D&D (2024) 2024 Player’s Handbook is ‘Fastest Selling D&D Book Ever’

It’s only officially been out for a week, but according to Wizards of the Coast, the new Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook has already surpassed Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything to become the fastest selling D&D book ever—in the entire 50-year history of the game. It has sold three times as many copies as the 2014 version of the books did at launch.

Not only that, the 2024 Player’s Handbook was the biggest print run in D&D’s history.

In a press release today, WotC claims more than 85 million D&D fans worldwide, and says that D&D Beyond, the game’s official online platform, has over 18 million users.

 

[GreyLord]

In a press release today, WotC claims more than 85 million D&D fans worldwide, and says that D&D Beyond, the game’s official online platform, has over 18 million users.

Late to the party to comment...

To put this into perspective (and think about this one...)

How many people do you know that bought an Xbox One?

How many people do you know that bought and Xbox 360?

How many people do you know that bought a Playstation 3?

How many people do you know that have a Playstation 5?

WotC claims it has more fans of D&D than those numbers.

And THIS folks, is why I have problems believing the numbers WotC puts out these days at times...because when I think of everyone I know who owned an Xbox 360...just in the US...in WotC's biggest stronghold...and compare to how many are playing D&D....

Yeah.

At least we have stores with the numbers that we can draw on to get the console sales numbers, or at least somewhat verify them.

WotC we just believe.

WotC made a bunch of money. This indicates 17 million PHB's sold (85/5). Okay...that's the right arena there with 18 million Beyond accounts. BUT...why would we ONLY have 18 million Beyond accounts at this time? With 17 million PHBs (2014) that should indicate we get at least 425 million dollars from those sales. You follow thus far?

What am I getting at here?

Show me the money...Hasbro....show me the money.

I speak one language (invested in HAS, though not as massive as I have been in the past)...money.

If this hype is true...show me the money (and THAT is where they all seem to start falling down when I press this issue at the offices and the start pointing to other money making items...or other things of why my pay out isn't as big as I think it should have been if all they have said was true).

Well, this time I hope they DO show me the money...cause...that's what this really is all about (though outselling 2014's initial week isn't going to be about millions of copies, but many tens of thousands of copies, still should see a great dividend...right?).

Let the green times roll.

Microsoft really DOES show you the money. So does Apple. That's what I'm talking about.

Edit: (and to be clear, Microsoft doesn't claim Xbox is their major money maker either...but I GET those numbers, I don't get some of these numbers except press releases from Hasbro).

 

[GreyLord]

I'm pretty sure that's true.

My store is sold out, but that was mostly a timing issue - I had plenty of copies for the first two weeks, while my distributor had cases and cases in stock, but by the time my numbers dwindled, so had theirs. Had I reordered sooner, I'd have been able to get whatever quantities I needed (it's a strange phenomenon, that had I ordered lower I probably would not now be out of them, as I would have sent in a reorder earlier, while the distributor still had stock.

But my distributor assures me that they will have more copies this Friday, so we should be good for the weekend. Which goes to show - WotC are not sold out. Not of the "regular" cover at any rate.

There is a strong chance that barring copies here and there on stores shelves (stores that either ordered big, or reordered big before stock was gone) the "exclusive" cover probably IS sold-out, but that's how that usually goes.

I honestly wasn't expecting my Distributor to ever run out of the regular cover, but I suspect that it only happened due to the demand remaining higher than anyone expected (my Distributor reported stores reordering quantities that were higher than their initial orders, which is a rare case in this industry).

The books are doing well, that's for sure!

Even if they sold 10 times the number of the initial sales of 5e's (2014) first week I don't think they should have sold out yet...

Unless they were planning for a far smaller number than I would have expected. I estimate the audience is at least 5X what it was when the original 5e came out. WotC estimates (as per their numbers in this article) it's somewhere in the magnitude of 10 - 40 X the audience (depending on what number they are using that day).

I would hope they printed accordingly. (Then again...surprises never cease...who knows what happens sometimes).

 

[mamba]

WotC made a bunch of money. This indicates 17 million PHB's sold (85/5). Okay...that's the right arena there with 18 million Beyond accounts. BUT...why would we ONLY have 18 million Beyond accounts at this time? With 17 million PHBs (2014) that should indicate we get at least 425 million dollars from those sales. You follow thus far?

not really, where do the 17M PHB sales come from? 17M books resulting in $425M means they get $25 per book, that also feels a tad high, I could get that book for less on Amazon for quite some time.

If you are asking where WotC made $425M sales of D&D products then the answer is that this is roughly the last three years of D&D gross at WotC. Now those are obviously not made up of PHB sales only, but then the book was for sale for 10 years too…

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Even if they sold 10 times the number of the initial sales of 5e's (2014) first week I don't think they should have sold out yet...

Unless they were planning for a far smaller number than I would have expected. I estimate the audience is at least 5X what it was when the original 5e came out. WotC estimates (as per their numbers in this article) it's somewhere in the magnitude of 10 - 40 X the audience (depending on what number they are using that day).

I would hope they printed accordingly. (Then again...surprises never cease...who knows what happens sometimes).

I think that it is possible that they printed a very extremely large print-run, AND that they underestimated the demand. But I still doubt that they're out quite yet.

The 2014 PHB had SEVENTEEN prints, so I'm sure that they'll reprint, and probably sooner than they initially expect to, but it's still probably down the road a ways. We'll see.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

not really, where do the 17M PHB sales come from? 17M books resulting in $425M means they get $25 per book, that also feels a tad high, I could get that book for less on Amazon for quite some time.

If you are asking where WotC made $425M sales of D&D products then the answer is that this is roughly the last three years of D&D gross at WotC. Now those are obviously not made up of PHB sales only, but then the book was for sale for 10 years too…

Yeah, there's some strange math up there dividing apples by oranges and multiplying it by bananas.

WotC was likely getting $14-18 per book from distributors. But they are also selling a not-insignificant number themselves these days, and if there's really 18 million DDB subscribers (and a strong percentage buys the new PHB) - that's A LOT.

 

[Zardnaar]

not really, where do the 17M PHB sales come from? 17M books resulting in $425M means they get $25 per book, that also feels a tad high, I could get that book for less on Amazon for quite some time.

If you are asking where WotC made $425M sales of D&D products then the answer is that this is roughly the last three years of D&D gross at WotC. Now those are obviously not made up of PHB sales only, but then the book was for sale for 10 years too…

I'm guessing WotC are using an attach rate per phb sold.

They've also used the numbers of players ever.

We don't know what WotC attach rate number . Reality is they don't know. Eg our group has more than 1 phb per player I have 3 each player has 1.

Also with online game there's usually a big difference between accounts, active accounts and paying accounts. So there Beyonds numbers need a large *.

The rpg market is around 10 tines larger peak 5E than 2013 iirc. 5E numbers didn't become gang buster until a few years in.

What this means is people get excited and Conjure up massive numbers of phb sold. Best estimates I've seen are around 6 million which is somewhat plausible as we know print runs of older editions and can compare sales numbers via Ben Riggs and book scan.

So yeah 5E has done gangbusters but I highly doubt it's 10 million or whatever.

No one really knows exactly outside wotc but it's basic marketing. On launch x3 sales rapidly becomes outsold 2014 3-1 rapidly becomes biggest selling D&D ever.

Even if the target has declined from peak 5E it's still a big multiplier from 2013/14.

 

[GreyLord]

not really, where do the 17M PHB sales come from? 17M books resulting in $425M means they get $25 per book, that also feels a tad high, I could get that book for less on Amazon for quite some time.

If you are asking where WotC made $425M sales of D&D products then the answer is that this is roughly the last three years of D&D gross at WotC. Now those are obviously not made up of PHB sales only, but then the book was for sale for 10 years too…

No, I'm saying what I get in money from when they figure out the numbers doesn't always reflect what I hear them saying...and when pressed...well...sometimes it's hard to get a straight answer.

I see better stuff from other companies (such as Microsoft or Apple) when they give lower numbers on products which I see in the general public as far more widespread. As in, I can go on a survey of your man (or woman) on the street and have a higher percentage say they actually have something or do something in comparison to what I hear from WotC (which is why I listed some very common items sold that have numbers that are less or comparable to what WotC said their numbers are...just for people to reflect on HOW LARGE a number they are stating).

If you find it realistic...great!

I just find it hard to believe some of the stuff they spout when reflecting on recent stock holdings at years end, and then look at how common comparable items are with numbers and commonality compared to what I see in reality with D&D (not contesting D&D isn't popular, but more popular than the XBox Brand and it's sales??? (And note, I don't just list recent items, I also listed older items that you can compare in popularity to numbers of D&D players today from Xbox or PS players back then).

I should also note, even if you took the 40 million they stated previously, and said only 15 million of those were active D&D players...85 - 25 = 60 million.

 

[Zardnaar]

No, I'm saying what I get in money from when they figure out the numbers doesn't always reflect what I hear them saying...and when pressed...well...sometimes it's hard to get a straight answer.

I see better stuff from other companies (such as Microsoft or Apple) when they give lower numbers on products which I see in the general public as far more widespread. As in, I can go on a survey of your man (or woman) on the street and have a higher percentage say they actually have something or do something in comparison to what I hear from WotC (which is why I listed some very common items sold that have numbers that are less or comparable to what WotC said their numbers are...just for people to reflect on HOW LARGE a number they are stating).

If you find it realistic...great!

I just find it hard to believe some of the stuff they spout when reflecting on recent stock holdings at years end, and then look at how common comparable items are with numbers and commonality compared to what I see in reality with D&D (not contesting D&D isn't popular, but more popular than the XBox Brand and it's sales??? (And note, I don't just list recent items, I also listed older items that you can compare in popularity to numbers of D&D players today from Xbox or PS players back then).

They're comparing lifetime D&D sales to current generation of Xbox.

Throw in 360 and original and idk how many people ever used an Xbox ever is a better comparison.

Xbox has sold way more than D&D editions combined. Hell I think individual Xbox have outsold D&D lifetime sales.

Latest Xbox also hasn't done very well.

 

[GreyLord]

They're comparing lifetime D&D sales to current generation of Xbox.

Throw in 360 and original and idk how many people ever used an Xbox ever is a better comparison.

Xbox has sold way more than D&D editions combined. Hell I think individual Xbox have outsold D&D lifetime sales.

Latest Xbox also hasn't done very well.

Which is why I listed INDIVIDUAL consoles for you to consider. How many Xbox 360's did you see bought. How many PS3s?

How about more recent...Xbox One's (seen to have sold in the range of 60 million).

As I said above

85 - 25 = 60 million. See how I got the numbers of players of 5e in my post above. This is actually a CONSERVATIVE number in relation to what they stated about their player numbers previously. It could be upwards of them stating there are 80 million active 5e players, but I went with the conservative side of things.

Another recent console...Playstation 5's are also in the 60 million range currently supposedly. (I don't have anything in Sony Group though so can't compare returns with money on that one).

 

[Zardnaar]

Which is why I listed INDIVIDUAL consoles for you to consider. How many Xbox 360's did you see bought. How many PS3s?

How about more recent...Xbox One's (seen to have sold in the range of 60 million).

As I said above

85 - 25 = 60 million. See how I got the numbers of players of 5e in my post above. This is actually a CONSERVATIVE number in relation to what they stated about their player numbers previously. It could be upwards of them stating there are 80 million active 5e players, but I went with the conservative side of things.

Another recent console...Playstation 5's are also in the 60 million range currently supposedly.

It's a silly comparison but on those numbers the Xbox has outsold D&D lifetime sales to 1.

Using myself as am example there's two primary users of our Xbox. But the neighbour's two kids have used it, nephew, cousin, few mates etc.

So using WotC numbers based on unknown criteria sonething like 300 or 600 million people have ever used the current Xbox.

They're not reporting hard data eg sales it's pure marketing using selective facts based on unknown numbers using an unknown method to estimate user numbers.

Translation it's hype.

Doesn’t mean the the phb is failing or doing spectacularly well assuming wotc are telling the (selective) truth.

Personally I'm expecting gamgbuster numbers first 6 weeks, very good year one but it's after that who knows. Not all of thise 2014 sales are active players either. Sone are collectors, couldn't find a game, played for a few years etc.

They're giving you the illusion of active players.