Shape of RPG Industry

[Alnag]

Well, with all those recent unexpected (and unwanted) surprises with Digital Initiative and cancelling of Dragon and Dungeon, not renewing Dragonlance licence etc. I am wondering in what shape the RPG industry actually is?

I guess that WotC is still the huge number one in the market. But how much of % of sold units and or $ do they make. Is White Wolf still nr. 2? Who is currently the third one? Green Ronin possibly?

Are the sales of RPG overall declining or rather rise up?
Which compaines producing d20system products still exist and produce?

Is World of Warcraft (and other MMORPG) still the greatest thread to tabletop RPG?

Are there some relevant resources to answer those questions? Are we able to see if the recents events will have an impact on the market (e.g. changes in market share, incomes?)

And what would Ryan Dancey said?

 

[Glyfair]

ICV2 in their overview of 2006 pegged the following as the top 5 RPGs.

1. Dungeons & Dragons
2. World of Darkness
3. Exalted
4. Mutants & Masterminds
5. BESM

Also note that they had the top 2 CMGs as well, with Star Wars & DDM.

In November they had:

1. Dungeons & Dragons
2. World of Darkness
3. Mutants and Masterminds
4. Exalted
5. GURPs

General concensus is WotC (and thus D&D) is far past everything else. White Wolf is in a category significantly above everyone else. After that is everyone else.

 

[Ian O'Rourke]

It's almost stretching the word industry, to call the RPG marker an industry, even companies like White Wolf are actually very, very small I understand. The only company of any respectable size is Wizards of the Coast.

Personally, whenever these threads come on other sites the general concensus seems to be things have never been better really in terms of variety, production values and just overall value for money and options.

 

[Hussar]

It's almost stretching the word industry, to call the RPG marker an industry, even companies like White Wolf are actually very, very small I understand. The only company of any respectable size is Wizards of the Coast.

Personally, whenever these threads come on other sites the general concensus seems to be things have never been better really in terms of variety, production values and just overall value for money and options.

I think that really is a point to remember. There has really never been a better time to be a gamer than right now. The plethora of high quality products on the market, tailor made to even the most eclectic tastes pretty much lets any gamer game in a game that he or she likes. If you don't like WOTC D&D, there's a host of d20 publishers that would love your money. Don't like whacking pseudo-medieval baddies? Move over to Mutants and Masterminds, WOD, or the bazillion other choices.

The fact is, no matter how bizarre your tastes are in RPG's, you can likely find someone, somewhere, that's willing to sell you a pretty damn good book to help you along.

 

[Alnag]

ICV2 in their overview of 2006 pegged the following as the top 5 RPGs.

1. Dungeons & Dragons
2. World of Darkness
3. Exalted
4. Mutants & Masterminds
5. BESM

Wow. Interesting. I always thought, that Warhammer RPG is in much better position. I would expected to see it in top5. Thanks for the link.

About the general consensus of the good shape of "industry", I've heard rather opposite. But who knows...

 

[Glyfair]

There has really never been a better time to be a gamer than right now.

I'd disagree with this, based on my observations and experiences over my 30 year roleplaying career (with the caveat that we restrict it to roleplaying and not general hobby gaming).

Yes, there are many quality, polished RPGs out there right now. If your are comfortable with the medium, the PDF market has added many inexpensive options. However, finding a group that will use the game is much harder now that during what I consider the best time (mid-eighties).

There seems to be a general concensus that D&D is far and away the RPG of choice. There is a dominant group of players who aren't interested in any other game, and the next group are only interested in closely related games to D&D (d20 modern, d20/OGL games). Then you have a side group that is only interested in White Wolf games. After that you often have to fight to get people to play a game you wish to try.

In the mid-eighties, on the other hand, getting groups to try new games was often easy. D&D was still the RPG of choice. However, the fanatical group that wouldn't try anything else was much smaller.

New games came out regularly and often became classics. Games like Runequest, Champions, GURPS, Call of Cthulhu, Traveller and Rolemaster thrived in the environment. Genres often weren't tapped by RPGs and publishers got to be the first to explore them (or among the first) and players would try them just because they liked the genre.

Finding gaming groups was much easier for the uninitiated as well. Gaming stores usually had some sort of gaming areas where roleplaying games were held (along with the occasional wargame). Colleges regularly had roleplaying clubs along with some high schools. Even if you didn't have a gaming store, the stores that carried the RPGs usually had a bulletin board where you could contact other gamers.

Now, I'm sure this varied from area to area and does today (and I'm not even going to begin to cover the rest of the world). However, from discussions from other games, I get the impression that the vibe is different today. The main thing I see is how many people have difficulty in getting regular groups for non-D&D games, let alone smaller games.

The big advantage I see today is the internet. Finding a game on the internet for anything can be much easier, because you have a larger pool of people to draw from. I'm sure I could even find a group to play Spawn of Fashan today.

Still, I think online gaming is a different experience from a tabletop game. At least to me, the experience online is far inferior to sitting at a table for an evening and playing an RPG. I miss the days when I could go to the gameclub attached to my gamestore almost any night and jump in an RPG. Most of the time the RPG wasn't even D&D.

 

[Hussar]

Now, I'm sure this varied from area to area and does today (and I'm not even going to begin to cover the rest of the world). However, from discussions from other games, I get the impression that the vibe is different today. The main thing I see is how many people have difficulty in getting regular groups for non-D&D games, let alone smaller games.

I wonder though, how much this is an internet thing? People who have no problems finding a group to play whatever game wouldn't be posting on message boards about it while those who are having problems likely would.

My experience is a little different. We tried all sorts of different games in the 80's, but, that was with my friends and not at a gaming club. In the 90's, when I gamed at the FLGS, it was pretty much 2e or nothing. Tried a few pick up games of Vampire, but, that was about it. Heck, it wasn't until I came to internet gaming sites that I realized that anyone still played 1e. I just hadn't ever seen anyone playing since 2e released.

Still, I think online gaming is a different experience from a tabletop game. At least to me, the experience online is far inferior to sitting at a table for an evening and playing an RPG. I miss the days when I could go to the gameclub attached to my gamestore almost any night and jump in an RPG. Most of the time the RPG wasn't even D&D.

This sort of thing I find kind of discouraging honestly. I really do believe that online VTT gaming is on par with face to face. Not better, certainly, but, not worse either. Then again, it has been a very, very long time since I got to play with friends rather than people I met through the hobby. The people I gamed with (and currently game with as well) are not the people I would go out for a beer on Friday night with, even in the 90's. Not that I didn't like the people I gamed with, that's not true. Just that it tended to slot into "my gaming friends" and "my regular friends".

Man, that sounds snobbish. :/ I don't know how to phrase it better though.

 

[Thomas Percy]

Wow. Interesting. I always thought, that Warhammer RPG is in much better position. I would expected to see it in top5. Thanks for the link.

Me too.

 

[jdrakeh]

It's almost stretching the word industry, to call the RPG marker an industry, even companies like White Wolf are actually very, very small I understand.

Last I knew, White Wolf had three full-time employees (this was in 2004/2005). At least one of those people has departed, to the best of my knowledge.

 

[Rykion]

Wow. Interesting. I always thought, that Warhammer RPG is in much better position. I would expected to see it in top5. Thanks for the link.

I think ICV2 gets their numbers from North American distributors. I suspect WHFRP would be in the top 5 of a more international survey.