Quote from: SosthenesDecrease? It's players vs. basic set. 30000 sets for 100000 players is a rather good average I'd say. The first run of the latest edition sold pretty well.

Not the 1st Ed basic set sold over 100.000 times. [wielding 400.000 playes]
The 4th edition core sets sold about 30.000 times each.

Quote from: SettembriniNot the 1st Ed basic set sold over 100.000 times. [wielding 400.000 playes]
The 4th edition core sets sold about 30.000 times each.

Over the same period of time? The fourth edition started pretty nicely, with the first print run selling out quickly, then it just got weird with the hardcovers and the publisher change right now. Still, the first edition was sold in every toy store, that's a rather big advantage -- as is being the only game in town.

I wonder where the general trend is heading right now. For a while, you could guess that most hardcore fans would buy everything published for a single game line. WW made some big money with that, but now they started publishing small mini-games with limited supplements (Scion, Promethean). It seems people aren't sticking to a single game line anymore, so diversity is the issue.

It's just a matter of time 'til WotC starts publishing more settings (or even more games, in addition to Star Wars and D&D). The recent license issues point in that direction.

100.00 = from 1984 to 1987
30.000 = from 2001 to 2003

Quote from: Sosthenes. . .but now they started publishing small mini-games with limited supplements (Scion, Promethean).

Actually, they started this back in the oWoD, notably with Orpheus (though, to a lesser degree, things like Freak Legion and Mummy could be seen as forerunners).

Wow, I had no idea how huge DSA was and is. Given that the German market is a fraction of the anglophone market, 30K sold corebooks is phenomenal. That's what I imagine nWoD corebooks have been selling... world-wide.

I'm not saying it's a good thing, just that it's a... thing.

Quote from: SosthenesWW made some big money with that, but now they started publishing small mini-games with limited supplements (Scion, Promethean).

Well, Promethean is a WoD game and compatible with all the other lines, so there shouldn't be any shortage of available material for it.

Quote from: GrimGentWell, Promethean is a WoD game and compatible with all the other lines, so there shouldn't be any shortage of available material for it.

Compared to the game lines of the oWoD? Surely. Now you've got some generic materials, but the small lines won't have much specific support, i.e. clan-books, specific adventures, background books etc.
That's a huge change for WW.

Quote from: SosthenesDecrease? It's players vs. basic set. 30000 sets for 100000 players is a rather good average I'd say. The first run of the latest edition sold pretty well.

Whoops! You're right. Units sold and the size of the player base are two separate things. I wasn't thinking, sorry. :deflated:

Quote from: SosthenesCompared to the game lines of the oWoD? Surely. Now you've got some generic materials, but the small lines won't have much specific support, i.e. clan-books, specific adventures, background books etc.
That's a huge change for WW.

True, these new lines that are restricted to five books each are a bit of a departure from the WW's former business model. The new World of Darkness doesn't seem to suffer from the metaplotitis of the previous one, either, and splats like the Seemings and Kiths in Changeling: The Lost aren't really like the old "subcultures" that could be detailed further in later supplements.

@Pierce, Sosthenes, Sac Lamb: Again, it used to be 100 000 1st Ed. Basic Sets, that were sold.

Quote from: Settembrini@Pierce, Sosthenes, Sac Lamb: Again, it used to be 100 000 1st Ed. Basic Sets, that were sold.

How long ago was this?

About twenty years.

Quote from: SettembriniAbout twenty years.

I'm curious about "the Dark Eye" (after an earlier thread about it here a month or so back), and am considering buying the English translation for the game later this year. Is it any good (in your opinion)?

Nope. Translation is okay, but no forthcoming supplements. Game line is dead, they've got a new publisher who probably won't do a new English version. The fourth edition game system sucks anyway...

And yeah Sett, 100000 boxes. Again, over how many years?
In a time where you couldn't get no other RPGs. Sold at a rather cheap price, in general toy stores. Where lots of buyers opened it, saw that there was no board in it and never actually played.

QuoteAnd yeah Sett, 100000 boxes. Again, over how many years?
In a time where you couldn't get no other RPGs. Sold at a rather cheap price, in general toy stores. Where lots of buyers opened it, saw that there was no board in it and never actually played.

Again, over 3-4 years.
And who are we to know if it never was actually played?

EDIT: I´m positive though that moving away from department and toy stores reduced the sales.