The summer of 2014 was another strong season for hobby game sales, albeit at slower growth rates than 2013’s torrid 20% pace, according to the market reports in the recently released Internal Correspondence #86.  Collectible game sales were solid, with category leader Magic: The Gathering doing better after a less-than-stellar spring.  Board, non-collectible card, and roleplaying games were the categories most frequently mentioned as pushing summer sales higher.

In collectible games, sales on the 2015 Core Set for Magic: The Gathering were up over last year’s set, although the June release, Conspiracy, was down from sales on Modern Masters in 2013.  Yu-Gi-Oh! sales were up in the hobby, behind new monsters, solid OP, and a robust secondary market for singles.  Adult, lapsed players at college age and above are returning to Pokemon, joining growing numbers of kids and driving up sales on the brand.  HeroClix benefited from good set choices, with sets tied to both the comic and movie versions of Guardians of the Galaxy proving to be sales gold for the brand.  WizKids’ Dice Masters was plagued by stock-outs, and My Little Pony had long gaps between releases.  Cardfight!! Vanguard sales were stronger this summer, behind growing OP and an aggressive release schedule, and Bushiroad’s #2 game, Weiss Schwarz, was doing well behind its Kill La Kill release.

In non-collectible miniatures, Warhammer 40,000 was doing better in the wake of the release of Seventh Edition, while the Star Wars X-Wing SKUs returned to frequent stock-out status in the summer season, hampering its sales.

Board game sales were also hampered by stock-outs, with five of the top ten games in the category, including Firefly, Pandemic, Carcassonne, King of Tokyo and Betrayal at House on the Hill, out of stock for at least part of the summer season.

There was a new top dog in the Card and Dice Game category, with Boss Monster now in the #1 slot.  Other newer games doing well included Cryptozoic Entertainment’s Adventure Time Card Wars, Upper Deck’s Alien Encounters: Legendary, and White Wizard’s Star Realms.

The launch of the new edition of WotC’s Dungeons & Dragons was like a shot of adrenaline for the RPG category, but although the two D&D releases that shipped in the summer season sold well, they were insufficient to knock off Pathfinder, which hung on to its #1 slot in the category.

ICv2 published its hobby game bestseller charts in the new issue, covering all five categories.

For the lists of the bestselling Collectible Games in the hobby channel, in the mass channel, and over-all, click here.

For the bestselling board games in the hobby channel, click here.

For the bestselling card/dice games in the hobby channel, click here.

For the bestselling RPGs, click here.

For the bestselling non-collectible miniature games, click here.

For information on how to get your copy of Internal Correspondence #86, see "ICv2 Releases 'Internal Correspondence' #86."