Friday, November 8, 2019

So How's Pathfinder 2 Doing?

In 2016, I predicted that Pathfinder would not survive 5e. In 2018, I predicted PF2 would briefly seem to sell very well, but not ever capture the heights of PF1.

Well, it seems my predictions are being born out. The original Pathfinder eventually went on to sell competitively with 4e, some even saying it outsold 4e in the last couple years of its life. Pathfinder 2, well...outside of its launch month, when it briefly cracked the top 200 on Amazon, it's fallen to a distant 2nd place on Amazon. Let's compare to this snapshot from August 2018:

November 2019 Fantasy Gaming Snapshot (non-RPGs represented with ellipses):


  1. ...
  2. D&D Player's Handbook
  3. ...
  4. D&D Xanathar's Guide to Everything
  5. D&D Monster Manual
  6. D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
  7. D&D Eberron Preorder
  8. D&D Core Rulebooks Gift Set
  9. D&D Starter Set
  10. ...
  11. ...
  12. D&D Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes
  13. ...
  14. D&D Descent Into Avernus
  15. D&D Volo's Guide to Monsters
  16. ...
  17. ...
  18. ...
  19. D&D Curse of Strahd
  20. D&D Dungeon Master's Screen Reincarnated
  21. D&D Ghosts of Saltmarsh
  22. ...
  23. ...
  24. ...
  25. ...
  26. ...
  27. D&D Waterdeep Dragon Heist
  28. ...
  29. ... (lmao, the Elder Scrolls cookbook)
  30. ...
  31. ...
  32. D&D Arcane Spellbook cards
  33. D&D Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica
  34. D&D Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide
  35. D&D Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
  36. ...
  37. ...
  38. D&D Baldur's Gate: DIA Dice & Miscellany
  39. Pathfinder Core Rulebook (P2)
Yikes. #39 is not where I expect a new product to be, certainly not one that is supposed to be competitive with D&D.  As we continue looking down the list, all things RPG-related are D&D, including 3rd-party products, with only two Paizo books in the top 100, the P2 Bestiary and a P2 character guide. Starfinder's now at #107.

The RPG industry has returned to D&D + outliers. Sure, we'll see P2 as the #2 RPG for the quarter, and Starfinder at #3, but these numbers show just how distant those are behind #1. It doesn't look like P2 is going to renew sagging interest in Paizo's take on D&D.

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