Roleplaying games, the heart and soul of the hobby games business, are having a banner year, expanding on a steady string of growth years kicked off by the launch of Dungeons & Dragons 5E in 2014.  The phenomenon has spread to other games, as players introduced to the hobby by D&D expand their horizons and try new games.

"RPGs are the story of the year so far," a hobby distributor told ICv2.  "D&D’s king by leaps and bounds, don’t get me wrong, but the number of RPGs that were [significant contributors to] sales was 40 different brands."

D&D was all over the top of the chart of the Top RPGs for Spring, with the core product line from Wizards of the Coast holding its near-permanent #1 slot, and other products built on the 5E engine grouped at #3.

Pathfinder was softer in Spring, although it still retains its position as #2 by breadth of line and longtime player base.

Renegade Game Studios’ Hasbro RPGs were new additions to the top five, selling well at launch, and there’s a wide range of titles, some on this chart of ten and others, generating major sales in 2022.

This chart of the Top RPGs reflects sales in Spring 2022 (January-April).  The chart is based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.

ICv2's Top 5 Roleplaying Games - Spring 2022 (Overall)

Rank

Title

Publisher

1

Dungeons and Dragons

Wizards of the Coast

2

Pathfinder

Paizo

3

D&D 5E

Darrington, Goodman

4

G.I. Joe RPG

Renegade Game Studios

5

Power Rangers RPG

Renegade Game Studios

These bestseller lists are from ICv2's Internal Correspondence #102:
For the lists of the bestselling Collectible Games in the hobby channel, mass channel, and overall, click here.
For the bestselling hobby channel Non-Collectible Miniature lines, click here.
For the bestselling Board Games & Card/Dice Games in the hobby channel, click here.

The full-length version of this article appeared in ICv2’s Internal Correspondence #102.  For the full-length version of this article on the ICv2 Pro site, with the full 10-line chart, click here.

If you are a U.S. retailer, e-mail Dennis Viau at DViau@ICv2.com  to get your free subscription to ICv2’s Internal Correspondence.

ICv2 Pro subscribers have early and complete access to Internal Correspondence content here.  To sign up for a free two-week trial, click here.

Digital copies (PDFs) are available instantly from your favorite DriveThru store.  To order a digital copy of ICv2's Internal Correspondence #102, click here.

For librarians and educators interested in subscribing to ICv2's Internal Correspondence, order from EBSCO (title #408-601-128) or WT Cox (title #128411).