...From the December 2006 issue; #177:


Product line   Manufacturer   raw#   up/dwn?   wtd.   turnout
1Dungeons & Dragons   Wizards of the Coast   31.4   (UP!)   31.4   100%
2World of Darkness   White Wolf   6.3   6.3   88%
3Rifts   Palladium   1.6   1.7   38%
4Shadowrun   Fantasy Productions   1.6   (UP!)   1.7   26%
5Hero System 5th Edition   Hero   1.5 (UP!)   1.6   37%

6Castles & Crusades   Troll Lord   1.5   1.6   31%
7Serenity   MWP   1.1   1.2   35%
8Mutants & Masterminds   Green Ronin   1.0   (UP!)   1.0   29%
9GURPS   Steve Jackson   1.0   1.0   23%
10Dungeon Crawl Classics   Goodman Games   0.9   0.9   26%

11Warhammer FRP   Black Industries   0.9   0.9   24%
12Sword & Sorcery   White Wolf   0.9   (UP!)   0.9   15%
13d20 Modern   Wizards of the Coast   0.6   0.7   24%
14All Flesh Must Be Eaten   Eden Studios   0.6   0.6   13%
15Star Wars d20   Wizards of the Coast   0.6   0.6   10%

16Exalted   White Wolf   0.5   (UP!)   0.5   22%
17Conan   Mongoose   0.5   0.5   15%
18Ptolus   White Wolf   0.4   (dwn)   0.4   35%
19Dragonlance   Sovereign Press   0.3   0.3   13%
20Runequest   Mongoose   0.3   0.3   10%

  The average store reporting unit shares to us sold at least 54 copies (55 weighted) of its Top 12 role-playing games, for a gross revenue of around $1,350. (Last month, the Top 12 role-playing games accounted for 40 copies.) For just those top games (not the whole market), these manufacturers accounted for the most weighted unit sales:

1Wizards of the Coast....59.79%
2White Wolf......14.77%
3Palladium......3.33%
4Fantasy Productions......3.12%
5Hero......2.81%
6Troll Lord......2.82%
7MWP......2.16%
8Goodman Games......1.96%
9Green Ronin......1.88%
   Other......7.29%

CHART CHAT> * Dungeons & Dragons sales were up significantly, buyoed by strong releases such as the Tome of Battle-The Book of Nine Swords in August and Dragon Magic and a new Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set in September. * Sales are up in general - September 2006 was the best month for role-playing games since March 2005.

...From January 2007; #178:


Product line   Manufacturer   raw#   up/dwn   wtd.   turnout
1Dungeons & Dragons   Wizards of the coast   24.8   24.8   100%
2World of Darkness   White Wolf   6.4   7.0   64%
3Castles & Crusades   Troll Lord   2.0   2.2   58%
4Shadowrun   Fantasy Productions   2.0   2.2  35%
5Dungeon Crawl Classics   Goodman Games   1.7   (UP!)   1.9   44%

6Sword & Sorcery   White Wolf   1.3   (UP!)   1.5   34%
7Hero System 5th Edition   Hero   1.1   1.2   26%
8Iron Kingdoms   Privateer Press   1.1   1.2   23%
9Mutants & Masterminds   Green Ronin   1.0   1.1   34%
10Rifts   Palladium   1.0   (dwn)   1.1   24%

11Conan   Mongoose   0.9   (UP!)   1.0   33%
12All Flesh Must Be Eaten   Eden Studios   0.9   (UP!)   0.9   10%
13Serenity   MWP   0.8   0.9   46%
14d20 Modern   Wizards of the Coast   0.8   0.9   25%
15Warhammer FRP   Black Industries   0.7   0.8   24%

16d20 Miscellaneous   Kenzer   0.7   0.8   20%
17Exalted   White Wolf   0.4   0.5   35%
18d20 Miscellaneous   Mongoose   0.4   0.5   22%
19Palladium Fantasy   Palladium   0.4   (UP!)   0.5   20%
20 GURPS   Steve Jackson   0.3   (dwn)   0.4   22%

  The average store reporting unit shares to us sold at least 50 copies (53, weighted) of its Top 12 role-playing games, for a gross revenue around $1,250. (Last month, the Top 12 role-playing games accounted for 54 copies.) For just those top games (not the whole market), thse manufacturers accounted for the most weighted unit sales:

1Wizards of the Coast...49.24%
2White Wolf......17.18%
3Troll Lord......4.21%
4Fantasy Productions...4.20%
5Goodman Games......3.53%
6Mongoose......3.27%
7Palladium......3.08%
8Hero.......2.36%
9Privateer Press......2.36%
   Other........10.57%

Chart Chat>* Dungeons & Dragonssales dropped; though the leading D&D products were of high quality, perhaps the fact that one was yet another splat book (Complete Mage) and the other another re-re-re-re-working of Ravenloft pushed consumers to look for alternatives with Dungeon Crawl Classics, Castles & Crusades, Sword & Sorcery, and Conan.

Koltar, the Market Share data from October 2006 seems to be missing from your last post - is this a mistake?

Quote from: WarthurKoltar, the Market Share data from October 2006 seems to be missing from your last post - is this a mistake?

 Yes and no - Exhaustion from the week caught up with me and I literally fell asleep in my chair while at my computer.
So yeah - its a mistake ..but my body said: "Sleep now!"

I'll add that to that post within the next hour or two .

Still have info from 2 more issues to add. Wish I could have done this in perefect chronological for you guys.


- Ed C.

Thanks. It's really no problem what order they come in from my end, I can insert months pretty much anywhere into the spreadsheet.

.....From the February 2007 issue,#179:


Product line   Manufacturer   raw#   Up!/Dwn   wtd.   turnout
1Dungeons & Dragons   Wizards of the Coast   27.8   27.8   100%
2World of Darkness   White Wolf   7.6   8.1   73%
3Shadowrun   Fantasy Productions   2.2   2.4   40%
4d20 Modern   Wizards of the Coast   1.9   (UP!)   2.1   47%
5Warhammer FRP   Black Industries   1.4   (UP!)   1.5   29%

6Hero System 5th Edition   Hero   1.2   1.3   31%
7Iron Kingdoms   Privateer Press   1.3   1.3   8%
8Sword & Sorcery   White Wolf   1.0   1.1   21%
9Rifts      Palladium   0.9   1.0   33%
10Babylon 5   Mongoose   0.7   0.8   28%

11All Flesh Must Be Eaten   Eden Studios   0.7   0.7   10%
12Exalted   White Wolf   0.6   (UP!)   0.7   39%
13Castles & Crusades   Troll Lord   0.6   (dwn)   0.7   31%
14Legend of the Five Rings   Alderac   0.6   0.6   12%
15Mutants & Masterminds   Green Ronin   0.6   (dwn)   0.6   9%

16Serenity   MWP   0.4   (dwn)   0.4  28%
17GURPS   Steve Jackson   0.4   0.4   20%
18Dungeon Crawl Classics   Goodman Games   0.4   (dwn)   0.4   19%
19Savage Worlds   Great White   0.4   0.4   10%
20Conan   Mongoose   0.3   (dwn)   0.3   16%

  The average store reporting unit shares to us sold at least 52 copies (54, weighted) of its Top 12 role-playing games, for a gross revenue of around $1,300. (Last month, the Top 12 role-playing games accounted for 50 copies.) For just those top games (not the whole market), these manufacturers accounted for the most weighted unit sales:

1Wizards of the Coast...55.73%
2White Wolf......18.38%
3Fantasy Productions......4.43%
4Black Industries......2.87%
5Hero......2.47%
6Privateer Press......2.43%
7Mongoose......2.38%
8Palladium......1.83%
9Alderac......1.49%
   Other......7.99%

Chart Chat>* Dungeons & Dragons sales recovered about half of their drop from October, possibly due to the release of Scourge of the Howling Horde, the first in a new line of introductory 32-page adventures using a new format.
* November was a light release month, with only half the number of role-playing game releases as in October.

DECEMBER 2006 was covered in an earlier post within the thread.

......From the April 2007 issue, # 181:


Product line   Manufacturer   raw#   up!/dwn   wtd.   turnout
1Dungeons & Dragons   Wizards of the Coast   31.7   31.7   100%
2World of Darkness   White Wolf   7.4   8.4   75%
3GURPS   Steve Jackson   1.8   2.0   24%
4d20 Modern   Wizards of the Coast   1.3   1.5   31%
5Rifts   Palladium   1.3   1.5   22%

6Iron Kingdoms   Privateer Press   1.3   1.3   10%
7Mutants & Masterminds   Green Ronin   1.1   (UP!)   1.3   22%
8Warhammer FRP   Black Industries   1.1   (dwn)   1.3   21%
9Star Wars d20   Wizards of the Coast   1.2   1.2   8%
10Dungeon Crawl Classics   Goodman Games   1.0   (dwn)   1.2   34%

11Serenity   MWP   1.0   1.2   21%
12Shadowrun   Fantasy Productions   1.1   1.1   12%
13Hero System 5th Edition   Hero   0.7   (dwn)   0.7   10%
14Babylon 5   Mongoose   0.6   (dwn)   0.6   21%
15Exalted   White Wolf   0.4   0.5   34%

16Castles & Crusades   Troll Lord   0.4   0.5   24%
17Call of Cthulhu   Chaosium   0.4   (UP!)   0.5   22%
18Deadlands   Pinnacle   0.4   0.4   14%
19Legend of the Five Rings   Alderac   0.4   0.4   13%
20Savage Worlds   Pinnacle   0.4   0.4   11%

    The average store reporting unit shares to us sold at least 57 copies (60, weighted) of its Top 12 role-playing games, for a gross revenue of around $1,425. (Last month, the Top 12 role-playing games accounted for 63 copies.) For just those top games (not the whole market), these manufacturers accounted for the most weighted unit sales:

1Wizards of the Coast...57.78%
2White Wolf......15.32%
3Steve Jackson......3.42%
4Green Ronin......2.73%
5Palladium......2.57%
6Privateer Press......2.24%
7Black Industries......2.15%
8Mongoose......2.02%
9Goodman Games......1.95%
   Other........9.82%

Chart Chat> * While January sales were definitely a drop from the nice numbers from December, role-playing games still held fairly strong, considering where they stood before the holidays. The bulk of the drop was in non-D&D products, with D&D sales buoyed by the Complete Scoundrel and the late December release of the Shattered Gates of Slaughtergard module.

..Okay that last post of mine accounted for the last of the newly found issues of the magazine.

 If people are wondering - I tried my best to puncuate and highlight things exactly as the magazine did. If they used boldface - then I used boldface, if they italicized, then I italicized.  In other words I tried to transcribe all of that as honestly and fairly as I could.

 The other thing is - I usually see these rankings once a month , not all at once like this . Its a strange and interesting experience seeing the trends. If I knew more about databases and computers I'd be interested in tracking things like : Does any particular have noticeble trends or cycles and I could suggest to my management to order more copies of those games? Why do some games drop off the chart comnpletely ? - and then re-emerge in the top ten? Is there a way to predict that ?

 Hope you guys find this all interesting and useful . When the new issue of COMICS & GAMES RETAILER comes out - I'll post the new chart rankings  to the stickied thread.  Right now my hunt & peck typing finger is tired....

- Ed C.

......From the July 2006 issue of COMICS & GAMES RETAILER , #172 :


Product line   Manufacturer   raw#   up!/dwn   wtd.   turnout
1 Dungeons & Dragons   Wizards of the coast   22.0   22.0   100%
2 Rifts   Palladium   2.8   (UP!)   2.9   26%
3 Dungeon Crawl Classics   Goodman Games   2.1   (UP!)   2.2   26%
4 World of Darkness   White Wolf   1.5   1.6   49%
5 Exalted   White Wolf   1.3   (UP!)   1.3   35%

6 Iron Kingdoms   Privateer Press   0.9   (UP!)   0.9  36%
7 d20 Modern   Wizards of the Coast   0.8   (UP!)   0.8  38%
8d20 Misc   Paizo   0.8   (UP!)   0.8   37%
9Castles & Crusades   Troll Lord   0.8   (UP!)   0.8   33%
10d20 Misc   Green Ronin   0.6   (UP!)   0.7   38%

11Serenity   MWP   0.6   0.7   35%
12Star Wars d20   Wizards of the coast   0.6   0.7   26%
13Sword & Sorcery   White Wolf   0.6   0.6   12%
14Warhammer FRP   Black Industries   0.5   (UP!)   0.5   37%
15 Legend of the Five Rings   Alderac   0.5   0.5  28%

16 Mutants & Masterminds   Green Ronin   0.5   0.5   11%
17 GURPS   Steve Jackson   0.4   (dwn)   0.4   26%
18 Conan   Mongoose   0.4   0.4 10%
19 d20 Misc   Alderac   0.3   0.3   32%
20 d20 Misc   Bastion   0.3   (UP!)   0.3   26%

  The average store reporting unit shares to us sold at least 40 copies (41, weighted) of its Top 12 role-playing games, for a gross of around $1,000. (Last month, the Top 12 role-playing games accounted for 37 copies.) For just those top games (not the whole market), these manufacturers accounted for the most weighted unit sales:

1Wizards of the Coast...57.14%
2White Wolf......8.51%
3Palladium......7.12%
4Goodman Games......6.08%
5Green Ronin......2.83%
6Mongoose......2.44%
7Privateer Press......2.24%
8Troll Lord......2.23%
9Alderac......1.93%
   Others......9.48%

Chart Chat> * Palladium's appeal to its fans on April 19 reverberated throughout the market, with sales of Rifts surging to more than triple the sales from March, which were already good. Rifts jumps from #5 to #2 on the charts.
* April was another strong month in the anemic RPG field, with D&D holding and other games gaining across the board.