D&D General Some Interesting Stats About D&D Players!

The full cover spread for Phandelver and Below, by Antonio José Manzanedo​

GeekWire has reported on the recent D&D press event (which I've covered elsewhere). Along with all the upcoming product information we've all been devouring over the last day or two, there were some interesting tidbits regarding D&D player demographics.

• 60% of D&D players are male, 39% are female, and 1% identify otherwise
• 60% are “hybrid” players, who switch between playing the game physically or online
• 58% play D&D on a weekly basis
• 48% identify as millennials, 19% from Generation X and 33% from Generation Z
• The majority of current D&D players started with 5th Edition

 

[Hutchimus Prime]

That doesn’t seem right. Over 50 million people play D&D, and this survey says 19% of D&D players identify as Gen X. You have more than 9 and a half million Gen Z people in your household??

Raw numbers-wise Gen X D&D Players are outnumbered 2 to 1 by Gen Z Players in my household, but none of us took the survey.

 

[Parmandur]

That being said, this online survey (which is all I know about it at this point) showing that members of the most online generations are the majority of D&D players is at least a little suspect and, I think, should be treated as a PR release not a representative survey of the demographics of the global population of D&D players/DMs.

FWIW, this isn't about some specific online survey, theybare citing their marketing research results. Which is a whole other kettle of fish.

 

[Charlaquin]

Raw numbers-wise Gen X D&D Players are outnumbered 2 to 1 by Gen Z Players in my household, but none of us took the survey.

Oh, I see. That makes more sense

 

[Charlaquin]

Also, half a percent of 50 mil is [EDIT: 250 thousand]. So, potentially still a pretty substantial number of total boomer players, even if the proportion is small. Assuming this data is representative.

 

[mamba]

Also, half a percent of 50 mil is 2.5 mil. So, potentially still a pretty substantial number of total boomer players, even if the proportion is small. Assuming this data is representative.

that is 5%, not 0.5%, and the 50M baseline is all D&D players ever, not current 5e players (or current players of any version)

 

[Charlaquin]

that is 5%, not 0.5%, and the 50M baseline is all D&D players ever, not current 5e players (or current players of any version)

Oh, right. So 250 thousand.

 

[Parmandur]

Also, half a percent of 50 mil is [EDIT: 250 thousand]. So, potentially still a pretty substantial number of total boomer players, even if the proportion is small. Assuming this data is representative.

The 2020 numbers they had were 50 million players ever, with 6.5 million having been born in 1980 or earlier. Doubt that absolute number has gone up in the past couple years.

 

[J-H]

Taken with lots of grains of salt.
And some salty responses!

Ages of people I've sat at a table to play with in the last month:
40 (me)
54
56
50-ish
25-ish
17

 

[Clint_L]

That doesn’t seem right. Over 50 million people play D&D, and this survey says 19% of D&D players identify as Gen X. You have more than 9 and a half million Gen Z people in your household??

I gotta correct this - it keeps coming up.

WotC never claimed that 50 million people currently play D&D. They claimed that 50 million people had been played it over its lifetime. It was then misreported by a sloppy online source, and the misreported number has since been repeated ad nauseam. The number of current players would be much lower.

 

[Lanefan]

Anyone know how this marketing research was conducted? Also, was it surveying only players of 5e or did it include people currently playing D&D of any edition?

The answers to those questions could tell us more about why the data seems to disagree with previous surveys.