Paizo Publishing beats Wizards of the Coast in sales and ENnies

ICv2 released its second quarter role-playing game sales report for 2011 and the numbers back up what gamers and game stores have been saying for the past month: Pathfinder is now outselling Dungeons & Dragons.  Here’s the top five best sellers:

1. Pathfinder (Paizo Publishing) 
2. Dungeons & Dragons (Wizards of the Coast)
3. Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch (Fantasy Flight Games)
4. Dragon Age (Green Ronin Publishing)
5. Shadowrun (Catalyst Lab Games)

Additionally, in every category where Paizo competed against Wizards of the Coast in the ENnies, Paizo took first place.  Paizo’s Pathfinder setting took gold ENnies for Best Adventure, Best Interior Art, Best Cartography, Best Monster/Adversary, Best Production Values, Best Setting, and Best Supplement.  Even products associated with Pathfinder that weren’t published by Paizo won out, including Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast for Best Podcast and d20pfsrd.com for Best Website.  Wizards of the Coast, conversely, won silver ENnies for Best Aid/Accessory, Best Monster/Adversary, and Best Rules.

When the two companies went head to head for Product of the Year, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Advanced Player’s Guide beat the Gamma World Roleplaying Game. But the most telling was the Fans’ Choice Award for Best Publisher: Wizards of the Coast won the silver and Paizo Publishing took the gold.

Does this mean the Dungeons & Dragons brand is faltering?  I’m not sure.  The cross-media promotion of Neverwinter promises to be a powerful juggernaut that will be tough to beat.  Plus, I’m still convinced that Pathfinder is recycling disaffected former 3.5 Edition players; if Dungeons & Dragons’ recent push is successful, it could significantly grow the gaming base.

In the end it may not matter. Dragon Age, another cross-media brand, is nipping at Pathfinder’s heels, and George Strayton launches The Secret Fire at Gen Con.  It’s possible there will be a four-way split between these fantasy role-playing games.  Will that help the hobby by bringing in more players, or will it harm it by segmenting them further?