of Mist, and the Year Zero Engine.

Here's the full list!

 

[Von Ether]

Any idea what's in the "uncategorized" section? Are those games the GMs didn't bother to give a tag to since it's a private game? If so I'd hazard to guess that 14% is just more of the same with D&D taking a bigger slice.

 

[Von Ether]

Since I don’t GM at all, this is actually a problem for me quite a few times.

You would join a very big club if you decided to start GMing the games you wish you could play because no one else was running them. I'd even hazard to say you'd be in good company.

 

[Retreater]

PF2 definitely feels like a "Sega Dreamcast" product to me, to use a video game analogy. I think it's well done and a great system. It may even be the last of its kind we see. I don't expect Paizo to be able to continue producing the quality and quantity of products we've seen so far if it's not more widely adopted. But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it while it's here, or that we can't continue to play it if Paizo loses more marketshare to 5e.

 

[macd21]

Any idea what's in the "uncategorized" section? Are those games the GMs didn't bother to give a tag to since it's a private game? If so I'd hazard to guess that 14% is just more of the same with D&D taking a bigger slice.

I think they also look at character sheets, though I’m not 100% on that. If so, then that 14% probably doesn’t include many DnD games, or of the other popular systems, as those would usually be run with one of the available sheets.

 

[Guest 7025638]

Any idea what's in the "uncategorized" section? Are those games the GMs didn't bother to give a tag to since it's a private game? If so I'd hazard to guess that 14% is just more of the same with D&D taking a bigger slice.

It sounds nice, thanks, but it doesn’t really work for me. I’ve been GMing before, and stopped about 15 years ago (I’m a long time player of more than 20 years), and never looked back. I want to play, to immerse in the adventures, not create them. For me it’s not fun at all to GM, I avoid it at all costs. So if no one GMs the systems I’d like to try/play, I won’t try those systems, that’s the sad reality.

 

[CapnZapp]

PF2 definitely feels like a "Sega Dreamcast" product to me, to use a video game analogy. I think it's well done and a great system. It may even be the last of its kind we see. I don't expect Paizo to be able to continue producing the quality and quantity of products we've seen so far if it's not more widely adopted. But that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it while it's here, or that we can't continue to play it if Paizo loses more marketshare to 5e.

True Dat.

Except not sure about the "lose more market share" bit. Hasn't Paizo lost almost all it's market share already?

 

[macd21]

True Dat.

Except not sure about the "lose more market share" bit. Hasn't Paizo lost almost all it's market share already?

It certainly doesn’t have anywhere near as much as it did at its height, but still has one of the biggest market shares in the industry. It has a lot to lose.

 

[Hussar]

True Dat.

Except not sure about the "lose more market share" bit. Hasn't Paizo lost almost all it's market share already?

Well, that's one of those funny questions where yes and no are kinda answering different points.

Sure, as a percentage, oh yeah, Pathfinder has lost market share. That's undeniable.

But, for the first time since the hobby began, we also seeing massive growth in the market. As in levels of growth unheard of previously. Last number I saw tossed about was that the RPG market was somewhere in the 60 million dollar neighbourhood (and I'll admit, I'm a bit out of touch).

So, while Paizo could have lost tons of market share, they might actually be making as much or more money now than previously. When your pie is five or six times bigger than previously, having a smaller slice does not quite mean what the same as if the pie stays the same size.

It's entirely possible that Paizo hasn't actually lost any money. They very well might be making the same now as they were ten years ago. The fact of the matter is that because the market has changed so much in the past five or six years, the voodoo economics that usually passes for prediction around here is even less accurate than before.

IOW, losing market share means a whole lot less when your market is massively growing. You can be sitting nice and steady real money wise, all the while losing market share in a rapidly growth market.

 

[CapnZapp]

So, while Paizo could have lost tons of market share, they might actually be making as much or more money now than previously.

We can hope so.

 

[Reynard]

It always seems a little odd when people categorize D&D as "not an RPG" when it is literally the Ur RPG. It defined the medium, which suggests all those other games actually something besides an RPG ("story games" for most of the Fate and PbtA variants, IMO). I mean, it doesn't really matter and there have been A LOT of words wasted on the subject in the past. I just find it strange.

On the subject of how Roll20s usage lines up with the broader RPG consumption: it's probably close enough, but i know as a primarily Fantasy Grounds user that if I don't need the widgets for a game, I don't bother with a VTT at all. Just Discord or Hangouts works fine.