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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 6335334" data-attributes="member: 87792"><a href="http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=D%26D%2C%20Dungeons%20and%20Dragons&amp;cmpt=q" target="_blank">Between 2004 and 2007 D&amp;D was hemorrhaging popularity</a>.&nbsp; (DDO/Dungeons and Dragons Online included to explain a couple of&nbsp; irregularities in the Dungeons and Dragons search that aren't in the&nbsp; D&amp;D one).&nbsp; People weren't just playing 3e.&nbsp; They were walking away&nbsp; from it in droves.&nbsp; Then 4e launched, causing an upsurge in interest -&nbsp; but after a few months it settled down.&nbsp; And the rot stopped.&nbsp; Between&nbsp; January 2004 and December 2007 D&amp;D lost just over 50% of its&nbsp; popularity, dropping from 100 to 48 on Google Trends in just 4 years.&nbsp;&nbsp; In the five years from January 2009 to December 2013, the drop was less than 25% - dropping from 47 to 37.During 3e the people still playing D&amp;D were&nbsp; playing 3e.&nbsp; But the retention rates were bad.&nbsp; People were walking&nbsp; away.&nbsp; During 4e the unhappy had somewhere to go and generally stayed.Not what the closest to objective data we have says in the absence of WotC releasing raw sales numbers.&nbsp; Before 4e arrived, half the playerbase left D&amp;D in a four year period.&nbsp; After&nbsp; 4e arrived people stopped leaving anything like as fast.&nbsp; A war erupted&nbsp; because people who were used to D&amp;D not catering to them and would&nbsp; otherwise have left the hobby stayed.And the OMG crowd had Pathfinder.&nbsp; The Finally crowd would have given up on D&amp;D otherwise.&nbsp; And did.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 6335334, member: 87792"] [URL="http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=D%26D%2C%20Dungeons%20and%20Dragons&cmpt=q"]Between 2004 and 2007 D&D was hemorrhaging popularity[/URL]. (DDO/Dungeons and Dragons Online included to explain a couple of irregularities in the Dungeons and Dragons search that aren't in the D&D one). People weren't just playing 3e. They were walking away from it in droves. Then 4e launched, causing an upsurge in interest - but after a few months it settled down. And the rot stopped. Between January 2004 and December 2007 D&D lost just over 50% of its popularity, dropping from 100 to 48 on Google Trends in just 4 years. In the [I]five[/I] years from January 2009 to December 2013, the drop was less than 25% - dropping from 47 to 37. During 3e [I]the people still playing D&D [/I]were playing 3e. But the retention rates were bad. People were walking away. During 4e the unhappy had somewhere to go and generally stayed. Not what the closest to objective data we have says in the absence of WotC releasing raw sales numbers. [I]Before[/I] 4e arrived, half the playerbase left D&D in a four year period. [I]After[/I] 4e arrived people stopped leaving anything like as fast. A war erupted because people who were used to D&D not catering to them and would otherwise have left the hobby stayed. And the OMG crowd had Pathfinder. The Finally crowd would have given up on D&D otherwise. And did. [/QUOTE]

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