D&D Associated Press Article

There's uproar over this article. It's fine. It tends to hype the online element of D&D, but from an outside observer, that's what you can point to as new and innovative. Nobody cares that all elves are wood elves or that gnomes have been disenfranchised. The article goes over market share and compare RPGs to World of Warcraft, with it's supposed billion dollars a year in revenue.

RPGs are fighting for their life if you look at the new ICV2 numbers:

Year	RPG Sales at Retail (millions)
2002	35
2003	30
2004	25
2005	20
2006	17
2007	15

Our store sales are pretty steady. No decline, but no ramp up like you might imagine as the store grew. I got into this business mostly through my love of RPGs, so it's been a little disconcerting to watch the market evaporate before my eyes.

EDIT: 2008 should break the cycle of decline. We've seen Dark Heresy emerge as a strong player, and D&D 4 will catapult sales for the year. Shadowrun has suddenly become very popular, with the last two releases selling better than most D&D titles. Small, independent titles are also strong. Trail of Cthulhu has sold well beyond expectations, as has the new Robotech RPG, by Palladium. The Dresden Files RPG, by the same folks who brought us Spirit of the Century, will definitely dominate small press titles when it's released late in the year.