Steve Jackson Games’ annual Stakeholder Report is always an interesting read and an interesting snapshot of what’s left of the RPG industry. The 2008 report doesn’t disappoint, with this paragraph doing a good job of summing up the status of the pen-and-paper RPG market,
Roleplaying didn’t get any healthier. Not long before this writing, the Games Workshop divison which produced the popular Warhammer RPGs announced that it would discontinue the line in order to put more effort into fiction production . . . because the Warhammer novels are more profitable than the game is. Nevertheless, word from our distributors is that GURPS at least maintained its sales base during a time when other lines were losing 50% or more.
SJ Games big product of the moment, of course, is the Munchkin card game line (and soon to be a board game with Munchkin Quest).
