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News from the blueshirts that I know is that GW have almost payed off their huge debts; considering when I started the hobby again last year that they weren't expecting to pay it off for another 5/10 years is damn suprising and shows how a "cheap luxury" company can thrive in a bad economic climate.
I'm sure people will say that it shows how much profit they make, but tbh I don't care; the thing on my mind is that if they pay off their debts they can vastly increase the amount spent on product development, which means more models, better sculpts and a better hobby overall. Just by looking at the new SW and Skaven models I can see that the company obviously feels positive about the future of the hobby.

Hmm Business doesnt quite work that way.

Have a look at the Investors pages on the GW site, looking at accounts and reports.

The FX moves in the last few years have hugely benefited GW.. that is where most if not all the debt repayment has come from.

rich1231 wrote:Hmm Business doesnt quite work that way.

Have a look at the Investors pages on the GW site, looking at accounts and reports.

The FX moves in the last few years have hugely benefited GW.. that is where most if not all the debt repayment has come from.

Which point are you contesting?
But you have to admit, that GW will put more into product design during "Good Times" so that they have the quality product and don't have to carry on with high volume product design in "Bad Times". It is accepted that the design of a product and production of the master moulds is one of the major costs that GW have to face, that and shop overheads which are unavoidable.
Low cost luxuries are also known to do well in poor economic climates when people still want to treat themselves, but cannot afford the more expensive luxury items.

I would read the audited annual report to get the full story.

A lot of GW's success in the past year has been due to the weakness of the GBP.

While the UK is still the largest single market, the value of the Euro and USD markets combined is a large proportion of the company's turnover.

I'm sure they'll raise the prices to celebrate.

H.B.M.C. wrote:I'm sure they'll raise the prices to celebrate.

GW would never do something like that to its customer base. They're far to considerate to their loyal following.

Almost all of the re-payment of their debt has come from the royalties from EA and THQ, not from "profit" from the sales of miniatures.

If the lesson that GW takes away from this is that quality video games in their IP will bring them profit even though crap like FireWarrior didn't, I think that's still a good thing for us.

Deadshane1 wrote:GW would never do something like that to its customer base. They're far to considerate to their loyal following.

Deadshane speaks the truth, ignore that malcontent HBMC.

It's good that they are out of debt, it's never a good thing for a company to be in. Say what you want about pricing and quality, but I'm surprised there isn't generally more people happy about the financial situation of a (once dying) company whose product fans this forum exists to cater too.

TBH love for GW kinda depends if you're an SM player or not.

The rest of us have to wait years for sometimes minor codex updates.

If GW went bust tomorrow the world would keep turning.

Grim.Badger wrote:News from the blueshirts that I know is that GW have almost payed off their huge debts;

So should we take this to mean that the price increases will end?

Ha ha ha ha ha!

With the rumors of a 40k MMO and this new 40k movie hopefully things will get even better.

As long as they don't get some kind of marketing fluff down to expand it to wider markets (ie Ewoks, or Jar Jar Binks).

ShumaGorath wrote:It's good that they are out of debt, it's never a good thing for a company to be in. Say what you want about pricing and quality, but I'm surprised there isn't generally more people happy about the financial situation of a (once dying) company whose product fans this forum exists to cater too.

People debt and company debt are two completely different types of debt.

Company debt: Company takes out $100 million bank loan and invests it into a project that nets the company $7 mill every year.
Person debt: Guy takes out $100 million bank loan and buys a house. Loan + interest decreases his take home pay by $7 million every year.

As long as a company is investing the money in a profitable manor they can have all the debt in the world for all I care because at the end of the day they have more money then they did the day before.
Companies that don't have any debt tend to not be growing. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing it just means that they are static for the time being.

Now GW's case is different. They are making money by selling their IP rights. What their plan is is to use the IP money to take away their debt vs spending it to expand their mini lines. This will increase their stock price and they will probably release more stock to make some free money to further invest into their mini lines. Since you do not have to pay back money gained from selling stock then they have debt free project money. GW will probably finance a % of their next major push from stock money and a % from debt money and the remainder from cash. This is how most companies work.
Why not just sell stock? Because stock is literally the ownership of the company. Sell to much and GW can louse ownership of GW. Also, gakky stock doesn't sell well.

Grim.Badger wrote:News from the blueshirts that I know is...

filtered from the powers that be in their main office. Blueshirts know *precisely* nothing they're not told. Audited annual reports, or it didn't happen.

deitpike wrote:Almost all of the re-payment of their debt has come from the royalties from EA and THQ, not from "profit" from the sales of miniatures.

I don't know if it is true or not but someone once told me Marvel comics loses money but Marvel movies makes alot of money. I know that game companies sell consoles cheap to reap profit on game royalties.

I also heard that 40k is the greatest IP ever. I think it must be oin the top 5 and could be highly marketable. Maybe GW execs are learning to tap it. It won't make things cheaper for us but it could help us overall.

WC_Brian wrote:

deitpike wrote:Almost all of the re-payment of their debt has come from the royalties from EA and THQ, not from "profit" from the sales of miniatures.

I don't know if it is true or not but someone once told me Marvel comics loses money but Marvel movies makes alot of money. I know that game companies sell consoles cheap to reap profit on game royalties.

I also heard that 40k is the greatest IP ever. I think it must be oin the top 5 and could be highly marketable. Maybe GW execs are learning to tap it. It won't make things cheaper for us but it could help us overall.

Well, Marvel got sold to Disney, so it coulnd't have been that great.

H.B.M.C. wrote:I'm sure they'll raise the prices to celebrate.

And if it means you stop playing and therefore posting, I will be celebrating as well.

JohnHwangDD wrote:

Grim.Badger wrote:News from the blueshirts that I know is that GW have almost payed off their huge debts;

So should we take this to mean that the price increases will end?

Paying off your debts does not somehow make you immune to inflation.

Can I get some economics 101 in these threads people?

sigh, whats with all the whinning? constant, like "bla bla bla gw are so bad" errr go game somewhere else then?
:S

Because people have nothing better to do.

Wait until you have been posting longer you will realize it for yourself. 90% of posts on forums are made because people think other people will give a crap about what they have to say when the opposite is true.

And then you have the "Dakka Queens" which post all the time but only to cause drama (ex. my last post)

JonnyDelta wrote:With the rumors of a 40k MMO and this new 40k movie hopefully things will get even better.

As long as they don't get some kind of marketing fluff down to expand it to wider markets (ie Ewoks, or Jar Jar Binks).

Was the 40k MMO mentioned at all recently? Last I heard on it was months and months ago; I'm hoping it wasn't canceled...

Hopefully being almost out of debt will put a temporary stop to price hiking (haha, who am I kidding). Still, this may free up some more resources for the company, and possibly faster flow of new models in the future.

GW will continue to hike prices until they see a genuine drop in sales which can be ascribed to overpricing the product.

ATM the vets keep buying and the newbs don't know how quickly prices have gone up.

GW will continue to influence sales by means of writing rules to sell kits (e.g. Apoc = Baneblade, 5e = more troops.)

Who says noobs care how quickly prices have gone up?

YAY go GW.....hope they make MAJOR profits with the new movie....seriously guys stop whining, think about all the scenery at ur local GW and all the advice you're given by the guys there. Think about their awesome website, and the community they've made. They rock

PanamaG wrote:Who says noobs care how quickly prices have gone up?

No-one.

Well, good for them to be out of debt.

But, I sincerely hope that they actually bring prices DOWN for a change.

I remember when Codexes were only $20 and Land Raiders were $45...

Ah yes. The old price debate. A few facts for people to consider.

1. Being a PLC, GW has an obligation to it's shareholders to maximise profits. This comes in the medium of price rises.

2. Prices go up, but army cost doesn't necessarily follow. Compare and contrast potential army builds using the latest plastic kits, and their metal predecessors to see what I mean. And if you cannot be arsed...once upon a time, metal Chaos Warriors, £2.50 each. Now, you get 12 for £18, or £1.50 each.

3. Run the numbers, and you will see that in order for a price drop to work, the percentage of extra sales has to far, far outstrip the percentage of price cut.

Kilkrazy wrote:TBH love for GW kinda depends if you're an SM player or not.

The rest of us have to wait years for sometimes minor codex updates.

If GW went bust tomorrow the world would keep turning.

Much as it hurts me to say this......if GW did go bust tomorrow, it would leave a gaping void, and it would seriously damage the hobby!

I don't say this because I think GW is the best product out there! However, WH40K and the rest of the products are the best MARKETED wargames currently availible. If they vanished, alot of people who currently only know GW items would be left in a void.

None of the other contenders are in a position to take the reins just yet, not even the likes of PP could fill the void, imagine all the hobby shops closing over night......

Like them or loathe them, we need them in the short to medium term!

PanamaG wrote:Because people have nothing better to do.

Wait until you have been posting longer you will realize it for yourself. 90% of posts on forums are made because people think other people will give a crap about what they have to say when the opposite is true.

And then you have the "Dakka Queens" which post all the time but only to cause drama (ex. my last post)

Irony.