Call of Cthulhu is bigger than D&D in Japan
GARETH BRANWYN 4:40 AM THU FEB 11, 2021


Here's an amazing fact. More Japanese-language copies of Chaosium's classic horror RPG, Call of Cthulhu, are sold than all other languages combined. CoC is far more likely to be the gateway RPG for new gamers in Japan than Dungeons & Dragons.


Call of Cthulhu was first translated into Japanese by publisher Hobby Japan, which localised the game's third edition in 1986. Following a break in development during the 1990s due to a slump in the local market, its sixth edition was released by current publisher Kadokawa in 2004, and has seen a number of reprints since. By September 2019, all versions of the RPG had sold over 200,000 copies in Japan, according to Kadokawa.

The latest seventh edition of the game was released in December 2019, featuring a complete overhaul of the rulebook. Roleplaying game writer and editor Masayuki Sakamoto, who has worked on Call of Cthulhu since its original release in Japan, told Dicebreaker that the sixth and seventh editions have sold more than 300,000 copies combined, including 60,000 copies of the latest edition.

Read the rest at Dicebreaker.

IN 1984 I DID INTERVIEWS WITH SCI FI AUTHORS IN THE BAY AREA, INCLUDING WITH CHAOSIUM WHO HAD JUST COME OUT WITH THE GAME AND IT WAS A BIG HIT IN EDMONTON WHICH WAS THE GAME TESTING BETA MARKET FOR NORTH AMERICA I LEARNED