The Orr Group Industry Report: Q4 2019 - A Momentum Occasion

February 5, 2020
report

It’s a brand new year, and we’ve got brand new numbers to wrap up the Q4 2019 Orr Group Industry Report!

_Campaign Percentage: How many Roll20 campaigns use this game system.* 

_Account Percentage: How many Roll20 users play this game system.* _

*Only games with at least one hour of playtime are counted in these results.

In the last Orr Report, we saw Call of Cthulhu surge to second place and wondered if we’d see it go even higher in the spooky season. To our surprise, its hardcore horror advocates have been locked in a second place tug-of-war with the free spirits who play with custom games/sheets in the Uncategorized section. Meanwhile, D&D 5E floats serenely above the fray.

We did predict correctly that Pathfinder Second Edition would continue its steady climb and crack the Top 10, where it now comes in at #8 by both metrics. It’s been a season of quiet but steady growth for the newcomer, and so we thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to look at what games had the greatest rate of growth between Q3 and Q4? Sure enough, Pathfinder Second Edition is right there:

Growth Percentage: Percent Change in number of active Roll20 campaigns between Q3 and Q4 2019.

And holy heck, Ironsworn, talk about positive momentum! Its overall player base hasn’t gotten large enough to show up in the Top 10, but since we retooled this report we’ve been able to unlock special insights like this. The sharp spike in Ironsworn games happened in the middle of November, right about the same time that Roll20 GM-in-Residence Adam Koebel streamed Ironsworn on his channel. If you played because of that, did you like that the game was free, fun, and supports GM-less play... or were you trying to emulate Adam in hopes that a little of his coolness would rub off on you? Be honest. This is a judgment-free zone.

Do you have your own speculations about why some of these games saw growth in the last quarter? (Don’t think we don’t see you there, Rise of the Star Wars SAGA.) How about the rest of the games on Roll20? View the full report and share your thoughts in the comments!

Compare with the previous report!

About The Orr Group Industry Report

The Orr Group Industry Report explores trends within the tabletop gaming industry with a focus on the online tabletop community. Created in 2014, the Orr Report has always aimed to go beyond the topic of “what games have sold recently” and really centralize the focus on what games people are continuing to play and enjoy on an ongoing basis. Everyone from players to publishers can get a bird’s eye view for the usage and popularity of different systems on Roll20 and identify trends for tabletop as a whole.

The Roll20 Team

The Roll20 Team

ROLL20 Roll20 is the all-in-one solution for organizing and playing tabletop games online, allowing you to play your games anywhere and share them with anyone virtually. With the ability to choose from a number of popular titles built ready for your virtual tabletop, your adventures are limitless and you can get started playing with little to no prep. Dive into advanced features like Dynamic Lighting or explore macros and APIs to add some extra depth to your game. Roll20 lets you play your tabletop games, your way. YouTube Instagram