D&D and Hasbro Sweep the Top RPG Sales this Spring
In a Spring that saw RPGs surge in growth, Hasbro and D&D lead the way, leaving no question as to the reach of Hasbro’s gaming shadow.
ICv2 recently published their top 5 roleplaying games for Spring 2022 based on sales data. Surprising no one, D&D is in the top spot.
But what might be a little more surprising are the next five. Because D&D manages to be in the top five twice. With Hasbro’s other IP not far behind. Let’s take a look.
D&D And Hasbro Win Big With RPGs
These numbers come from ICv2, who spoke to hobby distributors across the country. Roleplaying games are poised for a banner year, with D&D helping to expand the horizons, potentially:
“RPGs are the story of the year so far. D&D’s king by leaps and bounds, don’t get me wrong, but the number of RPGs that were [significant contributors to] sales was 40 different brands.”
But in spite of more than 40 different brands contributing to the success of the RPG market this year, the top spot is almost exclusively Hasbro. Dungeons & Dragons has pretty much always been the top dog in the RPG arena. It is the continental shelf upon which the rest of the RPG industry is built.
So much so that D&D products developed by third-party publishers, like Darrington Press, Critical Role’s publishing imprint, and Goodman Games, publishers of Dungeon Crawl Classics and old D&D modules given new life in 5E, come in at 3rd place.
And when you consider that Pathfinder was born out of a desire to keep playing D&D 3.5 edition, that’s D&D influencing the top three spots.
WotC’s parent company, Hasbro, picks up the last two. Hasbro’s game studio Renegade Studios, developed RPGs for G.I. Joe and Power Rangers. A Transformers RPG is in the works as well. All of these will presumably sell well since they’ve got the marketing muscle of Hasbro behind them.
Little wonder that D&D or its owners are dominating the market. But can other titles find purchase in the long shadow of Hasbro? With games like Thirsty Sword Lesbians and Mork Borg coming up, and critically acclaimed, will they make even a dent in the classics?
Time alone will tell.
What do you think of the state of the gaming industry?
