This is fantastic news!
We’re truly experiencing the “golden age” of Paizo. You know, like that era in TSRs history before everyone went insane and everything imploded? So, enjoy this time, guys, before the following…
Lisa gets bored dominating the RPG industry with every new endeavor and creates another company to compete with herself since, after all, only she can truly compete with Lisa Stevens.
Erik buys WotC and only produces stuff originally published between 1974-1989. It might not turn a profit but its old school, dammit!
Jason leaves Paizo to pursue his one true love: buying minis. Yes, he’ll be broke, homeless, and have nowhere to store them but he’ll own them alllllll!
James finally emerges from a pile of books after developing Lost Cities of Golarion…2 years after Lisa has crushed Paizo with her new product: Magical Vampires: The Star Wars Pathfinders.
Vic finally relents and becomes the front man for the Indigo Girls.
Okay, in all sincerity, congratulations on your success, Paizo! May it continue for many years to come!
Broil? Broil? Really? Good lord, somebody get that man a grill.I'm done with grilling steaks.
1: This is better.
2: You lose all the good juices on the grill. Use the above recipe, and then once you pull your steaks out to rest, deglaze those pan juices with a little Jack or Absolut Peppar, and reduce. Maybe flip in a lump of bleu cheese, or a tablespoon or two of cream to make a nice sauce.
I noticed the the recipe is from Alton Brown, very nice. :)
Congrats Paizo! This is great news. It sucks that you all keep pumping out such awesome material, I'm spoiled now because of Pathfinder! It's hard to look at my 3.5 books without thinking "how archaic." ;). Keep up the good work!
May you all have brain diarrhea so the ideas keep on flowing!
U should u really should
Good going!
I didn't expect this, really. I was always under the impression that Pathfinder RPG was something of a niche product. I was surprised to find it in the local game store here in Sweden and I'm even more surprised to hear it does this well :D
Today we've just converted the local campaign I'm running over to Pathfinder and then I check with the forum and see this. Nce timing! Now I just need the Bestiary II :P
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I am delighted to see these results. I played D&D for over thirty years, but could not support WOTC after it foisted to the 4.0 system on us and then mocked us for enjoying previous editions. I spent thousands of dollars on those products, and enjoyed every "unenlightened" moment. If WOTC had respected the traditions of D&D and its audience, I suspect that I would still be buying book after book, module after module, etc.
Paizo has done everything right. It respects the game's tradition. It respects gamers. It doesn't pontificate about how gamers should be having "fun".
Frankly, I wish Paizo produced more...I'd be buying it up.
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I am delighted to see these results. I played D&D for over thirty years, but could not support WOTC after it foisted to the 4.0 system on us and then mocked us for enjoying previous editions. I spent thousands of dollars on those products, and enjoyed every "unenlightened" moment. If WOTC had respected the traditions of D&D and its audience, I suspect that I would still be buying book after book, module after module, etc.
Paizo has done everything right. It respects the game's tradition. It respects gamers. It doesn't pontificate about how gamers should be having "fun".
Frankly, I wish Paizo produced more...I'd be buying it up.
Although i have to confess to liking the new Essentials material, I otherwise agree 100%. Although I don't think I could afford to by more products. I'm already behind.
BTW, I did celebrate the good news today by ordering the HC of the bestiary (I own and have been using the PDF) and I also became a Pathfinder Adventure Path and Pathfinder Tales Subscriber. All in one day, see I'm doing my part to keep Paizo in the #1 spot.
Wizard's red box looks like a gimmick. My understanding was that they streamlined a lot so that the game itself was simple and easy enough to get into yet this new box is meant to be for even more simple rules so I have to wonder, is that even possible?
Forgive the ignorance but I don't know too much about it and I didn't like 4e when I played it on open day in Boarders and I got a free dwarf figure from it.
In the ICv2 article out this morning, Pathfinder is now tied with Dungeons and Dragons 4E as the best selling Role Playing Game on the market for the past quarter. Allow me to be the first to extend my congratulations to the entire Paizo team! You guys have earned it. *Salute*
It's only logical...
Good people -> dedication -> service -> quality -> execution -> delivery -> success -> acclaim.
Ooh-rah!
Congrats one and all! Great to hear this news.
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So I asked the cat, and the cat goes 'In like that thread yo!'' so I go, ''What's that whiskers, this thread right here?'' and it a little(the thread, not the cat, natch) to make sure and the cat goes, ''Yeah bear, there's the love!'' so I go, ''What teapot, all of it?'' and the goes, '', not all of it but yeah, most of it..''so I was like totally all '''' and that was that for me and the cat.
TLDR: Ask the cat.
./hug all.
Feel the love!
Frankly, I wish Paizo produced more...I'd be buying it up.[Scotty]Och, I canna change the laws of physics![/Scotty]
Sure you can!
You control your own campaign world. And, you also have your own game mechanics.
You can change anything you want! ;-)
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By the by, these are just sales numbers for people buying through their FLGS. Mainstream sales outlets like Amazon or Barnes & Noble aren't represented in those figures.This is true, and it's not necessarily even a scientific study of that. Also not factored in here are direct sales, such as paizo.com sales (including subscriptions and PDF sales), or Wizards' D&D Insider subscriptions. Foreign translation sales and most licensed products are not going to be counted in here either.
But it's still probably the best measuring stick the industry has right now.
Meaning Paizo may have actually topped WoTC in total sales for the 3rd Quarter. I would be surprised if Subscription/Website sales did not make up for at least half of Paizo's business...
That is quite Awesome! Thank you for all the hard-work and long hours you put into making us Happy! I only wish I made more money and could subscribe to EVERYTHING.
Good job everyone (I would say keep up the goodwork, but the Paizo staff do not seem like ones to rest on thier previous success)!
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Frankly, I wish Paizo produced more...I'd be buying it up.[Scotty]Och, I canna change the laws of physics![/Scotty]
Exactly.
The publication schedule of Pathfinder for Paizo includes:
Monthly:
1 x 96 page Adventure path
and:
1 of:
*1 x 32 page Player Companion; or
*1 x 32/64 page Golarion Chronicle book;or
*1 x 32 page stand-alone module
and:
*2 x 16 page+ Pathfinder Society Scenarios
and:
(Quarterly)
*3-4 300+ page hardcovers per year
and:
Semi-monthly:
*4-6 Decks of cards per year
and:
*6 Flipmats per year
and:
*3-6 Map packs per year
and:
Bi-annual:
*2 Adventure Path Map Folios per year
and:
Quarterly:
*4 Golarion novels per year
Quite frankly, the amount of product the Paizo is releasing right now is already so voluminous that I honestly question whether the level of product quality can be maintained at the current publication rate. It's an INSANE amount of material as it stands.
If you look at WotC's current publication rate, you'll see they are releasing less than Paizo is.
All the above adds up to a Big-Ass stack of paper.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm ... big stacks o' paper goodness ...
Chief Technical Officer
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Close... only the Player Companion and the Pathfinder Module lines are supposed to be alternating bimonthly. The Campaign Setting line is less regular, but the current plan is something like eight to ten 64-pagers per year, plus the map folios and the occasional hardcover.
The RPG line isn't really intended to be quarterly, either. It's more a sort of "when can we fit in this stuff" schedule.
And we bump up the Pathfinder Society Scenarios to four releases in the months that contain PaizoCon and Gen Con.
And the Pathfinder Tales novel line doesn't really have a fixed schedule yet, but four a year sounds good right now.
And you left out Planet Stories, which is meant to be bimonthly, but in practice is a lot slower than that... and then there's the occasional board or card game, like Save Doctor Lucky.
And don't forget the weekly web fiction... plus ten blogs per week (five for paizo, five for the store)... and then we run RPG Superstar and PaizoCon every year...
In the ICv2 article out this morning, Pathfinder is now tied with Dungeons and Dragons 4E as the best selling Role Playing Game on the market for the past quarter. Allow me to be the first to extend my congratulations to the entire Paizo team! You guys have earned it. *Salute*
I should hope so. Man...4th ed was HORRIBLE!
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Close... only the Player Companion and the Pathfinder Module lines are supposed to be alternating bimonthly. The Campaign Setting line is less regular, but the current plan is something like eight to ten 64-pagers per year, plus the map folios and the occasional hardcover.
The RPG line isn't really intended to be quarterly, either. It's more a sort of "when can we fit in this stuff" schedule.
And we bump up the Pathfinder Society Scenarios to four releases in the months that contain PaizoCon and Gen Con.
And the Pathfinder Tales novel line doesn't really have a fixed schedule yet, but four a year sounds good right now.
And you left out Planet Stories, which is meant to be bimonthly, but in practice is a lot slower than that... and then there's the occasional board or card game, like Save Doctor Lucky.
And don't forget the weekly web fiction... plus ten blogs per week (five for paizo, five for the store)... and then we run RPG Superstar and PaizoCon every year...
*Sigh* and I wonder why I cannot save any money...
You (and Heroclix and computer games) are the True 'Devils' of a Capitalist Society! I am sure Asmodeus is proud of you all!
Frankly, I wish Paizo produced more...I'd be buying it up.[Scotty]Och, I canna change the laws of physics![/Scotty]
I would have gone with "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor not a genie"
but I like yours too
Meaning Paizo may have actually topped WoTC in total sales for the 3rd Quarter. I would be surprised if Subscription/Website sales did not make up for at least half of Paizo's business...By the by, these are just sales numbers for people buying through their FLGS. Mainstream sales outlets like Amazon or Barnes & Noble aren't represented in those figures.This is true, and it's not necessarily even a scientific study of that. Also not factored in here are direct sales, such as paizo.com sales (including subscriptions and PDF sales), or Wizards' D&D Insider subscriptions. Foreign translation sales and most licensed products are not going to be counted in here either.
But it's still probably the best measuring stick the industry has right now.
These numbers also don't include DDI :p
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These numbers also don't include DDI :p
Which is an interesting point, how has DDI affected physical book sales? Obviously some people don't bother buying the books now and instead subscribe to DDI - for them having the crunch available is sufficient.
What I would love to know, but never will because its too difficult to measure, is the number of active 4e, 3.5 and PF players, by country.
Hey! Check me out, I'm eating a Wizard for breakfast! ;)
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Chief Technical Officer
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...It may be that D&D reclaims the top spot next month and this came about at least in part because of the relatively light 4E release schedule leading up to the release of Essentials.
I've seen people suggest this a few places. Here are the D&D releases for the period in question, not including fiction:
Demonomicon
HS2: Orcs of Stonefang Pass
Vor Rukoth: An Ancient Ruins Adventure Site
Tomb of Horrors
Dark Sun Creature Catalog
Marauders of the Dune Sea
Psionic Power
Heroscape D&D: Warriors of Eberron
Dark Sun Campaign Setting
D&D Roleplaying Game Dice Set
Castle Ravenloft Board Game
Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game ("Red Box")
Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The Dungeon
D&D Minis: Lords of Madness
Heroes of the Fallen Lands
Rules Compendium
Some of those seem like pretty big releases to me...
...It may be that D&D reclaims the top spot next month and this came about at least in part because of the relatively light 4E release schedule leading up to the release of Essentials.I've seen people suggest this a few places. Here are the D&D releases for the period in question, not including fiction:
...
Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game ("Red Box")
...
Heroes of the Fallen Lands
Rules CompendiumSome of those seem like pretty big releases to me...
These are the ones that seem most likely to be big releases in the long run, but it's not clear whether their impact will be felt most in Q3 or in Q4, given how late in the period they came out.
Congrats!
I'm only surprised that PF isn't clearly more popular.
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Congrats!
I'm only surprised that PF isn't clearly more popular.
I think it can be really different by region - for example I went into my old LGS on the weekend - I stopped going ages ago because they tended not to have the very latest stuff in, even denying it had been released when I knew it had.
But anyway, I went in and there was loads of D&D4e stuff, some old 3e stuff (including third party stuff), plenty of Mongoose Traveller, Shadowrun, Star Wars Saga Editon, WoD stuff etc - but I couldn't find one Pathfinder product, indeed I couldn't even see a Paizo product (I asked if he had a Paizo basic flip mat and he wasn't sure what I meant).
And yet if I go into the next city there is a much more well stocked games shop that stocks plenty of 4e and PF along with all the latest stuff (I picked up LLB5 Agent for MTrav which I wasn't sure would have reached the shops by then).
I've seen people suggest this a few places. Here are the D&D releases for the period in question, not including fiction:
Spoiler:Demonomicon
HS2: Orcs of Stonefang Pass
Vor Rukoth: An Ancient Ruins Adventure Site
Tomb of Horrors
Dark Sun Creature Catalog
Marauders of the Dune Sea
Psionic Power
Heroscape D&D: Warriors of Eberron
Dark Sun Campaign Setting
D&D Roleplaying Game Dice Set
Castle Ravenloft Board Game
Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game ("Red Box")
Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The Dungeon
D&D Minis: Lords of Madness
Heroes of the Fallen Lands
Rules CompendiumSome of those seem like pretty big releases to me...
Of course the big ones (the Red Box and the Heroes of the Fallen Lands) came out at the very tail end of the quarter. That leaves Dark Sun stuff + Psionic Power + other stuff, as I noted earlier.
I'm curious -- is RPG merchandise seasonal? I know for toy manufacturers, sales during the Christmas season make up a whopping proportion of annual sales. Is that partially true for D&D, et al.?
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I'm not really sure that sales over a randomly given quarter really give an accurate representation of how many people are playing a certain game. For example, I'd be willing to wager large sums of money that there are more Call of Cthulhu players than there are Dresden Files players. However, Chaosium didn't release anything really noteworthy for Call of Cthulhu during the past quarter, while I presume that the Dresden Files RPG did.
I'm not really sure that sales over a randomly given quarter really give an accurate representation of how many people are playing a certain game. For example, I'd be willing to wager large sums of money that there are more Call of Cthulhu players than there are Dresden Files players. However, Chaosium didn't release anything really noteworthy for Call of Cthulhu during the past quarter, while I presume that the Dresden Files RPG did.
This is true, but it worth gathering this data so you can look at trends over the last few quarters. One particular quarter doesn't mean a whole lot, but looking at the past several does. As it is, Pathfinder has been in 2nd place every quarter since its release. The question up to now has been how big is the gap between 1st and 2nd (since D&D has been number 1 since 3rd edition came out I believe). Now we know the gap isn't that big anymore.
Call of Cthulhu hasn't made the list since these reports started coming out in 2008. It is also worth mentioning this report is for business people. It tells stores what they should stock. There may be more Call of Cthulhu players than Dresden Files players, but right now more people are spending money on Dresden Files. For that matter, has Call of Cthulhu really had any major releases in the last several years? I mean, I love CoC, but the only thing I've bought for it in the last couple years are PDFs of John Wick's Curse of the Yellow Sign adventures. Oh, and Open Design's Red Eye of Azathoth. (Both of which I highly recommend to any CoC fans.)
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Chief Technical Officer
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Regardless I hope that I was clear in my initial post that I wasn't trying to belittle Paizo's achievement.
No worries—I didn't read it that way at all. I was just adding some specific data to enlighten a general statement I've heard from you and others.
As for the Red Box coming out late in the quarter, that's certainly true—the Red Box, Rules Compendium, and Heroes of the Fallen Lands were all released on September 21, so they had 9 days of sales in the quarter. However, I'd also note that for *most* products, their best sales week is the first week of release.
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Chief Technical Officer
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I'm curious -- is RPG merchandise seasonal? I know for toy manufacturers, sales during the Christmas season make up a whopping proportion of annual sales. Is that partially true for D&D, et al.?
It depends on the product. With RPGs, core rulebooks and boxed sets tend to have decent seasonal peaks, but beyond that, generally not so much. Popular board and card games can have pretty good holiday peaks, though it's generally not the "more than half of the annual sales in two months" kind of peak.
In the ICv2 article out this morning, Pathfinder is now tied with Dungeons and Dragons 4E as the best selling Role Playing Game on the market for the past quarter. Allow me to be the first to extend my congratulations to the entire Paizo team! You guys have earned it. *Salute*
Good Job guys. I dumped 4e....thank you eBay.....and bought PF.
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For that matter, has Call of Cthulhu really had any major releases in the last several years? I mean, I love CoC, but the only thing I've bought for it in the last couple years are PDFs of John Wick's Curse of the Yellow Sign adventures. Oh, and Open Design's Red Eye of Azathoth. (Both of which I highly recommend to any CoC fans.)
Chaosium has put out a lot of monographs over the past few years. While admittedly this has less of a wide appeal than a full sourcebook or something of the like, some of them have been very good.
And this November they're publishing a new edition of Masks of Nyarlathotep. But yes, I agree, they would definately be doing better if they put out more new books.
Congrats!
I'm only surprised that PF isn't clearly more popular.
Spreading the Faith as fast as I can!
:P