D&D 5E D&D Up 35% In 2020 While Virtual Play Rises 86%

In this article from the Los Angeles Times, WotC's Liz Schuh shared a couple of interesting statistics: D&D revenues increased 35% in 2020 over 2019; and online play is up 86% (for obvious reasons).

Turning to Dungeons & Dragons to escape a real-life monster — COVID-19

With little else to do, the COVID-19 pandemic has given D&D players a reason to gather virtually to go on heroic quests in the increasingly popular role-playing game.

www.latimes.com

The LA Times published a similar article a couple of months ago. See my big list of articles about D&D in the meanstream!

 

[Oofta]

Dang. I mean, I know a lot of this is because of COVID and once people can go back to other activities the increase will likely drop, but that kind of growth at this point in the lifecycle is incredible. Especially considering the year after year increases we've seen since the release of 5E.

Maybe we can stop speculating about 6E coming out any day now? On second thought, never mind. I'm sure someone can come up with a reason to show that this will lead to a new edition being released soon.

 

[Morrus]

Dang. I mean, I know a lot of this is because of COVID and once people can go back to other activities the increase will likely drop, but that kind of growth at this point in the lifecycle is incredible. Especially considering the year after year increases we've seen since the release of 5E.

Maybe we can stop speculating about 6E coming out any day now? On second thought, never mind. I'm sure someone can come up with a reason to show that this will lead to a new edition being released soon.

We’ve been having the exact same conversation every month for like 7 years now. Why would we stop now?

 

[zedturtle]

Uh, both links are to the old article?

 

[Mistwell]

Oddly, I do not see Liz Schuh mentioned in the article, nor anything about D&D revenues increased 35% in 2020 over 2019?

Ah, wrong link in this. This is the correct link:

Turning to Dungeons & Dragons to escape a real-life monster — COVID-19

With little else to do, the COVID-19 pandemic has given D&D players a reason to gather virtually to go on heroic quests in the increasingly popular role-playing game.

www.latimes.com

 

[zedturtle]

Yeah it should be Turning to Dungeons & Dragons to escape a real-life monster — COVID-19

 

[embee]

Dang. I mean, I know a lot of this is because of COVID and once people can go back to other activities the increase will likely drop, but that kind of growth at this point in the lifecycle is incredible. Especially considering the year after year increases we've seen since the release of 5E.

Maybe we can stop speculating about 6E coming out any day now? On second thought, never mind. I'm sure someone can come up with a reason to show that this will lead to a new edition being released soon.

I'm reminded of things like the Wii and Skyrim.

Sure, the makers could have come out with updates. Or they could just keep the printing press running.

 

[Morrus]

Link fixed!

 

[Oofta]

I'm reminded of things like the Wii and Skyrim.

Sure, the makers could have come out with updates. Or they could just keep the printing press running.

Especially in this case when every year since 5E was released sees an increase in growth. Even after that, as long as they can profit from the long tail I'm not sure there will be much change.

It will be interesting to see what happens next year (or even later this year). Will people continue playing and keep thing growing even if at a more modest rate? Will it stagnate? I mean, it's bound to plateau at some point. You can't just grow forever but when you look at entertainment dollars spent there's still potentially plenty of room to grow. D&D may be an 800 pound gorilla of TTRPGs but it's still a speck compared to the rest of the entertainment industry.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

"But Wizards is failing D&D and Hasbro is going to sell it!?"

It'll be interesting to see what happens with that massive increase in online play. I think it will decrease if we can ever get through the pandemic, but I don't think it will decrease as quickly or drastically as one might think.