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Post by: adamsouza
SpikeyBitsBlog
Limited Editions, Spash Releases, Soft Covers and more. What does the future hold for Games Workshop?
A lot of Speculation has been going around lately about the “new direction” of the company, via the new CEO, but nothing concrete has emerged.
One thing seems to be sure, most of the rumors are all the same. Personally I’m not sure who Steve the Warboss is or why everyone seems to be quoting him as of late, BUT he has some good intel up until now so let’s go with it shall we?
Remember be sure to put your tin foil hats on this may all just be a bunch of random conjecture!
Collated courtesy of L’astropate
via Steve the Warboss
-Shield of Baal: Leviathan (and all later releases Expansions for 40k) will return in Softcover.
-Armybooks, Codices and Suppliments will all come sometime next year in Softcover Versions with a lower price.
If this pans out, I have very high hopes for new CEO Kevin Roundtree. Decisions like this indicate a rolling back of the “all collectors all the time” presentation that 40K and WFB have become of late.
It reflects a business pragmatism that accepts the wide financial spectrum of the GW customer base out there.
It acknowledges that yes there is a segment of the GW customerbase that indeed wants the ultra-elite leatherbound, scented with myrhh, gold-leafed editions of codices. BUT there are ALSO a lot of customers who want value priced rulebooks that allow them to put more of their hard earned cash into the fantastic GW models.
If true – It’s a good move and I salute it.
I think this is a great move. GW makes a majority of their sales on any new product on the week of release. Reprints never sell any where as well as the initial print run. By offering soft cover reprints, GW is saving themselves money on the printing, shipping, and storage, while appealing to a newer more frugal audiance who wasn’t wowed into buying it during it’s initial run. They can also spin it as caring about their customers concerns about rising prices. It’s a win, win situation.
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Post by: hotsauceman1
That saddens me.........
The Hardback books, while expensive, take a punishment.
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Post by: Panic
yeah,
Sounds good.
Panic...
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Post by: Davor
So soft covers. Does this mean that GW is not producing Premium products now?
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Post by: Crazyterran
I wouldn't mind a smaller, army list + rules only codex.
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Post by: creeping-deth87
I thought the new CEO wasn't in until January, which means that these changes would actually be by the current regime and have nothing to do with the new CEO. Still good news though.
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Post by: adamsouza
Davor wrote:So soft covers. Does this mean that GW is not producing Premium products now?
To me I got that that we'll still get the hardcovers and premium editions in hardcover and that the reprints will be soft cover.
Allows GW to sell premium product at a premium price and then sell the reprints, which never sell as well as the first run, at a reduced price
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Post by: Paradigm
Sounds good. To early to really say, but with the softback End Times releases and free Nid rules, we may be seeing a bit of a change in the wind. Regardless of the reason (loss of goodwill/players/cash?), as gamers I guess we win.
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Post by: Azreal13
 creeping-deth87 wrote:I thought the new CEO wasn't in until January, which means that these changes would actually be by the current regime and have nothing to do with the new CEO. Still good news though.
He already works, and has worked for some time, for GW in a very senior position, the 1st January changeover is just a mark on a calendar and doesn't really mean very much.
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Post by: RiTides
It makes sense. I mostly stopped buying GW books I didn't absolutely need due to the price of the hardcovers, even though I was interested. All my Privateer Press books are softcover, and an easier impulse buy due to the lower price that comes along with that.
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Post by: -DE-
Softcovers at premium prices and strictly limited numbers. Where's the change, 'cause I don't see it.
I fully expect SC codices to be priced at $40, which is daylight robbery still.
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Post by: Azreal13
 Paradigm wrote:Sounds good. To early to really say, but with the softback End Times releases and free Nid rules, we may be seeing a bit of a change in the wind. Regardless of the reason (loss of goodwill/players/cash?), as gamers I guess we win.
It's almost like what they were doing was resulting in people giving them less money! 
But in all seriousness, if the drop in revenue has been what was needed to shake them out of their Ivory Finetower™ then this is, without irony, good news. A responsive GW who listened to the customer and tried their best to keep as many people as happy as possible as often as possible (and, to some extent, could be seen to be doing those things) would make me a much happier bunny.
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Post by: Tannhauser42
Meh, what I care more about is if they will offer better pricing on ebooks. Seriously, GW, $45?!
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Post by: Warhams-77
Steve the Warboss doing one of his 1 + 1 crystal ball posts again? Something new (1) like softcover reprints happened. So he creates a rumor/speculation (+1) without offering any solid information actually...
And from a salesman's perspective:
Why should GW offer cheaper codex books?
Would anyone still buy the hardcover ones if so?
Would GW ever damage the sales of an available product with an identic, cheaper one?
Maybe small format books like in the Librarium Collection which is currently available on the GW site... but that was not part of Steve's rumor anyway
I have nothing against either Steve or Rob Baer but the 'information' given is so vague, it is not helpful
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Post by: adamsouza
I think this is a great move. GW makes a majority of their sales on any new product on the week of release. Reprints never sell any where as well as the initial print run. By offering soft cover reprints, GW is saving themselves money on the printing, shipping, and storage, while appealing to a newer more frugal audiance who wasn’t wowed into buying it during it’s initial run. They can also spin it as caring about their customers concerns about rising prices. It’s a win, win situation.
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Post by: BobtheInquisitor
 hotsauceman1 wrote:That saddens me.........
The Hardback books, while expensive, take a punishment.
Uh, in that kind of role playing, the back of a hair brush is much better for giving punishment.
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Post by: Azreal13
Because they're not selling enough of the higher priced ones? I know I'm not unique in changing from habitually buying each new book to only obtaining the ones relevant to factions I play since the change.
Would anyone still buy the hardcover ones if so?
Because different people like different things.
Would GW ever damage the sales of an available product with an identic, cheaper one?
Except it isn't identical, one is hardcover and one is not, some people prefer the hardcover enough to pay a premium
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Post by: Davor
I agree Azreal. I see Privteer Press doing the exact same thing. Soft covers and hard covers side by side at my gaming store so you have a choice on what you want.
Choice is always good.
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Post by: kestral
Cheap codexes would see me buying lots of them. The margin might be lower, but currently I've bought only a single hardcover, nearly vomited doing it, and without the codexes I don't see as much incentive to buy new figures for my many armies.
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Post by: adamsouza
I currently own about half of the 7th edition codexes. The only reason I don't own the other half is the price. The Hard covers are too expensive for me to justify buying books for armies I may never field.
Offering them in soft cover, and hopefully $10-20 less expensive, and tkaing another 20% off buying them from 3rd parties, puts them in a price range where I will end up buying all of them
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Post by: Nevelon
It seems a logical conclusion from a discussion they should be having.
What can we do to get more people playing?
What are the barriers of entry to new players?
Lowering the cost of entry lets more people get into the game, and lets them sell more models. Sure, they loose a few extra bucks they could be squeezing out of us, but in theory should make that up by pushing more plastic to more people. Lower rules costs also helps with allies and second armies. I might have picked up an imperial knight, pricey though it is. But the cost for the rules on top of the model turned a “maybe” into a “no"
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Post by: OrlandotheTechnicoloured
Or they'll offer soft covers as direct only via their website
and have hardcover for their stores and the independants
that way they'll look more competitive to those currently shopping at online discounters
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Post by: Medium of Death
Well if the softcovers are like their old ones then I hope it becomes a development.
I find they take general wear and tear much better.
I wouldn't chalk this up to the new guy as we've had rumours of this before he was appointed and he has literally just sat his arse on the GW throne.
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Post by: insaniak
Because many players who used to buy the cheaper softcover codexes stopped when they switched to the more expensive hardcovers.
Would anyone still buy the hardcover ones if so?
Some people prefer the hardcovers, so yes, probably.
The existence of cheaper paperbacks doesn't stop people from buying hardcover novels.
Would GW ever damage the sales of an available product with an identic, cheaper one?
It's not identical.
And yes, if releasing the cheaper product results in more overall profit due to increased codex sales, they would be foolish not to do so.
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Post by: Medium of Death
With the switching and price change they've definitely alienated me from the codex buying market.
When they were £15 it wasn't a big ask to buy every book, but now that they've doubled in price and offer less content it's definitely a no go.
Supplements being £30 is a complete joke too.
The old books were packed with fluff, in much smaller font sizes, that the new books lack.
The book pricing is the biggest barrier to the GW hobby. The miniature prices get talked about a lot but the books are far, far worse. IMHO.
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Post by: RiTides
insaniak - Agreed, especially since the cheaper product is also cheaper to them, not just their customers!
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Post by: Yodhrin
Warhams-77 wrote:Steve the Warboss doing one of his 1 + 1 crystal ball posts again? Something new (1) like softcover reprints happened. So he creates a rumor/speculation (+1) without offering any solid information actually...
And from a salesman's perspective:
Why should GW offer cheaper codex books?
Would anyone still buy the hardcover ones if so?
Would GW ever damage the sales of an available product with an identic, cheaper one?
That's a bit of a daft argument man, look at videogames, hell they release the fancy super-special-mega-ultra-collector edition, the shiny-box-sorta-special edition, and the normal "I just want to play the damn game" edition all on the same day, yet they still manage to sell all the versions. Some people are always going to want the fancy version, some people will always just want the bloody book without any extraneous rubbish, there's no reason to abandon the latter market unless your business doesn't like money.
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Post by: Backfire
 Medium of Death wrote:
The book pricing is the biggest barrier to the GW hobby. The miniature prices get talked about a lot but the books are far, far worse. IMHO.
It's true, buying the core rulebook & codex costs over 100 euros, that's the starting cost for the hobby before even buying any minis! It's pretty big barrier both financially and psychologically for many people. Now, there are some cheaper options for core rulebook available but not for army books.
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Post by: Warhams-77
I really hope GW is going to sell softcover codizes and supplements next year. It would be great if they realized people will buy more if the books are priced lower. I own most 6th Ed ones and two of its supplements. Would like to buy all the new books like I did in 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th edition (I mostly skipped 4th)
My point was, I doubt this rumor at the moment. On pretre's tracker Steve does okay - although there are more False to be added, like BA Codex after ET2, which is not correct
These questions I posted were what I was told from different people (at stores etc) why GW switched to the then new hardcover format. I was upset because the former, cheaper ones allowed me to buy all books even if I didnt collect the army. The hardcovers changed that
I was told the hardcover books make GW a lot more money (per item) than the softcover version did and GW wants to keep it. They won't turn back to the old one.
If that way of thinking at GW changes, excellent. It will make me a happy chap for sure 
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Post by: insaniak
Warhams wrote:
I was told the hardcover books make GW a lot more money (per item) than the softcover version did ...
That would certainly have been the original idea of them, but I very much doubt it worked out that way. I've heard so many players who used to buy every book say that they now only buy the books they specifically need, and many others who just refuse outright to buy the hardcovers at all because of the ridiculous price tag.
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Post by: bubber
I want soft-backs back as well. I think hard-back books are around 50% more expensive due the materials & shipping / transport costs. I could never see a great reason for the hard-backs esp when the turn-over of some Codex's is so high &ie they don't have to last 10 years).
BTW I still have books in fairly good nick from the 90's so the argument that you need hardbacks for longevity is a bit far-stretched if you look after your stuff.
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Post by: Kilkrazy
That's me, and because I don't buy the books, I don't buy the models either, I don't buy the rules, I don't buy any of the formations, dataslates or their add-on items that I might have been tempted into once I had the core rules.
So for the sake of trying to screw an extra £15 out of me for the Tau codex, GW have actually lost at least £100 of sales on codex, rules and additional models (Riptide, etc.)
Automatically Appended Next Post:
I do not believe it is merely coincidence that GW's annual sales fell 8% the year after doubling the price of codexes.
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Post by: Panic
yeah,
If they sell hardbacks at £30
And softbacks at £15-20
How much will electronic versions sell for?
I'm of the opnion they should be £10 and you get the ibook/ebook free with the hardcopies...
Panic...
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Post by: mitch_rifle
I remember when they were like $30-40 oz glory days
although im skeptical of what the price would be
im assuming maybe $60 oz maybe
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Post by: Accolade
 Kilkrazy wrote:That's me, and because I don't buy the books, I don't buy the models either, I don't buy the rules, I don't buy any of the formations, dataslates or their add-on items that I might have been tempted into once I had the core rules. So for the sake of trying to screw an extra £15 out of me for the Tau codex, GW have actually lost at least £100 of sales on codex, rules and additional models (Riptide, etc.) Automatically Appended Next Post: I do not believe it is merely coincidence that GW's annual sales fell 8% the year after doubling the price of codexes.
Yeah, GW seemed to have this idea in their mind that their whole customer base would just bend over and take this. After many months, I have finally invested in the new DE book simply because I like the army so much. But I refuse to pay $50 for the extra special rules in the supplements (since that is what that Coven book boils down to), and I am loathe to buy the Ork codex I need, as well as the damn 7th edition rule book! And this is coming from someone who bought the LE 6th Edition rule book, so please don't mis-characterize me as someone who simply won't buy 40k books. I do...or at least I used to. That extra $15 they tacked onto every book, coupled with the halved lifespan of 6th resulted in me ending all of my purchases for 40k. Would I come back if they addressed these price issues? Probably, I certainly *want* to play 40k, but I'm not going to put up with being fleeced for  ing paper products that hold little objective value and are invalidated in a relatively short space of time.
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Post by: Kirasu
Kilkrazy wrote:That's me, and because I don't buy the books, I don't buy the models either, I don't buy the rules, I don't buy any of the formations, dataslates or their add-on items that I might have been tempted into once I had the core rules.
So for the sake of trying to screw an extra £15 out of me for the Tau codex, GW have actually lost at least £100 of sales on codex, rules and additional models (Riptide, etc.)
Automatically Appended Next Post:
I do not believe it is merely coincidence that GW's annual sales fell 8% the year after doubling the price of codexes.
Ontop of that.. the new codices look terrible, imo. The layout looks amateurish, the fluff is gutted, there are barely any pictures compared to previous books. In general they raised the prices, cut the costs and reduced the content. It's no longer a book I want to own unlike 5th ed books which had higher production values.
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Post by: TheDraconicLord
 Kirasu wrote: Kilkrazy wrote:That's me, and because I don't buy the books, I don't buy the models either, I don't buy the rules, I don't buy any of the formations, dataslates or their add-on items that I might have been tempted into once I had the core rules.
So for the sake of trying to screw an extra £15 out of me for the Tau codex, GW have actually lost at least £100 of sales on codex, rules and additional models (Riptide, etc.)
Automatically Appended Next Post:
I do not believe it is merely coincidence that GW's annual sales fell 8% the year after doubling the price of codexes.
Ontop of that.. the new codices look terrible, imo. The layout looks amateurish, the fluff is gutted, there are barely any pictures compared to previous books. In general they raised the prices, cut the costs and reduced the content. It's no longer a book I want to own unlike 5th ed books which had higher production values.
*shrugs* different strokes for different folks. Personally from 5th I only got my Necron codex and that's it, and when 6th arrived I started collecting every codex because of how amazing I think the books are. To me, everything about the new codeci, codex supplement and campaign supplement like Leviathan are things of beauty,
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Post by: H.B.M.C.
You like the removal of fluff and the inclusion of huge photos rather than original artwork?
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Post by: TheDraconicLord
 H.B.M.C. wrote:You like the removal of fluff and the inclusion of huge photos rather than original artwork?
Well... I don't agree with that sentiment, the only codex I felt was truly light concerning the fluff so far was the Imperial Guard one. But hey, I'm relatively new to the hobby, my first codeci were the 5th ones, so maybe that's why I can easily enjoy the new stuff
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Post by: Dr. Temujin
What I miss from the older style codices were the pages dedicated to the fluff, from a specific POV. Like the Imperial Reports on the Necrons from the 3rd Ed Book, or of World Eaters taking cover from artillery when Kharn pops up and kills them for being cowards.
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Post by: OIIIIIIO
In 5th Ed I eventually bought every codex. The cost was high but manageable, when they decided to go to all hardback I have only bought one codex so far. I wanted to buy the others but at almost double the cost ... I could not justify it. If they do start releasing each codex in soft cover for about the same price as they were in 5th ... I will begin my collection of every codex again.
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Post by: Herzlos
Last codex I bought was £18 (£20 with 10% discount). If they get back to that price I'll buy more, since it's only 30% more expensive than everyone else (standard paperback army book price seems to be about £15, and I've bought plenty on a whim).
Somehow I can only see them being mini books at £25-30 whilst the full size hardbacks move up to £35-40.
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Post by: Baragash
Kilkrazy wrote:That's me, and because I don't buy the books, I don't buy the models either, I don't buy the rules, I don't buy any of the formations, dataslates or their add-on items that I might have been tempted into once I had the core rules.
So for the sake of trying to screw an extra £15 out of me for the Tau codex, GW have actually lost at least £100 of sales on codex, rules and additional models (Riptide, etc.)
Automatically Appended Next Post:
I do not believe it is merely coincidence that GW's annual sales fell 8% the year after doubling the price of codexes.
^This. My £2-3k per year hobby spend has stayed the same, where GW used to see 100% of that, now they see less than 10%.
I'm not sure how excited people should get at this news though.....isn't the difference between the hard and softcover end times books £5?
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Post by: Cergorach
The problem isn't so much price (I'm willing to pay a premium for a full color hardcover), it's that it was combined with the insane acceleration of product releases. The books not only cost more, but to keep up with all the releases I needed to buy a lot more of them, not even taking into account all the ebook releases, I would need to spend x3-x4 the amount of money I spend on GW rulebooks on a yearly basis. Combined with the ebooks (insane pricing on a handfull of pages of rules) I threw the towl in the ring regarding GW rulebooks.
Just cheaper softcovers isn't going to change that...
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Post by: filbert
Herzlos wrote:Last codex I bought was £18 (£20 with 10% discount). If they get back to that price I'll buy more, since it's only 30% more expensive than everyone else (standard paperback army book price seems to be about £15, and I've bought plenty on a whim).
Somehow I can only see them being mini books at £25-30 whilst the full size hardbacks move up to £35-40.
Sadly, I think this is likely to be closest to reality. I think if introduced, the soft-cover books will be around the same price point that the hard-cover books are now and the hard-cover books will rise in price accordingly. It really isn't in GW's nature and hasn't been for some time to lower prices by any significant amount.
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Post by: Nevelon
 filbert wrote:Herzlos wrote:Last codex I bought was £18 (£20 with 10% discount). If they get back to that price I'll buy more, since it's only 30% more expensive than everyone else (standard paperback army book price seems to be about £15, and I've bought plenty on a whim).
Somehow I can only see them being mini books at £25-30 whilst the full size hardbacks move up to £35-40.
Sadly, I think this is likely to be closest to reality. I think if introduced, the soft-cover books will be around the same price point that the hard-cover books are now and the hard-cover books will rise in price accordingly. It really isn't in GW's nature and hasn't been for some time to lower prices by any significant amount.
Not to burn through all my optimism for the week, but maybe GW is actually trying to change? Switching to a different format would let GW lower prices and save face. If they just dropped the price on the hardbacks, it’s hard to do without admitting there is a problem, or they’ve been excessively gouging us these past years. But switching to softcover lets them pass the saving on to us, while toning back the crazy pricing strategy that’s not working well for them.
While I love my fluff as much as the next guy, I’d support a return to the thin, rules-dense 3rd ed codex style if we could return to those prices. Keep the all-inclusive current style as the “special edition” or just outsource the fluff to the folks over in the Black Library wing of the company. But by lowering the cost of entry, we can get more people playing the game.
Just my undercaffinated wishlisting for a monday morning.
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Post by: MWHistorian
 Nevelon wrote: filbert wrote:Herzlos wrote:Last codex I bought was £18 (£20 with 10% discount). If they get back to that price I'll buy more, since it's only 30% more expensive than everyone else (standard paperback army book price seems to be about £15, and I've bought plenty on a whim).
Somehow I can only see them being mini books at £25-30 whilst the full size hardbacks move up to £35-40.
Sadly, I think this is likely to be closest to reality. I think if introduced, the soft-cover books will be around the same price point that the hard-cover books are now and the hard-cover books will rise in price accordingly. It really isn't in GW's nature and hasn't been for some time to lower prices by any significant amount.
Not to burn through all my optimism for the week, but maybe GW is actually trying to change? Switching to a different format would let GW lower prices and save face. If they just dropped the price on the hardbacks, it’s hard to do without admitting there is a problem, or they’ve been excessively gouging us these past years. But switching to softcover lets them pass the saving on to us, while toning back the crazy pricing strategy that’s not working well for them.
While I love my fluff as much as the next guy, I’d support a return to the thin, rules-dense 3rd ed codex style if we could return to those prices. Keep the all-inclusive current style as the “special edition” or just outsource the fluff to the folks over in the Black Library wing of the company. But by lowering the cost of entry, we can get more people playing the game.
Just my undercaffinated wishlisting for a monday morning.
But remember, Finecast was cheaper and was also supposed to pass the savings onto the customers. Look how that turned out.
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Post by: filbert
 MWHistorian wrote: Nevelon wrote: filbert wrote:Herzlos wrote:Last codex I bought was £18 (£20 with 10% discount). If they get back to that price I'll buy more, since it's only 30% more expensive than everyone else (standard paperback army book price seems to be about £15, and I've bought plenty on a whim).
Somehow I can only see them being mini books at £25-30 whilst the full size hardbacks move up to £35-40.
Sadly, I think this is likely to be closest to reality. I think if introduced, the soft-cover books will be around the same price point that the hard-cover books are now and the hard-cover books will rise in price accordingly. It really isn't in GW's nature and hasn't been for some time to lower prices by any significant amount.
Not to burn through all my optimism for the week, but maybe GW is actually trying to change? Switching to a different format would let GW lower prices and save face. If they just dropped the price on the hardbacks, it’s hard to do without admitting there is a problem, or they’ve been excessively gouging us these past years. But switching to softcover lets them pass the saving on to us, while toning back the crazy pricing strategy that’s not working well for them.
While I love my fluff as much as the next guy, I’d support a return to the thin, rules-dense 3rd ed codex style if we could return to those prices. Keep the all-inclusive current style as the “special edition” or just outsource the fluff to the folks over in the Black Library wing of the company. But by lowering the cost of entry, we can get more people playing the game.
Just my undercaffinated wishlisting for a monday morning.
But remember, Finecast was cheaper and was also supposed to pass the savings onto the customers. Look how that turned out.
Ultimately, we shall have to wait and see but with GW, it is very much a case of 'once bitten, twice shy'. We have seen examples of this in the past where people have claimed that a reboxing or rebranding or similar will result in lower prices but very rarely does it actually turn out that way. Like many others, I would be delighted were this actually to be the case so I am not without hope but the cynic in me is going to hold off until I see it with my own eyes.
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Post by: Azreal13
filbert wrote:Herzlos wrote:Last codex I bought was £18 (£20 with 10% discount). If they get back to that price I'll buy more, since it's only 30% more expensive than everyone else (standard paperback army book price seems to be about £15, and I've bought plenty on a whim).
Somehow I can only see them being mini books at £25-30 whilst the full size hardbacks move up to £35-40.
Sadly, I think this is likely to be closest to reality. I think if introduced, the soft-cover books will be around the same price point that the hard-cover books are now and the hard-cover books will rise in price accordingly. It really isn't in GW's nature and hasn't been for some time to lower prices by any significant amount.
This has been very much the MO for GW since, well, pretty much since I returned to tabletopping proper and stopped just being a fluff bunny which was around mid-5th.
"Take an idea that everybody heartily endorses and get's enthusiastic about, then find some way to subvert it so it pisses those same people off."
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Post by: Nevelon
MWHistorian wrote:But remember, Finecast was cheaper and was also supposed to pass the savings onto the customers. Look how that turned out.
filbert wrote:Ultimately, we shall have to wait and see but with GW, it is very much a case of 'once bitten, twice shy'. We have seen examples of this in the past where people have claimed that a reboxing or rebranding or similar will result in lower prices but very rarely does it actually turn out that way. Like many others, I would be delighted were this actually to be the case so I am not without hope but the cynic in me is going to hold off until I see it with my own eyes.
Keep your harsh reality out of my rampant optimism!  It upsets the kittens and unicorns. 
Hope springs eternal. Or is the first step on the road to disappointment. At this point I don’t really expect any changes, but part of me still dreams that GW will wake up and make some improvements. Even vague signs of a gradual shift back towards sanity would be great.
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Post by: Cergorach
Nevelon wrote:Keep your harsh reality out of my rampant optimism! It upsets the kittens and unicorns.
Could be me, but that unicorn looks like it's trying to drown the kittens behind your back... BAD UNICORN! ;-)
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Post by: ORicK
That sounds good to me.
At a reduced price i would think about buying more codexes again.
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Post by: Fenriswulf
If they want to keep selling the hardback editions, they would do well to offer a free digital copy with a purchase of one of them. That way they'd be good value for money vs the paperback. Paperback buyers could get a discount on the digital edition, if they wanted to go that way.
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Post by: Lockark
I actully like soft cover books, because I like getting them rebound with spiral binding and a clear cover.
Makes the books last longer, and let's you lie them flat on the table. So useful.
As long as the soft cover books drop back to at-least the pre-hard cover prices....
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Post by: Nevelon
 Fenriswulf wrote:If they want to keep selling the hardback editions, they would do well to offer a free digital copy with a purchase of one of them. That way they'd be good value for money vs the paperback. Paperback buyers could get a discount on the digital edition, if they wanted to go that way.
There are a number of ways they could incorporate the digital side better. One thing about bundling PDFs/e-pub versions of the rules is I suspect that might happen only if you ordered direct from GW (so they could e-mail you the key/etc.) So people would have to choose between discounters, or free/discounted electronic copies.
Of course, there are other ways to handle it, but I suspect that this might be the easiest way.
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Post by: Noir
Cheaper as in Finecraft cheaper or digital codex cheaper.
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Post by: Gimgamgoo
I think people are deluding themselves if they think there's going to be some uber saving.
Nagash hardback in slipcover case when it was available was £50
They've now released the paperback version at £45
Not much of a saving for something looking considerable inferior.
I suppose the codex price would come down a fraction, then after a few releases, would jump back to the hardback price. So the net result is us paying the hardback price for a paperback.
Another boost for the GW coffers and shareholders.
:-(
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Post by: Lorien
Why should softcover books be so much cheaper than the hardcover ones? I do not work in the printing industry but as far as i know the markup in terms of material costs is only a slight markup. Most of the added cost of hardbacks is usually the premium you pay as a customer for a nicer look and to get the novel a month or so in advance. Most of the cost is personal costs starting with the author, the layouter, ... All those costs you have for every book and it doesn't matter if it's hard soft or electronic.
For ebooks you might save the handling of physical product but Apple and Google all want there money too. And I am pretty certain that the apple version takes a lot of time to produce. All those links etc. need to be placed and that's where the value of the apple book lies.
So I rather keep the books as they are right now. The new 40k format with all rules and points in one section is great. And well I like many miniature pictures in my books. Original art from time to time is ok but I play with miniatures and not pencils.
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Post by: Noir
Lorien wrote:Why should softcover books be so much cheaper than the hardcover ones? I do not work in the printing industry but as far as i know the markup in terms of material costs is only a slight markup. Most of the added cost of hardbacks is usually the premium you pay as a customer for a nicer look and to get the novel a month or so in advance. Most of the cost is personal costs starting with the author, the layouter, ... All those costs you have for every book and it doesn't matter if it's hard soft or electronic.
For ebooks you might save the handling of physical product but Apple and Google all want there money too. And I am pretty certain that the apple version takes a lot of time to produce. All those links etc. need to be placed and that's where the value of the apple book lies.
So I rather keep the books as they are right now. The new 40k format with all rules and points in one section is great. And well I like many miniature pictures in my books. Original art from time to time is ok but I play with miniatures and not pencils.
Pics of models that what the Heavy Metal part of the codex is for.... wait never mind.
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Post by: Gimgamgoo
Lorien wrote:Why should softcover books be so much cheaper than the hardcover ones?
I guess they don't. But then GW did increase the price significantly when they moved to hardcover using that as the reason for the price increase.
GW marketing 1, consumers 0
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Post by: OrlandotheTechnicoloured
Fenriswulf wrote:If they want to keep selling the hardback editions, they would do well to offer a free digital copy with a purchase of one of them. That way they'd be good value for money vs the paperback. Paperback buyers could get a discount on the digital edition, if they wanted to go that way.
If they did that I should think a fair few folk would buy them, keep the digital version and re-sell the hardback
(but giving a significant discount for getting both would be fair)
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Post by: Elemental
 TheDraconicLord wrote: H.B.M.C. wrote:You like the removal of fluff and the inclusion of huge photos rather than original artwork?
Well... I don't agree with that sentiment, the only codex I felt was truly light concerning the fluff so far was the Imperial Guard one. But hey, I'm relatively new to the hobby, my first codeci were the 5th ones, so maybe that's why I can easily enjoy the new stuff
Look up a second edition codex on Ebay, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
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Post by: insaniak
 Gimgamgoo wrote:I guess they don't. But then GW did increase the price significantly when they moved to hardcover using that as the reason for the price increase.
The switch to hardcover wasn't the only reason for the price increase... They switched to full colour at the same time.
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Post by: Daston
Will see if this happens, the price of the books are just piss taking and since the direction of the new 7th edition codexs (no art just catalogue photos) I just cant be bothered to part with my money.
In comparison, I just spent £12 on a full colour 88 page campaign book (bit like a codex but for 2 armies) for flames of war. The quality of the book is just like the old soft back codex's. Also last year I purchased 2 FoW army books in hardback both 300 odd pages and just as good as the FW Imperial Armour books...the cost? £45 for both of them.
I love the GW stuff and have loads of 40k armies but other companies are really making it hard for me to part with my cash.
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Post by: Kilkrazy
TheDraconicLord wrote: Kirasu wrote: Kilkrazy wrote:That's me, and because I don't buy the books, I don't buy the models either, I don't buy the rules, I don't buy any of the formations, dataslates or their add-on items that I might have been tempted into once I had the core rules.
So for the sake of trying to screw an extra £15 out of me for the Tau codex, GW have actually lost at least £100 of sales on codex, rules and additional models (Riptide, etc.)
Automatically Appended Next Post:
I do not believe it is merely coincidence that GW's annual sales fell 8% the year after doubling the price of codexes.
Ontop of that.. the new codices look terrible, imo. The layout looks amateurish, the fluff is gutted, there are barely any pictures compared to previous books. In general they raised the prices, cut the costs and reduced the content. It's no longer a book I want to own unlike 5th ed books which had higher production values.
*shrugs* different strokes for different folks. Personally from 5th I only got my Necron codex and that's it, and when 6th arrived I started collecting every codex because of how amazing I think the books are. To me, everything about the new codeci, codex supplement and campaign supplement like Leviathan are things of beauty,
I have advocated that GW should publish two sets of rules and codexes; the expensive ones with all the production values, and the cheap softbacks that are just rules and no fluff.
They tried this with the 7th edition rules but being GW they got it wrong and split the fluff, pics and rules into three books, then made them into one set that was even more expensive than before.
Personally I am not that fussed about the layout. It always used to be gak in the softback books, but if they are cheap enough you forgive it.
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Post by: adamsouza
As long as the softcovers are at least $10 US cheaper, I'll be happy.
We used to pay $30 for black and white codexes, $40 for a color codex, I'll buy online for $32 doesn't sound too bad to me.
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Post by: H.B.M.C.
Colour isn't a good excuse either. I've got equivalent books - even bigger books - that are in full colour and with better production quality that didn't cost as much as current GW Codices.
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Post by: insaniak
H.B.M.C. wrote:Colour isn't a good excuse either. I've got equivalent books - even bigger books - that are in full colour and with better production quality that didn't cost as much as current GW Codices.
I didn't say it was a good reason...
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Post by: Denkstrum
A FLGS just spoke with the rep today reporting that the reprints are coming the 2nd week in Dec. and the reprints will be in hardcover.
No ambiguity about that, when asked directly about it, he stated 'hardcover like the first run'.
I'll be excited as I'm not sure i'll be able to grab the End Times III in time from a local store this week.
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Post by: Ravenous D
If they make the digital cheaper as well it is just a win for group buyers and apple ID sharers.
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Post by: Byte
Sounds good! Hail Roundtree!
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Post by: Verviedi
Nothing is good. This is Gouge Workshop.
What they'll really do is up the price of hardcovers to $80 and make the softcovers $50.
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Post by: adamsouza
The rumor does say softcover reprints start with Shield Of Baal: Leviathan reprints.
Now that I'm thinking about it, this move to soft cover is probably due in large part to GW having to pay more per hardcover book with the smaller print runs reprints would incur.
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Post by: MajorWesJanson
H.B.M.C. wrote:You like the removal of fluff and the inclusion of huge photos rather than original artwork?
I actually don't mind the photos replacing art for the unit entries. I do wish that when they did that, they had replaced the photo model gallery with an art gallery to make up for it though. And the dataslate format could use some fixes (smaller photo, larger segment of fluff), but merging the army list and bestiary entries into one page I think is an improvement.
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Post by: Byte
Verviedi wrote:
Nothing is good. This is Gouge Workshop.
What they'll really do is up the price of hardcovers to $80 and make the softcovers $50.
Negative much?
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Post by: Pacific
I agree, it's not like GW have ever switched to a cheaper material/method but then raised prices at the same time, now is it?!
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Post by: Warhams-77
Who would have thought this actually happens. A Tomb Kings softcover Army book was spotted in a UK store:
Price is GPB 22.50 - instead of 27.50 - 30.00 for the hardcover books
Source: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?403456-Tomb-Kings-Army-Book-No-Longer-Available&p=7359195#post7359195
Sorry for threadomancy but this is the original rumor
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Post by: Azreal13
If true (I'm not counting the word "Photo" as proof, Warhams!) then bravo!
This is about right, a round £20 would have been nice, £15 would have been perfect, but taking into account that it's GW then if this is a sign of things to come, then it's a resounding thumbs up from me.
Edit
Pic now showing. So - yay!
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Post by: Warhams-77
Added the pic
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Post by: Accolade
Well this is quite interesting. I can't imagine why GW would be producing soft-cover Fantasy army books if the rumors about the future of WHFB are to be trusted.
I must say, I am perplexed!
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Post by: Warhams-77
Softcover makes sense when you print small numbers. Can mean anything
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Post by: Accolade
This is true. Well, I guess there's not much to do now but sit back and wait...
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Post by: NAVARRO
Bizarre, do not get the point of releasing softbacks for WFB when next edition is around the corner 
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Post by: the_Armyman
Just because a new edition may or may not be coming out, doesn't mean that the majority of your customers are aware of this fact. When they walk into your store, they want to be able to buy what they want for their army and you want to be able to sell it to them. Simple as that. As mentioned, doing small print runs of softcovers is cheaper than hardbacks.
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Post by: Accolade
 the_Armyman wrote: Just because a new edition may or may not be coming out, doesn't mean that the majority of your customers are aware of this fact. When they walk into your store, they want to be able to buy what they want for their army and you want to be able to sell it to them. Simple as that. As mentioned, doing small print runs of softcovers is cheaper than hardbacks.
Plus this style is waaaaaaay better at promoting customer loyalty. Gotta break 'em down and then build them back up with boxes of SM tactical squads (In fact, maybe the rumored Fantasy Space Marines really are just Space Marines mounted on round bases.)
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Post by: NAVARRO
the_Armyman wrote:
Just because a new edition may or may not be coming out, doesn't mean that the majority of your customers are aware of this fact. When they walk into your store, they want to be able to buy what they want for their army and you want to be able to sell it to them. Simple as that. As mentioned, doing small print runs of softcovers is cheaper than hardbacks.
But if they want to milk the uninformed customer why not sell the hardbacks that they already have? its not like they are selling like crazy and are out of stock and need a quick run of softbacks, right?
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Post by: Shas'O Dorian
Honestly I like my hardcovers but I totally understand the shift & how it's beneficial. I just have the extra disposable income at this point in my life to spring for HC if I want it so I hope they do a HC release provided it's not the "limited edition, extra $100 please!' crap tht nets you a paper certificate & some art prints.
Plus just because 9th is around the corner doesn't mean they'll be getting rid of TK immediately. They will likely keep all old books playable until they print new ones (combined)
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Post by: the_Armyman
 NAVARRO wrote: the_Armyman wrote:
Just because a new edition may or may not be coming out, doesn't mean that the majority of your customers are aware of this fact. When they walk into your store, they want to be able to buy what they want for their army and you want to be able to sell it to them. Simple as that. As mentioned, doing small print runs of softcovers is cheaper than hardbacks.
But if they want to milk the uninformed customer why not sell the hardbacks that they already have? its not like they are selling like crazy and are out of stock and need a quick run of softbacks, right?
How do you know that they still have Tomb Kings hard covers? If they know a new edition is coming, then they surely have been very careful about printing unnecessary runs of rulebooks for Fantasy. Here's how I see it:
1. Out of stock on hard covers.
2. Print another small run, but soft covers.
3. Soft covers are cheaper to produce, cheaper to ship.
4. Lower the retail price just enough so that you're still making the same margin, but your production costs and shipping costs are now lower.
5. Profit! Literally.
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Post by: Warhams-77
Someone with a good understanding of spanish can probably explain better what is going on. But as far as I understand it, Eldar softcover codex books were spotted. Also they are sold in different languages
Source: http://descansodelescriba.blogspot.de/2015/01/codex-y-libros-de-ejercito-en-tapas.html
Regarding the price, different countries in Europe have different EUR prices. With 33 in Spain this looks to be similiar priced as the Vampire Counts SC re-releases
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Post by: adamsouza
Nice catch !!
It seems like it's only a matter time then before we see the others follow
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Post by: the_Armyman
€33 comes to about $37.50. So, about 25% off the HC price. $30-$35 would have been more reasonable to my mind, seeing as they've already paid for the development costs and these are coming out significantly later than the HC versions. Still, I might consider buying one or two at that price point.
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Post by: Phydox
I'd be glad to see a change to soft cover. They come out with new codices so often, a hard cover book is almost overkill.
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Post by: adamsouza
the_Armyman wrote:€33 comes to about $37.50. So, about 25% off the HC price. $30-$35 would have been more reasonable to my mind, seeing as they've already paid for the development costs and these are coming out significantly later than the HC versions. Still, I might consider buying one or two at that price point.
Buy it from a 3rd party retailer for 20% off and that $37.50 becomes a more reasonable $30
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Post by: Herzlos
This might seriously get me buying books again, which might even get me playing. £22.50 isn't much more than I paid for the last lot, which I can probably get down to about £18 for a discounter, which makes it nearly comparable with Bolt Action.
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Post by: Warhams-77
An Update
I don't know what's happening at GW but the quite recent Craftworlds Eldar Codex - the english one specificially - was replaced with a slightly cheaper (46 EUR -> 39 EUR) softcover book. Just saw this today on the UK and german webshop:
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Codex-Craftrworlds-ENG-IHP
http://www.games-workshop.com/de-DE/Codex-Craftrworlds-ENG-IHP
That's a bummer. 6 month hardcovers and then softcover books?
I got the Waaagh Ghazghkull supplement in softcover two months ago and the quality is low. The pages and cover are made of cheap paper, easy to damage during transport. The book came already damaged out of the parcel from GW... The photo quality is also lacking... I'm not going to buy more of these reprinted Codex books.
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Post by: Kilkrazy
39 Euros is about £25. Codexes used to average £15 before 6th edition ushered in the era of £30 hardbacks and rapidly declining sales.
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