Monday, July 6, 2015

5e is Clobbering Pathfinder on Amazon

Wizards has held its sales numbers pretty close to its chest, but Amazon can give some idea of who's hot and who's not. The Pathfinder core rulebook is currently ranked in the 3400s among all books on Amazon, while D&D's Player's Handbook is ranked at 68(!!!!!).




It's also worth noting that the 4e PHB has dropped to 28K, while the 3.5 PHB sits at 26K. I think it is fair to say that 4e is officially dead now. I certainly won't miss paying $75/yr so that my players can have the nice, printed sheets that the Character Builder provided. This handy tool estimates PF core book sales at ~150 per month, and D&D sales at ~1K per month.

I think this bodes well for the future of D&D, which has now resumed its place as the best-selling TTRPG. Pathfinder is a very well-supported product, but because it began life as a fresh coat of paint slapped on D&D 3.5, it has many of the same weaknesses and flaws as that system. The philosophy of "a mechanic for every situation" is a dead-end, and there's a good reason no new RPGs adopt it. 5e is a much fresher, more modern take on the classic game that strikes a good balance between depth and accessibility.

I think in another 10 years, we'll look at Pathfinder as a stopgap measure that existed to give D&D fans who didn't like 4e something to play while Wizards figured out how to take the game into the future.

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