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I'm unsure if I have the experience to comment on such a topic, in regards to havng held little faith in rumours before, but Im gonna chuck my two pennies in here and see.

Initial response? 'fething. Ace." (Some beastly sarcasm there for those that can't tell)

Then thought it through a bit. With this new combination of customer alienation and price-jacking, GW has put itself in the 'grenades only' bowling alley with a fat smile on its face... and I'm relatively glad. It's going to be a wake-up call of epic proportionality when it hits them in the balls that;

A, their target market is struggling to cop with the current economic situation and therefore can't spend out of the butthole anymore.
B, customers really don't like to be shat on... especially from such a great height. Don't know about you but I'd be livid if I tried to tell someone they were screwing me over and all I got was "LALALALALAIMNOTLISTENINGEVERYTHINGISFINE"...Dick.
C, half the hype of new models came from Incoming and such, me and Scareynerd have been waiting for the Necron/Sister emails to embrace us with open arms for months... apparently no such luck now.

I realise I'm complaining more on the to-be increase in price in June, but my point stays. Whatever they do, you can almost garuntee the outcome. Sale. Will. Drop. like BOULDERS. Hopefully by this point thumbs will be removed from ass crevices and GW will realise that their course of action is reminiscent of suicide.

Rant over.

Again, I don't disagree, but once again, I don't see how this change in their policy will do anything about that.

Its not the best way to do it; but it means that theres literally nothing the other companies can do to copy or predict what is coming out. This allows them more purchases right as the range starts; rather than the money that would be lost to other companies.

The compromise I could see would be an email with no pictures. This would reduce the blatantness of copies at least.

No non-GW Dark Eldar model in sight to my knowledge, no need for it.
No non-GW Grey Knight model in sight except one or two possible Dreadknight alternatives (needed).

Management are just screwing the positive wave, that the dream team Jes/Phil created with the well thought out Dark Eldar release, developing existing concepts respectfully to a higher level (in contrast to the Grey Knight Codex, leaving all designs the same and screwing the background unrespectfully).
Point is that even random management decisions would be more successful than the current anti-marketing, which seems to be spot on if your aim is to decrease sales and customer numbers.

It all comes down to how horrible a market miniature wargaming is really and the economic climate. The videogames market frankly is doing better due to the much better way it can be run. (though, similarly, piracy is still a big trouble). Its also done better through better use of Law to govern it; you really don't have to worry as much about blatant copies there. Which frees up money.

The grey knights release annoys me greatly; at the level of WAAAAAH!!!-ing. I agree; the background was ******; but at least the army was playable for once in recent times. The grey knights designs didn't need to be changed at all; they look fantastic as it is.

Mr Hyena wrote:
Its not the best way to do it; but it means that theres literally nothing the other companies can do to copy or predict what is coming out. This allows them more purchases right as the range starts; rather than the money that would be lost to other companies.

The compromise I could see would be an email with no pictures. This would reduce the blatantness of copies at least.

This only matters however if absolutley *no* rumors get out, and we often get them weeks or months in advance of any leaks/announcements, etc. Additionally, it also only matters if GW bothers to get out kits of their own. There is no Mycetic Spore, or Tervigon kit. Other companies had them out in a couple of weeks. A year and a half later, GW still doesn't have an offering. We're talking a gap of maybe a couple weeks between when 3rd parties can start coming out with stuff at best, and that's highly dependent on the demand elasticity of models in question as well.

Most of the 3rd party stuff has honestly been for stuff that GW just doesn't make. Tyranid Warrior Lash Whips and Boneswords, Tyrannid Tervigons and Mycetic Spores, Chapter specific weapons and wargear, and Heresy era shoulderpads and heads, etc.

You don't see a 3rd party dreadknight and never saw a 3rd party Stormraven, even with the leak weeks in advance.

I dunno why smaller companies don't just offer to settle a deal and make the stuff for GW (with a fair cut of each sale going to GW).

Solves the whole problem with less of the headaches for the playerbase.

This is stupid both the reasons mentioned and for one which GW thought they might get to avoid: sniping.

Will this stop the rumors of new codices coming down the line? Probably not. Will basement minis companies start making very good looking models that can stand in for said rumored codex? Remains to be seen. Would such stand ins cut into GW's market a bit? If they got the word out fast enough with a better looking and cheaper product than GW, I don't see why not.

They would lack FLGS visibility but forums like this tend to make up for that. Go Go Gadget Globalization.

It seems to me that this is more an attempt cut out the resale market and to keep people from going to Ebay, Warstore, Maelstorm, etc. in the weeks leading up to a new release and buying up the models that they would need for the new upcoming armies.

This was essentially confirmed at my local GW today. I was told what we would know what we need to know when we need to know it, and that complaining on the internet was bad for the hobby (store manager's exact words).

Did that store manage have a chip on the back of his kneck, or perhaps a slot where the key goes into wind him up?

The apologists bleating away here about how all of this is 'good' is bad enough, but the sycophants they hire to man their stores are ten times worse...

sharkticon wrote:This was essentially confirmed at my local GW today. I was told what we would know what we need to know when we need to know it, and that complaining on the internet was bad for the hobby (store manager's exact words).

Ah, so GW told us to shut up and stop whining. That is nice of them.

ph34r wrote:

sharkticon wrote:This was essentially confirmed at my local GW today. I was told what we would know what we need to know when we need to know it, and that complaining on the internet was bad for the hobby (store manager's exact words).

Ah, so GW told us to shut up and stop whining. That is nice of them.

Another gem from the same magager, "Your guy's whining scares off new players. Who wants to start when they read what you guys have to say. If you want to improve the hobby, focus on cool fun hobby stuff!"

He's going a bit far. But to some degree he is correct. After what happened with the Grey Knights release I've largely lost faith in TT games, their companies and especially its gamers.

Mr Hyena wrote:I dunno why smaller companies don't just offer to settle a deal and make the stuff for GW (with a fair cut of each sale going to GW).

Solves the whole problem with less of the headaches for the playerbase.

I dont know why pretty much sums up your entire argument. Yes, you dont know anything. Go educate yourself in the chapterhouse thread. You might actually learn something.

I read it. Its just people trying to dance around the issue of the table top gaming communities equivalent of Piracy. (Or did GW give Chapterhouse the rights to make a GW "Eldar Farseer"? I think not.)

Mr Hyena wrote:I read it. Its just people trying to dance around the issue of the table top gaming communities equivalent of Piracy. (Or did GW give Chapterhouse the rights to make a GW "Eldar Farseer"? I think not.)

Your ignorance continues to shine through. No its not the equivilant of piracy. Add on parts are quite legal in the US. Powerhouse legal firms signed on. Much of GW's IP can be traced to other sources.

But hey, you have an opinion. And you know what they say about opinions.

Your argument just dissolved when they made a whole model. So yeah. Thats not an 'add-on' part in the slightest.

And it shows pretty much why they are blanketing any updates to new products.

sharkticon wrote:

ph34r wrote:

sharkticon wrote:This was essentially confirmed at my local GW today. I was told what we would know what we need to know when we need to know it, and that complaining on the internet was bad for the hobby (store manager's exact words).

Ah, so GW told us to shut up and stop whining. That is nice of them.

Another gem from the same magager, "Your guy's whining scares off new players. Who wants to start when they read what you guys have to say. If you want to improve the hobby, focus on cool fun hobby stuff!"

Id tell that manager to suck a fat bag of !
This entire plan is dumb. They really are decided to not advertise new products because they think it will make people build anticipation and explode their wallets all over GW's faces ( ) when they do see what it is the week before its release date. This thread just makes me all the happier I have fully built Mech Guard.

There is a side benefit to GW going dark on their announcements and updates... it will allow people to focus on an existing army without being distracted or lured away by shiny new incoming armies. No news=no distractions.

Kirasu wrote:GW shows all the symptoms of a paranoid schizophrenic

I can see Kirby now, saving jars of tinkle and finger nail clippings in his office.

If I had the scratch, I'd buy enough stock to gain a significant percentage of the company, and then use the leverage to force him to wise up.

Either GW are in a pissy mood this week or their going down the drain in money wise, first the rise of prices and now this, whats the point on doing this, theirs no ligit reason to do this, now we won't know what's coming out or to collect in advance

JoeyHeadwounds wrote:There is a side benefit to GW going dark on their announcements and updates... it will allow people to focus on an existing army without being distracted or lured away by shiny new incoming armies. No news=no distractions.

Are you trying to convince us of this, or yourself?

No news = No anticipation.
No news = No buzz.
No news = No word of mouth.
No news = Bad market strategy.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

JoeyHeadwounds wrote:There is a side benefit to GW going dark on their announcements and updates... it will allow people to focus on an existing army without being distracted or lured away by shiny new incoming armies. No news=no distractions.

Are you trying to convince us of this, or yourself?

No news = No anticipation.
No news = No buzz.
No news = No word of mouth.
No news = Bad market strategy.

My previous comment was a bit of "look on the bright side", so I was just trying to lighten things up a bit. And I fully understand what you're saying about it being a bad market strategy.

I sincerely hope that GWs actions this week come back to bite them hard... in places that are best left un-bitten.

maybe they're living by the old addage of:

No news = Good News.

I shall term this marketing strategy as Ostridge marketing.

Seriphis wrote:maybe they're living by the old addage of:

No news = Good News.

LOL!

That's the first time I have genuinely laughed out loud at something here since this recent GW bs started. Well done Seriphis.

Seriphis wrote:I shall term this marketing strategy as Ostridge marketing.

I like that. Best description I've heard yet (aside from "insane" and "stupid").

So let me get this straight....

Right now - I hear about new model releases, like the DE Razorwings, new Taloi/Cronos, Scourges, and I am able to save up and buy them.

In the future - I hear nothing about any new models. A new model shows up on the shelf. I haven't saved anything up for them, and probably won't buy them for months, and not as many as if I DID save up for them?

Dick move GW. Way to shut your ad campaign of word of mouth.

sharkticon wrote:This was essentially confirmed at my local GW today. I was told what we would know what we need to know when we need to know it, and that complaining on the internet was bad for the hobby (store manager's exact words).

And from now on, there are some stricter rules in GW stores:

1.) Customers only speak when addressed by the staff.
2.) If they are allowed to speak, every sentence has to begin and end with "Sir" as seem fit when addressing a superior.

BTW never again call the 40k Imperium of Man a grimdark dystopia, but a shining example of how a state should be run.

Mr Hyena wrote:It all comes down to how horrible a market miniature wargaming is really and the economic climate. The videogames market frankly is doing better due to the much better way it can be run. (though, similarly, piracy is still a big trouble). Its also done better through better use of Law to govern it; you really don't have to worry as much about blatant copies there. Which frees up money.

The grey knights release annoys me greatly; at the level of WAAAAAH!!!-ing. I agree; the background was ******; but at least the army was playable for once in recent times. The grey knights designs didn't need to be changed at all; they look fantastic as it is.

Okay, you keep going on and on about so-called 'copies'. What legal copies of GW's models exist? What legal reproductions of GW's works are out there? Also, even if you are using that term to mean third-party models that are not copies or reproductions but instead derivative works of GW's models and/or concepts (as I suspect that you are) what proof do you have to offer that the scant early release info that GW has provided us all in the past has lead to those third-party model makers getting a head start on their productions? I can not remember one third-party manufacturer producing something in a month or so of a release date meant to fill a hole left by GW in a new codex or army book. If I have missed one, or a direct statement by a third-party model producer proving their motivation, then I would like to see it.

You know, maybe this hair brained release marketing it to get more face time on TTGN especially after Zac blasted them not long ago in a editorial piece.

sharkticon wrote:I was told what we would know what we need to know when we need to know it, and that complaining on the internet was bad for the hobby (store manager's exact words).

lol, you had me going there for a minute. As if GW would have any fething clue as to what's good or bad for "the hobby"...

H.B.M.C. wrote:

JoeyHeadwounds wrote:There is a side benefit to GW going dark on their announcements and updates... it will allow people to focus on an existing army without being distracted or lured away by shiny new incoming armies. No news=no distractions.

Are you trying to convince us of this, or yourself?

No news = No anticipation.
No news = No buzz.
No news = No word of mouth.
No news = Bad market strategy.

The third one is especially bad, considering GW themselves have said time and again that word of mouth is how they advertise. Makes the whole "no news whatsoever" thing seem all the more stupid.