RPGNow

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Sales Rankings on RPGNow and DriveThruRPG

I always assumed that the sales rankings on RPGNow and DriveThruRPG would be one and the same.  They are storefronts for OneBookshelf.  You use the same login, purchases made on one site are recorded on the other, etc.

But they apparently record sales separately, and this shows in the Hottest items rankings.  It seems that each site has a different demographic, and I find that very interesting.

LotFP's Weird Fantasy seems to do much better on RPGNow.  I'll be bolding James' latest releases below.

RPGNow.com
Hottest Items (Overall)
01.ION GUARD - ICONS Edition
02.WINTERHAWK: The Watchtower
03.Villains and Vigilantes
04.ICONS: Sins of the Past
05.Icons
06.Smallville Roleplaying Game
07.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
08.DC ADVENTURES Hero's Handbook
09.ICONS: The Skeletron Key
10.Sord Pf
11.ICONS Character Folio
12.E-Z DUNGEONS: Expansion Set 3
13.Sorcery & Super Science!
14.Tzak-Nal: The City
15.Eclipse Phase: NPC File 1: Prime

DriveThruRPG
Hottest Items
01.Return of the Scarlet Empress
02.Eclipse Phase: NPC File 1: Prime
03.Invite Only
04.Dudes of Legend (Full Version)
05.World of Darkness: Mirrors
06.Eclipse Phase: Sunward Hack Pack
07.DC ADVENTURES Hero's Handbook
08.Glories of the Most High: The Unconquered Sun
09.Glories of the Most High: Luna
10.Glories of the Most High: The Maidens of Destiny
11.Thousand Correct Actions
12.Mage Chronicler's Guide
13.Smallville Roleplaying Game
14.BattleTech: Technical Readout 3085
15.Yazata: The Persian Gods

RPGNow - Fantasy - Hottest Items
01.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
02.Sorcery & Super Science!
03.Tzak-Nal: The City
04.Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Vol. 2
05.Hero's Handbook for Resolute: Towers of Arvandoria
06.[PFRPG] The Genius Guide to the Time Thief
07.Tower of the Stargazer
08.[PFRPG] Krazy Kragnar's Alchemical Surplus Shop
09.Core Spell Card Sets - the Master Compendium (PFRPG)
10.World vs. Hero
11.Hammers of the God
12.Weird New World
13.Book of Beasts I for Resolute the RPG
14.Trailblazer
15.All the Treasures of the World: GEMS

DriveThruRPG- Fantasy - Hottest Items

01.Return of the Scarlet Empress
02.Glories of the Most High: The Unconquered Sun
03.Glories of the Most High: Luna
04.Glories of the Most High: The Maidens of Destiny
05.Thousand Correct Actions
06.Contagion of Law
07.Debris from the Fallen Races
08.Manual of Exalted Power: The Alchemicals
09.Splinters of the Wyld
10.Scroll of Exalts
11.ExXxalted: Scroll of Swallowed Darkness
12.Hellfrost Region Guide #18: The Freelands
13.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
14.Tannhauser: Revised Rules
15.Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters

RPGNow - Dark Fantasy - Hottest Items

01.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
02.Tower of the Stargazer
03.Hammers of the God
04.Crypt 30mm Paper Model
05.Hermit's Hutch 30mm Paper Model
06.World War Ruins #1
07.Winds Of Magic: Advanced Magic and Wizardry
08.High Valor
09.Hyperborean Mice
10.Critter Cache 6: Lovecraftian Bestiary
11.Liber Mutatis: The Book of Change
12.Cropland Ground Tiles
13.High Ground Tiles 30mm Paper Models
14.Crosspiece Ruins Set 30mm Paper Models
15.Medieval Ground Tiles

DriveThruRPG - Dark Fantasy - Hottest Items

01.LotFP Weird Fantasy Role-Playing
02.Call to Arms: Mist Dancer
03.Call to Arms: Force of Nature
04.Call to Arms: Bloodsworn
05.Winds Of Magic: Advanced Magic and Wizardry
06.Liber Mutatis: The Book of Change
07.Call to Arms: Infernalist
08.Dark Heresy: Dead Stars: Haarlock Legacy III
09.Dragon Age RPG, Set 1
10.Ordo Draconis 2
11.Houses of the Blooded
12.The Gathering Storm
13.Earthdawn Third Edition Player's Guide
14.Tower of the Stargazer
15.The Darkest Hour

I wonder if RPGNow is regarded as more "Old School" in the traffic it receives.
As I said earlier, I find this interesting, although I really don't know what to make of it.  Food for thought I guess.


6 comments:

  1. I believe it goes back to when DTRPG and rpgnow were separate entities.

    DTRPG launched based upon Steve's connections within the industry and featured many published company's material that wasn't (at that time) available in PDF form. He leveraged his industry contacts to convince print companies to enter the PDF market via his new store.

    Rpgnow was an organically grown business. James was open to anyone publishing and featured more "indie" or non-traditional publishers during the d20 boom.

    When they merged, rpgnow was branded as "indie" and dtrpg as "mainstream" so far as those terms are appropriate for our small niche of rpg publishing.

    In my experience, one the database merge occurred, the customer base tended to stay where they were used to buying product and hence, there's still a difference in which products are better received at the different locations based upon how both sites were initially presented.

    All of that is, of course, IMO.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Most of my sales of Oubliette are through rpgnow (when you sell something the email notification tells you which site it came from). The chart seems to be heavily based on month-to-date and, to a lesser extent sales from previous months/years. To get awarded a 'Popular Copper Pick' you need to sell around 70 copies. Not sure how many you need to get a Silver as I've not got there yet.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I believe copper is 50 sales, silver 100, electrum 250, gold 500 and platinum 1000.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great info guys. I remember when they were separate companies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Personally I use RPGnow rather than Drivethrough RPG because I like blue rather than red. Drivethrough RPG has a few better widgets than RPGnow (Displays a little more of whats new), but because I started with RPGnow my muscle memory tends to take me there first.

    ReplyDelete
  6. to be honest dave, your reasons mirror mine. i went to DTRPG back in the day to grab their freebies but little else. go figure

    ReplyDelete

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