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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 2451348" data-attributes="member: 20741">D&D is the most popular RPG because:1- D&D was the first RPG which appeals to a mainstream desire to become a fantasy hero.2- D&D benefitted from the media sensation over James Dallas Egbert III to become known in the mass media. It has never looked back from that free publicity and turned itself into a brand name about which people, generally, had some idea of what it was.  Spielberg put it in ET as it was "cool".  While it's been a long while since those days - it's still the only brand with any market awarness of its existence in the mainstream public.3  As the first RPG, D&D became the overwhelming choice as the first point of entry into the hobby.  D&D is therefore the customer's first love, as it were and the customer is theirs to lose.  And for a time - lose them is exactly that they did.  Customer churn is a serious issue for WotC.3.0 changed all that and WotC brought their former customers back into the fold.  As former customers are nearly all lifestyle gamers who consistently spend money on hobby games - those are important customers to retain. They assure WotC of a guranteed minmum sales base for their products in significant volume.  No one else has this. This is not a small point.4- As the only RPG manufacturer with a relatively deep pocket, D&D can afford the economies of scale to manage to bring significant prodcution values to their products.  No other publisher has been able to consistently do this. This leads to #55- D&D benefits from market recognition as being a superior good. D&D is the genuine article. All others are imitators, be they good or bad.  The quality of the physical product reinforces this belief.6- D&D benefits from Brand recognition in console, computer games,  novels and even TV and movies. No other brand has done this successfully - though many have tried.  7- D&D benefits from monthly periodicals on the newstand and a host of other support products from 3rd party manufacturers to reinforce market awareness among gamers generally and the public occasionally. Result: The result is a market share where D&D is the only RPG that matters. The rest is economically insignificant.To the Warhammer advocate: Not a chance. Games Workshop has retail stores in malls yes. But only those who are familiar with the product itself have any clue as to what Warhammer is.  Warhammer has tried to compete with D&D as a brand in the past. It failed miserably. They have not even bothered to try to seriously do so again.Games Workshop survives by selling visually attractive product that is VASTLY overpriced to a niche of a niche.  It's no more than that - and never has been.</blockquote>

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