ICv2’s latest sales channel reports indicate something very surprising – that Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder are tied for #1 in hobby sales! They’re followed by Warhammer Fantasy, Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader, and Dresden Files.
That’s pretty amazing, that a small company could rise to rival the historical keeper of D&D in such a short amount of time, and it’s a testament to the super hard work and high quality Paizo puts into their Pathfinder releases, and that they “get” what makes D&D great – it’s the adventures, stupid.
Of course these numbers aren’t based on unobtainable internal numbers and don’t include a variety of channels, it’s hobby stores/distributors only – DDI and Paizo’s subscriptions wouldn’t be included, for example – but it’s extremely notable.
Not only this, but hobby game sales are on the rise even while video game sales slump.
Geek Related 
Its a great time to be a Paizo fan!!!
It really is. I know this game was going to be huge when I bought the beta.
“they “get” what makes D&D great – it’s the adventures, stupid”
AMEN.
Funny how TSR, WoTC, and now Hasbro have never been able to figure this out. Glad Paizo did. Congrats Paizo
And now we see perhaps the true reason behind D&D Essentials.
I’ll just be lazy and repost wheat I wrote elsewhere…
Since I don’t subscribe to that (and am not actually interested enough to buy a copy) I am curious what it really means. Is that pure sales figures dollar wise, unit wise, is it “X number of stores said this sold better, Y number said this one did”… And what is being compared, PHB vs. Pathfinder Core rules? Total 4e line sales vs. Pathfinder line sales? I don’t know. I don’t really care which sold best, so I don’t mean to take anything away from anyone here, I just really wonder what the chart represents and means.
Grats to Paizo, I guess.
And I’ve never really got the whole “It’s the adventures” thing, since I just use a core book and make up everything else for my players. I used Forgotten Realms when I was 16 but everything I’ve done since then has been 100% homegrown. I buy games for the systems and almost never get adventure supplements.
Which I do hear that Paizo does really well. So again, good work to Paizo. I like the idea of there being several companies vying for my gaming dollars. It fosters good ideas and people working to build the best possible systems and settings. WotC was pretty complacent and maybe this will shake them up a bit.
And for the record as someone who likes 4E, I’m not a big fan of Essentials. Maybe if you’re picking up the game from nothing (as it was designed for), but to someone who’s been using 4E for over two years now they just seem weird to me.
For me, it isn’t the adventures. I own many adventures of course. From 1E, 2E and 3E versions of D&D. But I don’t have a great deal of interest in them any longer. I much prefer rule books. And Pathfinder delivers in that regard. The Advanced Players Guide was awesome. And they have third party support now which opens up not only new markets but even new genres such as the Warlords of the Apocalypse. Paizo seems to be listening to the fans. Concerning themselves with pleasing the people that want to buy the products they make. I fully endorse this concept.