Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
WotC reported 50% growth over 2020!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Jacob Lewis" data-source="post: 8440409" data-attributes="member: 6667921"><p>Here's the simplest explanation:</p><p></p><p>Let's say (hypothetically) there were 10 million people playing and thoroughly enjoying 3.5e D&D at the end of its run. 4e comes out and is completely different than what those 10 million people were expecting. Its not the same game that most have been playing for the last 20-30 years. Some people like it and move forward with it. Others decide they'll just keep playing their old game. There's certainly enough material for it. Just like some people are still playing older editions and retro-clones.</p><p></p><p>Now, if WotC was the only company producing any new material for D&D at the time, we would just see sales lower than expected while second-hand markets and used bookstores continually sold and re-sold old materials for the holdouts. But 3e birthed the SRD, which gave license to everyone else to produce content for the game system. Paizo did just that, and they didn't need to prove themselves as a new contender. They had been creating 3rd edition content and partnering with WotC for the vast majority of the edition's lifespan. </p><p></p><p>Paizo did nothing more than embrace the holdouts from the existing market and continued to support the game they wanted with their own personal brand and fixes. If 4e was not able to pull in the majority of that 10 million people who wanted to keep playing D&D, the only other options were to a) keep playing their old editions, or b) play something else. And for the first time, there was option c) play someone else's version of D&D that was close enough!</p><p></p><p>Let's face it. 4e was never going to win over the majority (more than half) of those 10 million D&D fans. So Pathfinder taking over the top spot was never really a surprise. It was simply a matter of the fans wanting to play what was recognizable and familiar to them. Paizo gave them that. 4e did not.</p><p></p><p>There's more to it, of course. But this is all that anyone really needs to understand why an off-brand contender was able to (temporarily) take over a name-brand leader.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jacob Lewis, post: 8440409, member: 6667921"] Here's the simplest explanation: Let's say (hypothetically) there were 10 million people playing and thoroughly enjoying 3.5e D&D at the end of its run. 4e comes out and is completely different than what those 10 million people were expecting. Its not the same game that most have been playing for the last 20-30 years. Some people like it and move forward with it. Others decide they'll just keep playing their old game. There's certainly enough material for it. Just like some people are still playing older editions and retro-clones. Now, if WotC was the only company producing any new material for D&D at the time, we would just see sales lower than expected while second-hand markets and used bookstores continually sold and re-sold old materials for the holdouts. But 3e birthed the SRD, which gave license to everyone else to produce content for the game system. Paizo did just that, and they didn't need to prove themselves as a new contender. They had been creating 3rd edition content and partnering with WotC for the vast majority of the edition's lifespan. Paizo did nothing more than embrace the holdouts from the existing market and continued to support the game they wanted with their own personal brand and fixes. If 4e was not able to pull in the majority of that 10 million people who wanted to keep playing D&D, the only other options were to a) keep playing their old editions, or b) play something else. And for the first time, there was option c) play someone else's version of D&D that was close enough! Let's face it. 4e was never going to win over the majority (more than half) of those 10 million D&D fans. So Pathfinder taking over the top spot was never really a surprise. It was simply a matter of the fans wanting to play what was recognizable and familiar to them. Paizo gave them that. 4e did not. There's more to it, of course. But this is all that anyone really needs to understand why an off-brand contender was able to (temporarily) take over a name-brand leader. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
WotC reported 50% growth over 2020!
Top