The genesis of Rifts® came from designer, Kevin Siembieda's desire to combine magic and technology, fantasy and science fiction, horror and adventure, in one setting where anything was possible and where the world was alien and changing, yet oddly familiar. The trick was making that setting seem plausible and balancing the many diverse characters and story elements with dynamic game play. It took three years for Kevin to come up with the perfect blend and balance, and then six months of work writing, art directing and coordinating final production. The hard work was worth it as Rifts® is one of Palladium's most popular RPGs of all time.

The Rifts® Role-Playing Game made its debut at the Gen Con Game Fair in August of 1990. Everyone at Palladium Books had faith that Rifts® was something special and would be a big hit, but you never know how the fickle winds of the marketplace might blow. Our target number for success: Ten thousand in three months. We felt if the initial press run of 10,000 copies sold out in under three months, we had a bona fide hit.

Rifts® sold out in three weeks. We could hardly keep it in stock and sold approximately 45,000 copies in the first year; huge numbers for a pen and paper role-playing game. New sourcebooks also flew off the shelves by the tens of thousands, some, like Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™, Rifts® Sourcebook One, Atlantis, England, Conversion Book One and Triax™ & The NGR, sold over 100,000 copies each.

Over the last 20 years, Rifts® and the Palladium Megaverse® have continued to expand with more and more gamers having purchased and played Rifts® and millions more having heard of Rifts® via advertising, the Internet, and word of mouth.