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GW's formal announcement regarding the 2010 single North American Games Day event in Baltimore, Maryland is now online here. The date is August 21. Tickets go on sale this month.

Here's a copy of the text:

Community and Events Games Day Gamesday 2010 Announcement 11/02 Gamesday 2010 Announcement

Over the last few years Games Workshop has endeavored to be more attentive to the needs and suggestions of you the individual hobbyist as well as the hobby community as a whole. Despite reports to the contrary, we do hear you, although we may not be able to react as quickly as many would like. We are always striving to put forth a better quality product, event or tournament and your input has driven many of these changes.

In the past we have had as many as five Games Days taking place over a calendar year across the continent and have scaled back since then to down to three. This was done to consolidate resources in an attempt to put forth an event that was "Epic" in scope and truly the culmination of the hobby experience in North America.

We have received input from hobbyists, clubs, and attending parents as well as from many parts of our own business on things that need to change or improve to make your Games Day experience a truly memorable one.

To achieve this goal we are redesigning the template for the Games Day experience and while we are keeping the time honored traditional bits that work as they are, we will be improving and updating many areas as well as adding new and exciting features. We have also made the difficult decision to only have one Games Day in 2010, which will be held in Baltimore on August 21, allowing us to focus our energy into one amazing event.

So please come and join us in Baltimore, Maryland on August 21st for North America's GAMES DAY 2010! Keep visiting the website for updates on events, guests, and how you can make a difference in your hobby!

Make sure you bring your armies with you to the most interactive GAMESDAY ever!

Tickets will be available online only starting November 27th 2009 for $25! We are limiting the number of tickets this year and they WILL NOT be available at the door so get yours NOW!

BrassScorpion wrote:Here's a copy of the text:

Despite reports to the contrary, we do hear you, although we may not be able to react as quickly as many would like.

In the past we have had as many as five Games Days taking place over a calendar year across the continent and have scaled back since then to down to three. This was done to consolidate resources in an attempt to put forth an event that was "Epic" in scope and truly the culmination of the hobby experience in North America.

Tickets will be available online only starting November 27th 2009 for $25! We are limiting the number of tickets this year and they WILL NOT be available at the door so get yours NOW!

crap, they're listening! so let me get this straight, the three events this year were more "epic" in scope?? that's not what people reported IIRC. also, are they seriously saying that they'll refuse your money at the door if the event doesn't sell out? that's about as honest as the "it's not space hulk" space hulk prerelease press blurbs.

lol selling an event that is in August... right now?

Awesome... *sarcasm*

whos going to commit a 25$ long investment and wait and see if GW says they are going to do something WOW filled.

Let me RSVP a big fat NO thanks. GW can take GD and shove it!

And the best part is guys, that means absolutely NO rumors and NO previews until next August! And then - come August, we only get a preview of items between September and October!

This is going to fething rule! We will all HAVE to buy White Dwarf to know what's coming out next month!

Despite reports to the contrary, we do hear you

lolz

We are always striving to put forth a better quality product, event or tournament and your input has driven many of these changes.

Yeah, because we all wanted bs price increases on an already expensive product, right guys?

I like that, "striving"...striving to feth me over, maybe.

Well, they sure talk a big game, but seeing as how they decided to put this thing all the way on the east coast and I'll have to buy a fething plane ticket to get there, no thanks. Especially after all the cost-cutting measures and their new "Don't tell them gak" policy made the last ones suck ass. If you do end up going though, make sure to tell the rest of us how it went...

Oh come now... this makes perfect sense considering that North America is only a paltry, inconsequential 9450000 square miles (24490000 square kilometers) in size.

Europe on the other hand is enormous, at 3837000 square miles (9938000 square kilometers)! For those of you who are bad at math, that's a whole 0.4x BIGGER!
With this kind of irrefutable logic, it is only common sense that Europe should get 4x as many Games Days!

OK, let me get this straight :

1) GW blames the fans for this move;

2) Tries to convince us they are so altruistic as to do this FOR us;

3) Tries to sell us tickets insanely early based on hype and a salesman's promise alone:

4) And restricts tickets to online sales only, and in limited quantities with none sold at the door.

WTF ??!!!! What GW brain child manager's synapses fire and tell him this is all good ??!!!!

GW sure knows how to cultivate the goodwill of their fans !! And this as they crush another fan site (see other thread).

Sorry for the rant. I'm just an old Beardy Git that remembers what GW used to be like before it was run by a bunch of moronic business "experts" that always seem to take the wrong path with every venture.

Edited for poor spelling induced by nerd rage

So they've consolidated five gamesday's into one, but it's still just a single day? Must not have been much substance if they can fit all that in a single 10am-6pm day.

Wow you guys really are a bit of a buzzkill aren't you.

Frazzled wrote:Wow you guys really are a bit of a buzzkill aren't you.

I noticed that too. That's a vociferous negative reaction.

As others have posted in earlier threads on this topic, myself included, Games Day was much better when there was only one in the US and when there was only one it was always in Baltimore. The GW US HQ, at least for the time being, is still in Baltimore, so of course Games Day is still there. Population density, logistical support, and long-term customer base are all well established in the Mid-Atlantic area near the HQ.

I used to run into people from all over the country at the single Games Day event years ago and the place was so packed with people you could barely move. The resources for Games Day Baltimore really got diluted when GW started having events all over the continent and attendance at Baltimore Games Day dropped off as people from other parts of the country went to the other, closer events. If going back to a single event means it will be restored to the level of spectacle and attendance it used to attain, then those who are able to attend will be most appreciative of the fact that there's one great event instead of three to five mediocre ones.

Oops wrong thread but my post could be for both heh

It is very early to be selling tickets, but they're thinking that by reducing the number
of Games Days they're going to have to manage numbers even this early on.

And if not, well, maybe their contract allows them to cancel x months at a minimal loss
or something (I don't really know how this works).

Years ago when there was a single US Games Day tickets were sold in the winter before the event, about 3 to 5 months in advance, not 9 months in advance. And tickets were always sold at the door as well to the best of my recollection, at least till they sold out. The hall was always packed to capacity, It was crowded and hot, but the excitement, spectacle and fun were worth it.

Frazzled wrote:Wow you guys really are a bit of a buzzkill aren't you.

I agree. While on one front i'm all about hateraiding on GW facts are still facts. I love the hobby, I'm truely grateful there are people like the Indi GT organizers who do wonderful events on their spare time and their dime. I'm thankful GW has decided to do something, thankfully at least 1 Gamesday on the year of 2010. Granted, i'm not buying a ticket that far in advance based on their flip-flopping on things lately, but $25 isn't to much to deposit as the date closes in.

I loved my Gamesday experiences from past. I loved back in the days of the 40K i loved, playing in the tournment, playing 3 guys I probably never would have met. at a WFB tournment where i placed 3rd, I played 2 guys I'll probably never get to again, and met a guy whose a wonderful gamer that i've run into at severaly other events (Lee- truly happy you did well at Necro!). In this economy, true hobbyiest cut back, we tighten the belts, and bitch and whine. So the result is GW has to cut back to, this is their version of bitch and whining. This is gamers opportunity to man up, and do something ourselves.

-help your fellow Indi GT runner finance event, offer prize support, ask if there's anything you can do.
-volunteer to help the guys here at dakka, write a article on tactics
-organize your own tournment! make the entry cost low $10, 4 games!
-focus on painting instead of expanding your armies
-strive to bring 1 gamer into the game, or encourage another gamer to get involved
-if 5 out of 10 of use did any of these, we'd have more quality events for us all to enjoy.

First, they took away the Games Day tournaments.
Then they took away the GTs.
Now they've taken the Games Days.

I don't think it's too extreme to call the people making these decisions a bunch of cross-dressing chicken-fethers.

Considering that GW events seemed to have a lot to be desired especially in recent years; I understand GW's move here.

I hope for they make an excellent event; GW has a lot to learn from Blizzard and their BlizzCon. Sure they won't charge as much but Blizz knows how to make conventions worthwhile.

Cane wrote:I hope for they make an excellent event; GW has a lot to learn from Blizzard and their BlizzCon. Sure they won't charge as much but Blizz knows how to make conventions worthwhile.

Am I the only one that thinks it's funny that Blizzard has made a living by taking GW fluff slightly modifying it and then establishing a hardcore fan base that they actually listen to, tell things to, and do conventions for that make Games Day look like a roadside carnival.

And yet strangely I'm still a hardcore GW fanatic....go figure.

Church1313 wrote:

Cane wrote:I hope for they make an excellent event; GW has a lot to learn from Blizzard and their BlizzCon. Sure they won't charge as much but Blizz knows how to make conventions worthwhile.

Am I the only one that thinks it's funny that Blizzard has made a living by taking GW fluff slightly modifying it and then establishing a hardcore fan base that they actually listen to, tell things to, and do conventions for that make Games Day look like a roadside carnival.

And yet strangely I'm still a hardcore GW fanatic....go figure.

The 40k fluff and artwork is filled Sado-masochistic tendencies. You're in good company

I still buy the stuff, I just don't play the game. Currently. I have armies in case that ever changes.

I don't know why you people are complaining about the lack of GD tourney's.
I mean, the GW games weren't created with tournaments in mind. they've said so themselves.

Sheesh, people.
Be glad you even get ONE tourney.


[/sarcasm]


Eric

With how crappy the LA Games Day got by the end (I didn't even bother to go to the last one), I'm not surprised that they're back to just one Games Day in Baltimore. I'll probably never go, but if I did, I'd want it to be the grand event it once was.

And seriously, bitching over selling the tickets early?!

Preselling tickets for an event without any event details makes the purchasing decision a little blind.

I don't think the tickets early thing is an issue as much as not selling them at the door. I know in the past I made my Gencon and Chicago Games Day decisions last minute and did not have time to buy in advance.(My Job rarely allows me to do such things way in advance anyway).

Redbeard wrote:First, they took away the Games Day tournaments.
Then they took away the GTs.
Now they've taken the Games Days.

I don't think it's too extreme to call the people making these decisions a bunch of cross-dressing chicken-fethers.

No, I also don't think this is too extreme.

Such an amazing amount of negativity and acidic bile.)

I've seen some of the plans for games day this year. Much, much better than in years before. Very much looking forward to it.
I'll leave you all to your hatefest, and get back to work on a very large set of tracks I'm cutting out of an 8' chunk of plywood....

I don't think this thread is too nay-saying in the least. Everyone is reacting to GW's pathetic excuse for Games Days this year - at every event, even the German GD that had the big 'not Spacehulk' not-annoucement.

For Games Days to be worth it, at the least, they'd have to:

1) actually hold a decent 'upcoming releases' seminar - not the same packaged dung that's been seen for months online prior
2) actually hold a decent 'state of the game' seminar
3) sell bitz by the ounce again - oh wait, they gutted the bitz service
4) have sneak preview copies of codexes, or the new release codex on sale at the GD, early, like they used to.
5) have decent preview models on display - and not the 'this is just a test sculpt, and will never see the light of day' sculpts that we've been able to enjoy recently
6) stop the stupid waaaagh calls all day long...

Those would be my minimum requirements, just off the top of my head. And I used to be a regular GD Baltimore attendee, every year, just to browse, but it became completely not worth it.

Oh, and I assume the $25 ticket price does not include the 'free mini' that you'll now have to pay for.

keezus wrote:With this kind of irrefutable logic, it is only common sense that Europe should get 4x as many Games Days!

Well, that's because they can't fit all of the interperators on one stage. Let's be honest, in North America you just need 3 dudes: One speaking what passes for Spanish over here, one speaking what passes for English over here, and a second English speaker pretending to speak French. Europe is up to, what, 257 languages, including Scottish? No way you can do that many presentations in a single Games Day....

If they'd all just learn to speak a proper language, there wouldn't be a problem.


Eric

What?
Yes.
of course, I'm kidding.

Meh. I'll have already spent my lunch money on Cataclysm.

This really really blows for us people on the other side of the country who cant afford to fly to baltimore... get a hotel... fly back... etc etc... Its kind of gak IMO... Didnt get a GD LA last year and I guess we wont be for quite a while... if ever

Cruentus wrote:Oh, and I assume the $25 ticket price does not include the 'free mini' that you'll now have to pay for.

Pretty sure they dropped the Free Miniature thing, and now buying a ticket gives you the option to buy the model instead.

Main reason I go to Gamesday's is to get first in line for the last Megabattle of the day and hope to win one of the things they give away: Going there to game isn't worth it (I can do well enough at my GW), the contests are interesting only if you get there early (TSOALR had a quite accurate comic on the conversion contests and how they change as the day advances), as you mentioned the sneak peaks haven't been quite up-to-par recently, etc. With the final megabattle, I have a - if basically a one-in-a-thousand - chance of winning a decent / valuable model pre-painted. At least, that's how it was the last few years I've gone: Have there been any painted Tyranid Biotitan-scale models given away recently?