Dungeons & Dragons has reached levels of success that it hasn't seen before in over forty years of its history, as Wizards of the Coast has announced that 2019 was the game's best-ever year for sales.
Dungeons & Dragons debuted in 1974 and it quickly found an audience among the early tabletop gamers of the era. The game would become synonymous with nerd culture and its name was often used to label someone as a geek if they played it. Dungeons & Dragons has become one of the most recognized brands in the gaming sphere and is the name people often associate with tabletop gaming.
2019 was a good year for tabletop roleplayers around the world, as Wizards of the Coast has announced that Dungeons & Dragons has had its best-ever year. According to a press release sent out by the company, the Dungeons & Dragons introductory box sets saw a 300% increase in sales in 2019, while sales in Europe have almost doubled since 2018.
The popularity of Dungeons & Dragons can be attributed to people watching games being streamed on websites like Twitch, and the numbers back this theory up. According to the press release, 4.3 billion minutes of Dungeons & Dragons shows have been watched on Twitch. Dungeons & Dragons has seen exponential growth with younger gamers, while more women are playing than ever before, with an estimated 39% of the player base now being female. The future of the brand is also looking strong, with the highly-anticipated Baldur's Gate III entering early access on Steam in 2020 and a number of other Dungeons & Dragons video games are planned to be released in 2021 and beyond.
The mainstream attention toward Dungeons & Dragons is surprising to longtime fans of the series. It wasn't always easy to play Dungeons & Dragons, thanks to the difficulties of aligning the schedules of several people together, so it was tricky to maintain a long-term group. Social media has made it easier than ever to find groups of players, while role-playing series on Twitch have shown people around the world how fun Dungeons & Dragons can be. The future is brighter than ever for tabletop roleplaying and Dungeons & Dragons is set to remain the market leader for years to come.
Source: Wizard of the Coast