Lorizael wrote:
Seeing as so many posters on here state that they don't ever buy from GW any more and that they use ebay if they need anything, but mostly they don't as they have hundreds of models... it makes sense for GW to raise prices- plenty of "veteran" gamers don't buy any more anyway so it makes no difference in terms of sales. When the hobbit appears though and more people are heading into GW and seeing the games and wanting to get started, the prices will be set and won't be anything different to them. In fact they'll see 10 marines for £23 and 12 Gondor for £13.50. Will seem like a bargain I'm sure...
While I'm with Hellfury and King Ondoher in feeling, my logic sides with Lorizael. GW has a clear business strategy here but that doesn't mean it includes many of us (i.e. veteran games, WotR devotees, etc)
This is not "truth" but rather my read of the situation:
- GW has an obvious marketing window - late 2012 through mid 2014 - with the release of the two Hobbit movies.
- I'm guessing that GW realized that they need a "gateway drug" system to bring new entrants into the hobby - one that is relatively less expensive, requires fewer models and is simpler (i.e. fewer special rules and army books). Ipso-facto, return to SBG. And it doesn't hurt that the IP for this system has a more universal appeal than GW's WFB and 40K systems.
- Even with the repackaging and price hikes, as others have demonstrated, SBG will be less expensive than 40K/WFB both in price-per-model and total model count to enjoy a game. (Not to mention fewer models to paint.)
- Whether WotR was a well-intentioned fizzle or a shameless gambit to move backlogs of stock, it's clear from my gaming group that GW really doesn't need TWO massed fantasy battle games and, combined with the second bullet above, GW came to to a similar conclusion. (Disclaimer, I started with WFB and find WotR MUCH more appealing.)
- Assuming a strategic commitment to making the "third system" a skirmish game, it logically follows that if they expect to sell fewer models per player, they must naturally increase the price per model just to tread water. And, when you factor in the price relative to a Space Marine or a Greatsword AND the not inconsiderable demand that will be generated by Peter Jackson's movies AND the past experience that the demand bubble won't last forever, WHY wouldn't they make a no doubt carefully calculated (by their MBA bean counters) price hike?? Don't get me wrong, I think it sucks a$$ too. But it's undeniably a reasonable strategy.
- I'd wager real money (and I'm anti-gambling by temperament) that GW has some very clear analytical modeling of how their customer base purchases over time. What many veteran gamers under-appreciate is the likelihood that they themselves are not representative of GW's sweet spot in terms of demand. They can obviously take most of them for granted. For every Hellfury, King Ondoher or me that swears off buying GW product, there must be and equal or greater amount of new entrants. GW's data must show them this otherwise they would behave differently.
All that said, I personally believe GW has a long term sustainability problem, due to wringing higher margins out of fewer customers. But they're publicly traded, which naturally drives near-term thinking. So I suspect they're milking the 40K and WFB cows by having a declining customer base purchase more troops or big models while repositioning LotR to become the "feeder system" during the Hobbit wave and, after that, who knows what 2015 and beyond looks like. They'll figure that out when they get there - depending on which "they" are still in the C-suite.
In sum, I find the price hike nauseating (although I have shedloads of models), I'm not a fan of skirmish games and so I'm left cold by the return of SBG, I'm a sad panda to see WotR sent to the retirement home of Specialist Games instead of getting refined to be the unparalleled system it could be and, nonetheless I still get a little thrill from the new models with the prospect of many more to come in a year. And, while I'm as annoyed as the next guy by the jackassery of how GW runs its business, I think this particular move makes all the sense in the world.
(I haven't posted here in a long while so I'm making it up in volume.
)
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