I think one of the things that has to be said about our hobby is that it is a niche market. It does have it's 'brand' big names that seem to sell and sell, but on the whole I feel that the market for tabletop roleplaying is a little smaller than it once was.
Tabletop RPGing was the kingdom of the geek in those fine bygone years of the eighty's, and yes I succumbed to going out with 'the lads', finding women and learning to play guitar, all of which were considered a little more social..... Or so it seemed, (by those 'less' geeky).
But now a few years on, RPGing is one of the pleasures I have in the week where I meet up with those 'old school' friends and we play and chat and reminisce about the passing of Jorune, Ringworld, etc.
To touch on what may be a raw nerve. I think that the reason for it's continued faltering market when "geek has become the new cool", (10,000,000 subscribers for WoW), is that tabletopping requires something that is so difficult for people that have a busy and hectic lifestyle. It requires
time. It's an effort to get a few people round a table these days, more so if you've got a family or other commitments to look after.
It takes time to learn a system. It takes a little time to find which one of your friends is most suited to GMing. It takes time to write/read up scenarios. A worthwhile campaign takes time.
Look at the alternatives and no wonder they're wining the battle for our geek time. Magic, the Gathering and other CCGs. (Tragic, the Saddening or geek-bridge as I call it). Games learned very quickly and reliant on plugging cash into blisterpacks.
WoW and other MMORPG's. Very little effort put into what is effectively power gaming for magic items with P.C.s instead of dice.
RPG/Adventure computer games. Again very little effort to play a console/PC adventure.
Isn't that why our hobby, (and hence market) is not stable. Just not enough people that are willing to sit round a table and throw dice and tell stories?
Though I say buy an RPG if you can, I would suggest that you find those games that you enjoyed of yester-year that are out of print (such as Ringworld for me), download their sorry-ass and keep them alive for yourself.
Either that or write a sourcebook for BRP and see if you can get the license.
Ken.