The 5 'Tiers' of TTRPG Publishing

Cannibal Halfling Gaming published an interesting article recently in which they divided tabletop roleplaying game publishers into five tiers, based on annual revenue. Here were their categories, but you should check out the article for a deeper dive.

~$500 million annual: D&D
~$50 million annual: Paizo
~$5 million annual: Steve Jackson Games
~$500K annual: Evil Hat Productions
~Everyone else (up to $100K)

They chose one example publisher per tier; they didn't list every TTRPG publisher. That's why your favourite publisher is not on that list of 4 companies. But feel free to add to the list!

Also, we talked about it in last week's episode of Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk, for those who prefer to absorb their news in video format!

 

[MGibster]

For example, the “impression” I get from various posts and comments about Steve Jackson Games is that they can only afford to pay the bills and therefore don’t innovate much on some of their product lines - like GURPS, for example.

I think Steve Jackson is a savvy businessman who correctly read the market and decided it was in the company's best interest to focus on more profitable lines of business like Munchkin rather than GURPS. I like GURPS, but I don't think that type of game is to the tastes of enough gamers to make it worthwhile to focus on. But who knows? There might be a GURPS renaissance at some point.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think Steve Jackson is a savvy businessman who correctly read the market and decided it was in the company's best interest to focus on more profitable lines of business like Munchkin rather than GURPS. I like GURPS, but I don't think that type of game is to the tastes of enough gamers to make it worthwhile to focus on. But who knows? There might be a GURPS renaissance at some point.

We can only hope. I want Sim to make a comeback! Tired of people archly telling me how unpopular my playstyle is.

 

[Rob F]

I wonder where Free League sits on this list. Love those guys. They got some great games.

 

[Epic Meepo]

Hey, I'm in the "everyone else" category! Woo hoo!

Me, too! Tens of dollars annual revenue. Tens, I say!