Zardnaar
Legend
As the title says. Note that this is just my opinion but I don't think I am to far wrong. By most accounts 5E has been a big hit and while some people might get a bit carried away with how popular it is out of the 7 D&D's it has probably outsold 4 of them being in 3rd place and it might be on track to beat the top 2. While we can't definitively say that it has not beaten them Mearls has been quite vocal about 5E beating say 3E and 2E in sales so I assume he would have said something it it beat 1E or BECMI.
So its a popular edition but why. Well I think the following reasons apply.
1. Its a genuinely good edition. Very simple reason 5E is not perfect by any means and there are some things in it I do not like but they are more annoyances than reasons that would go make me play something else. This means its basically a popular edition already. It has been 18 years since the last time D&D had a popular edition as 3.5 was less popular than 3.0 and well 4E happened.
2. Its simple. At least for a D&D edition there are a lot less moving parts with only the ASI's on most classes to worry about with spellcasters being a bit more complicated. When the 5E Warlock is about the most complicated class in the book its not that hard. 5E has seen an influx of newer players and less complicated/mass market generally sells more than hardcore stuff- think Tetris, Mario, G and PG movies vs R etc.
3. Deep Amazon/online discounts. Pathfinder for example used to be cheap as you got the PHB and DMG for less than both of those books individually compared with say 4E.. Xbox 360 was cheaper than the PS3 (and took huge market share vs previous generation), PS4 is cheaper than Xbox One. Price points are great for consumers and with recent sales of $20 you are getting the PHB at 1989 prices. If you are an American these are great prices, here in 1995 a PHB was $45 (31 USD approx), a 5E one is $75 (52 USD aprox). If I was american I would have more than 2 copies. One thing I have noticed over several groups is most players now have their own PHB vs the 2 maybe 3 a group would have in previous editions.
4. The rise of social media. Well twitter and Youtube are now a thing. These did not exist when 3.5 landed and were in their infancy when 4E landed. 5E is the 1st D&D that is popular to land when these have been mature mainstream technologies. Throw in facebook. In ye good ol days finding players may have been hard, now you can go to facebook and join a D&D group and let people know you want players.
5. Virtual able Tops (VTT's). These have been around in some form for a while but have become a lot more mainstream in recent years. Can't find a group to play? Live in a small town? Well go online and play. Also solve the decades long smelly player problem.
So that is basically it. Its easier and cheaper to play than ever, easier to promote the game than ever combined with a genuinely good edition that is popular to the extent we have not seen since 2000 if not the early 80's. Its a perfect storm of convergent technology, price, a good edition harnessed to the power of social media.
So its a popular edition but why. Well I think the following reasons apply.
1. Its a genuinely good edition. Very simple reason 5E is not perfect by any means and there are some things in it I do not like but they are more annoyances than reasons that would go make me play something else. This means its basically a popular edition already. It has been 18 years since the last time D&D had a popular edition as 3.5 was less popular than 3.0 and well 4E happened.
2. Its simple. At least for a D&D edition there are a lot less moving parts with only the ASI's on most classes to worry about with spellcasters being a bit more complicated. When the 5E Warlock is about the most complicated class in the book its not that hard. 5E has seen an influx of newer players and less complicated/mass market generally sells more than hardcore stuff- think Tetris, Mario, G and PG movies vs R etc.
3. Deep Amazon/online discounts. Pathfinder for example used to be cheap as you got the PHB and DMG for less than both of those books individually compared with say 4E.. Xbox 360 was cheaper than the PS3 (and took huge market share vs previous generation), PS4 is cheaper than Xbox One. Price points are great for consumers and with recent sales of $20 you are getting the PHB at 1989 prices. If you are an American these are great prices, here in 1995 a PHB was $45 (31 USD approx), a 5E one is $75 (52 USD aprox). If I was american I would have more than 2 copies. One thing I have noticed over several groups is most players now have their own PHB vs the 2 maybe 3 a group would have in previous editions.
4. The rise of social media. Well twitter and Youtube are now a thing. These did not exist when 3.5 landed and were in their infancy when 4E landed. 5E is the 1st D&D that is popular to land when these have been mature mainstream technologies. Throw in facebook. In ye good ol days finding players may have been hard, now you can go to facebook and join a D&D group and let people know you want players.
5. Virtual able Tops (VTT's). These have been around in some form for a while but have become a lot more mainstream in recent years. Can't find a group to play? Live in a small town? Well go online and play. Also solve the decades long smelly player problem.
So that is basically it. Its easier and cheaper to play than ever, easier to promote the game than ever combined with a genuinely good edition that is popular to the extent we have not seen since 2000 if not the early 80's. Its a perfect storm of convergent technology, price, a good edition harnessed to the power of social media.