Business has been booming for Paizo. The developer of the tabletop game Pathfinder, recently garnered a lot of community goodwill through their Open RPG Creative License, an initiative made in response to competitor Wizards of the Coast attempting to uproot a foundational part of the TTRPG industry. As a part of this, the company held an Open Gaming sale, where they put several Pathfinder products on sale. This was meant to help new or returning players check out their alternative to D&D. The result is they ended up selling out of the supplies for eight months in just under two weeks.
The Pathfinder Open Gaming sale success
During the Open Gaming sale, the following Pathfinder products were discounted. The Beginner's Box, which contains premade character sheets and quickplay rules, and both the hardcover and pocket editions of the Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook were all sold at 25% discount. Furthermore, via a promo code, you could get a PDF of the Lost Omens World Guide; a sourcebook for Pathfinder's fantasy world of Golarion, for free. The sale began on January 12 and ended on January 25.
According to Paizo, the response to this sale was overwhelming. In a Twitter thread, Paizo called it a critical success. They explained that they have been inundated with weeks of back orders, causing longer than normal shipping times. If your order was confirmed, you may need to be patient. They also confirmed demand was so high for these books that they have run through the entire eight-month supply of Core Rulebooks in just two weeks, with demands for Beginner Boxes surging as well.
If you plan on ordering a hardcover copy of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, you'll have to wait until a new print run arrives in mid-April. Paizo also mentioned that there are other ways to read the Core Rulebook, such as their smaller Pocket Editions, PDFs, and digital versions across various VTTs like Pathfinder Nexus, Foundry, and Roll20.
