The latest revision (or, as some argue, ‘edition’) of the 2024 Player’s Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons is out. It’s very early days, but the signs of success are mixed.
In this post, we visit a few places where you can buy the book and look at the early star ratings and sales volume cues.
On Amazon UK, after eight ratings, it has a mixed 3.7/5 stars. In contrast, the 2014 version is a 5th in the Hobbies and Games best sellers, behind the adult/teen colouring book Spooky Cute.
The reviews are worse in the States. Amazon US’s book has 3.5/5 stars after ten ratings.
Wizards of the Coast had warned of delays in Europe, but the UK’s Forbidden Planet does have the Alternative Cover.
The WotC-owned digital distribution channel is D&D Beyond. However, the dominant virtual tabletop is still Roll20.
The Roll20 marketplace offers the D&D 2024 core rulebook bundle for just shy of $90 and the Players Guide for $29.99.
Roll20 does not give clues as to how well the game is selling and has stopped its market/gameplay shared data.
However, Roll20’s sister site, DMsGuild, which is co-run with Wizards of the Coast, does tell us about sales figures and D&D Players Handbook 2024 is a copper bestseller.
The number breakdown means fewer than 101 people bought the Players Handbook through the DMsGuild. Most Roll20 users will likely have purchased it through the Roll20 Marketplace.
There are virtual tabletops, perhaps better suited to your needs, and Fantasy Grounds also has a D&D bundle. The Players Guide is $29.99 there.
Fantasy Grounds has a Trending VTT Modules section, and D&D has ranked sixth behind the Shadowdark supplement Unnatural Selection.
D&D Google Trends
Google Trends is both a valuable resource and an overused go-to for content marketers however let’s take a look at how the search term [players handbook] has done in the last 30 days.
Interest seems to have reached its apex on the 17th, which was release day, an increase of 40% on the day before, but was down 12% the day after. On average, release day doubled the buzz.
There’s most interest in the Players Handbook in these countries;
- Denmark
- New Zealand
- Canada
- Australia
- United States
So, Canadian D&D fans are more likely to be eager for D&D 2024 than United States players? Denmark, which Wikipedia says is around a 6 million people country, outranks both Canada and the United States in search interest. So does New Zealand, a country with about a million fewer people.
Google Trends also tells us that people are still using the phrase D&D 6 to describe the game and interest in that search phrase came to life this month and seems to be rising. The new revision, not edition, has always been a branding challenge for Wizards of the Coast. However, the future sales success of pivoting to an evergreen or immortal edition of D&D will be significant.
What does the money market think?
There are highly paid experts who are charged with quickly evaluating the success of Hasbro, D&D’s ultimate owner, and its business.
Here, we find good news: Hasbro has outperformed in the US market. However, the investor analysis on why this is happening does not mention D&D. Instead, analysts expect Hasbro to have a rougher year but are now more reassured there’s profit from the company.
Mind you, perhaps “more profit” is code for D&D selling well.
Overall
It is early, but the Players Handbook is not an overnight number-one bestseller.
Should we have expected it to be? D&D fans already have books. Who wants the new one? We’ll find out in due course.
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