Yesterday we had a look at the best selling fantasy RPGs of 2019 that weren’t Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder. It was a provocative list with the science-fantasy RPG, Shadowrun, taking the top place.
In the DriveThruRPG market, which is where these charts come from, publishers can assign more than one genre to their products. Will we see Shadowrun again in the sci-fi charts?
Best selling sci-fi RPGs of 2019
The top 10 best selling sci-fi RPGs that were released in 2019.
- Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit by R. Talsorian Games.
- Shadow of the Beanstalk by Fantasy Flight Games.
- Shadowrun, Sixth World Core Rulebook by Catalyst Game Labs.
- Eclipse Phase Second Edition by Posthuman Studio.
- Shadowrun: No Future (A Cyberpunk Sourcebook) by Catalyst Game Labs.
- BattleTech: House Arano: The Aurigan Coalition by Catalyst Game Labs.
- Fate Space Toolkit by Evil Hat Productions.
- Shadowrun: The Neo-Anarchist Streetpedia by Catalyst Game Labs.
- Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG Core Rulebook by Dragon Turtle Games.
- The Worlds of Android by Fantasy Flight Games.
Shadowrun does appear, but not in the top slot. That means after D&D and Pathfinder are factored out, fantasy genre games don’t dominate the top slots.
How much should you pay for a best selling sci-fi RPG?
We’re taking the bottom price for RPGs and supplements this year. That’s the price that appears in red. It’s not always a sales price and sometimes persists all year round to show the difference between buying a PDF compared to a printed book.
The average price of a top ten sci-fi RPG this year was $19.15. Two of the bestsellers cost only $10, even if one was just a Jumpstart Kit.
Movers and shakers
How does this top ten compare to last year?
Fantasy Flight, R. Talsorian Games and Catalyst Game Labs all make it two years in a row. The multi-genre Genesys accounted for Fantasy Flight’s position last year, this year it’s sci-fi flavoured Genesys supplements and sourcebooks in the top ten.
Catalyst Game Labs appears four times this year, almost taking half the top then for themselves. Only Fantasy Flight Games gets two other products into the top ten.
Creative commons credit Motorbike Cyberpunk by Ptitvinc.
Update: DriveThruRPG has clarified that this list only includes sci-fi RPGs released in 2019.
Your considerate thoughts are welcome. Do you have something to add to this article? Please let us know in the comments below.
