Saw this earlier.

Probably not going to have a huge impact on SBG as I imagine that it's future is pretty defined by this point in the schedule, but might herald a positive change of direction for a company which could seriously use it, IMO.

Although, I have to say some of Kirby's comments in his preamble strike me as odd, to say the least. And a £4 million website that is terrible to use on a tablet, and not great under other circumstances, either, is alarming. How the hell did they even manage to spend that much money on it?

Think US government Heath Care website you can spend boatloads of money when you put someone who can't tell their ass from their elbow in charge.

His ramble seems to be an odd attempt at justifying the policies he's getting fired for. You may say he's getting fired for losing money and yes he is but its his wacky polices that have caused the dramatic loss in sales.

It's ultimately a non -factor for myself. After LOTR/Hobbit I will never purchase another GW product. Their IP doesn't interest me in the slightest and 40k/fantasy are the worst table -top games I've every played. And I've played more than a dozen different ones (play 5 currently with 3 more on the way)

_________________
Commission Painting @FB http://www.facebook.com/squyrepainting
Commission Customers include:
GBHL Youtube Channel
MiniWargaming

Don't worry if you don't like the current rules for 40k & fantasy. They change them every 2 years just so you can have a nice new book and redundant models.

_________________
I think a drug habbit would be cheaper...

Too little too late

_________________
"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

I've enjoyed fantasy 6th and 7th, and that's where I stopped because it became a never ending cycle of new editions. I doubt CEO firing will get things turned around for the better for us the consumers.

_________________
My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

I wrote a blog post on my thoughts about the chairman's preamble if anyone is interested. http://fiendsinwaistcoats.blogspot.com/

Going lean can work in some places, but not all, and for sure what you say in your blog about High Street Presence is true for GW. I use to go out of my way to go to a GW store just to check it out and show support, buy a blister or two (I was still trying to buy/support from my local RT at the time). The store was always packed with people. They closed the store and I have not ran into anyone from that place since (6 years now).

My own company went lean, consolidated shifts to produce more in less time. They only cut two people and consolidated the rest. But, we lost 8 hours production time per day, this pushed out orders so we lost face with customers, we had to start out sourcing to keep up with work, and bought in three employees to help with the work load on the single shift. All this and we lost 20K per month in sales. That is $240K per year and we have not saved any money at all from doing it. Proof that lean manufacturing is not for every company.

I think GW needs some new direction. They need someone not entrenched in a bad idea or system that is failing.

_________________
http://www.sithious.webs.com

So with all that fuss is there a possibility that GW will reduce prices and make their games affordable?
It seems redundant to me to fire a CEO and have a new one with the same policy. What is your opinion on the changes that might (or not) happen?

_________________
The words fly up, the thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

The only actual positive change I see happening as I mentioned on my blog is a reduction of legal action on GW's part. Mr. Kirby is chairman of the board, the high street stores are gone, the European regional sales office have been wiped out I don't see GW stopping its long slide to oblivion. If Mr. Kirby is removed from the board things might change for the better.

So how does that affect us players?

_________________
The words fly up, the thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

I don't see much change happening. I like what he said about 3D printers, as it is very true. That even if the technology grows to a point where we all have one, we would still be willing to buy 3d sculptures put out by GW if they were good. They could still keep up with the business, and as he states, GW uses them and knows about them more than most people and know the limitations that have yet to be overcome. I also have looked at 3d printed models and they are not cheap to buy, so it is not like you can save money buying them. And also what was implied about copies of older models, if people were making copies of models, it would only go so far before people want new models and new sculpts. So GW or companies like them still have a place at the head of the pack, producing armies at a time in large quantities.

It will be interesting to see what happens when Hobbit and LOTR die down and we are no longer buying as we can then look at what GW does without direct affect on us.

_________________
http://www.sithious.webs.com

So how does that affect us players?[/quote]
This change will have no effect on Hobbit/LOTR players or really any GW customer. I expect this year's Hobbit releases to be more expensive than last year's.

It's funny because they have put the squeeze on us the consumers every which way possible for the past few years concerning their policies and marketing strategy, now that they might be heading into a decline it's pretty hard for them to un-squeeze us. Do any of you see the return to 24 figure box sets coming back at a reasonable price, international indy web stores, loose bits, metals, heroes at a reasonable price? And what else did I miss?

These guys need to take three steps back, and not go forward in squeezing us further because they're only hurting themselves.

_________________
My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

I don't want to get into GW bashing just understand that there will not be any real change in GW corporate policy from this.

I believe you.

_________________
My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

Assuming that he's stepping down willingly...Kirby sees the writing on the wall and knows that GW is entering the death spiral. This is just a move to set someone else up as CEO to take the fall.

Though he's staying on as Chairman, and still has a huge share in GW so his hand is still very much in the till.

I've been following a lot of the legal and financial threads on Dakka Dakka relating to GW and the future does not look good. I think its very much in terminal decline (as with TSR, original maker of Dungeons & Dragons in the 90's).

At this time, I think about the only thing that could possibly save GW's neck and postpone the death spiral would be if they could obtain another lucrative licence for another extremely popular and established franchise.

Game of Thrones would have been perfect. However, they missed their window of opportunity for that, as the show is now approaching its 5th year.

_________________
My (more regularly updated) painting blog:
https://www.facebook.com/Pindergorn/

No nothing can save GW now years from now it will go into receivership. They can't even go back to being just another large miniatures company they are a publicly traded company once you become one and fail as GW has all that's left is the ax.

Which is what happened to TSR.

The management got complacent and actively despised its own customers. The company went bust, and the D&D IP was snapped up by Wizards of the Coast (which was itself acquired by Hasbro, under better circumstances).

_________________
My (more regularly updated) painting blog:
https://www.facebook.com/Pindergorn/