Sold through already

[TheAuldGrump]

4e will destroy D&D!

4e will ruin the hobby!

4e is an abomination that won't sell!

Darn. Don't you just hate being wrong?

Of these only #3 is partially disproved - and if there is a lack of continued sales than even that may be revalidated.

For what it is worth - I don't think any of these (except possibly #3, and that depending on the above mentioned continued sales) are true. I just know that I am not interested in the game. It is unlikely that I will buy it, but quite likely that I will at least look at it in the stores.

The Auld Grump

 

[Mokona]

from Mike's blog: 3rd < 3.5 < 4

That is a silly statistic. To quote Mark Twain: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

The Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition Player's Handbook sold double what the v.3.5 edition of the same book sold.

4th edition is a great success story...but print runs at Wizards of the Coast tell you nothing.

 

[Maggan]

The Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition Player's Handbook sold double what the v.3.5 edition of the same book sold.

Very interesting. Care to submit the numbers as well?

/M

 

[hong]

That is a silly statistic. To quote Mark Twain: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

The Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition Player's Handbook sold double what the v.3.5 edition of the same book sold.

We're talking initial print runs. Not entire sales over the length of the product life span.

 

[Family]

I'd be interested in knowing how many books in the 3.x line sold in total.

Then again I'd like to be king of all Londinum and wear a shiny hat too.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

4th edition is a great success story...but print runs at Wizards of the Coast tell you nothing.

Of course it does. It says what WotC's initial expectations were.

 

[Family]

We've done the impossible and that makes us mighty!

"An estimated 20 million people worldwide have played the game, with more than $1bn (£505m) spent on equipment and books."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7278927.stm

 

[Dice4Hire]

Very good news. I am comfortable with 3.5 and 4E both being viable games I play.

 

[Staffan]

The article doesn't give specific numbers (which doesn't surprise me; I can't imagine any major company releasing that). But it does say the initial print run was 50% bigger than the 3.5 core run.

I have a vague recollection of either Jim Butler or Ryan Dancey coming onto ENWorld a few months after the release of 3.0, saying "We're doing a second printing of the PHB already, and the first printing was 500,000."

 

[Mokona]

I have a vague recollection of..."We're doing a second printing of the PHB already, and the first printing was 500,000."

I would double check those memories. 3rd edition sold very very well but it isn't really possible for those numbers to be correct about the initial print run especially in light of the comment about 4th edition. I assume neither Jim nor Ryan came on here and lied.

Remember, when 3rd edition launched Wizards of the Coast really had no idea what would happen. TSR had lost lots of customers at both the consumer and retail-wholesale level. There was a lot of uncertainty about the demand for Dungeons & Dragons before 3rd edition revived a sinking brand. The raw cost of printing 500,000 books all at once (not to mention DMGs and Monster Manuals) would have been very scary in the dark days before 3rd edition was a proven success.