Wizards of the Coast has reported that 2019 was the best year in history for their classic tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons. The game saw its 45th anniversary last year, which was also the fifth anniversary of its most recent edition. Fifth Edition has been supported over the years with droves of new content, including a few Magic: the Gathering themed expansions, and the team has promised much more content to come in the following months.
Dungeons & Dragons has always been the most iconic name in tabletop roleplaying. When one thinks about the genre, D&D is almost always the first name that comes to mind. The game has had a long and rather turbulent history; it's been viewed in the past as an interest too niche and too "nerdy" to be accepted in the mainstream. In the 1980's it was rather infamously the topic of an outright moral panic, with religious conservatives linking enjoyment of the game to Satanism and occult practices. While these beliefs were unfounded and misguided, they did have a pretty severe impact on the public image of the game. Today, however, appearances in popular television shows like Community, South Park, and Stranger Things have bolstered enthusiasm for the game. The 5th edition, which released in 2014, has been received very positively, and some consider it the best edition of the game to date.
This success has led to Wizards of the Coast reporting 2019 as D&D's most successful year of all time. Wizards has produced an infographic (embedded below) to share some of the statistics on what's made this last year the best one for what has been proudly proclaimed the world's greatest roleplaying game. Some of the more impressive stats include over 40 million fans of the game listed worldwide, and 4.3 billion minutes of gameplay viewed on Twitch alone. These actual play series have certainly generated a large amount of interest in the game all on their own; Critical Role is an especially well-known example, and has become such a significant part of the game that it now has its own official setting book, which released last month.
Wizards was also proud to announce a staggering 300 percent increase in sales of their introductory box sets, as well as a 65% increase on sales in Europe, a rate which has more than quadrupled since 2014. One point Wizards of the Coast is especially eager to make is that 39% of their player base identifies as female, a number which they insist is growing. It's unfortunate to see such social stigmas still impacting the game; in the time it was introduced, such "nerdy" activities as Dungeons & Dragons were seen as unfit for women. This was a very harmful stereotype and it's understandable that the makers of the game would be so intent on breaking out of it. Over recent years Dungeons & Dragons has proven very adept at improving diversity in the gaming environment, not just by being more inclusive to women but by tackling issues like gender identity in a very inclusive and encouraging way when it comes to character creation.
Not many games have left as much of a legacy on the world as Dungeons & Dragons has. Its cultural impact alone, even among people who've never even played the game, is stunning. For a game to not only survive 45 years after its original release, but thrive, and become more successful than ever, is a monumental feat, and Wizards of the Coast is clearly not content to rest on its laurels. After 2019, it's easy to see why Wizards of the Coast feels so secure in heralding Dungeons & Dragons as the world's greatest roleplaying game.
Source: Wizards of the Coast