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H.B.M.C. wrote:

precinctomega wrote:4. The object of the development process in the Studio is to ensure that new rules “never” invalidate models or armies and that new core rulebooks “try hard” not to invalidate old codexes and army books. There are, Max, admitted, exceptions but these are either accidental or, in their opinion, trivial.

If that's the case, then why...

But if this is true, then...

How come they...


GAH!


No. It's too obvious. Even I can't do this one.

Nice report though.

BYE

Sometimes I think you're too hard on GW, HBMC.

This time I can do nothing but laugh and agree.

Exhalt!

Very cool read, thanks for the write up

gorgon wrote:There's been rumors about more stores in Philly for years now. But all we have is a bunker store located in a demographically-wrong area. Maybe the two excellent Showcase Comics stores are essentially filling the role of the satellite stores for them. Which is fine with me.

Yep, we pretty much do fill some of that role. There will always be things a GW store can do that we can't, (and the opposite is true too), but we give it a good try. About twice a year I head over to one of the GW stores, to steal ideas, and then head to Baltimore for more of the same at HQ. GW puts an awful lot of work into how they run their business. I quite happily will let them do that work and then copy the best parts when I can.)

GW US, and Ernie Baker in particular, have been very good to my stores, and very forthcoming with their plans. They have no intention of putting a GW store near either Showcase location. On several occasions we've talked about the best spots for GW to expand further into the Philly metro.

The biggest hurdle has indeed been managers and staff. It's suicide for them to open a new store without the fully trained people to put into it. And the mutual support from other metro stores can't happen unless they have their staffing needs met as well.

Most businesses have similar problems. You can never have enough well trained staff, whether it's a game shop, factory, or 10th company of the Lunar Wolves.

4. The object of the development process in the Studio is to ensure that new rules “never” invalidate models or armies and that new core rulebooks “try hard” not to invalidate old codexes and army books. There are, Max, admitted, exceptions but these are either accidental or, in their opinion, trivial.

Finally they admit they're bringing back the Squats!

And this time we have it in writing!

Great write-up -- many thanks.

I too am highly cynical about that claim that GW has 94% market share.

GW revenue in 2007 was 111.5 million GBP. By the PWC claim, that values the entire wargames market at a piddling 118.6 M.

Are we expected to believe that all the other companies in the world only earned about 7 million pounds between all of them? Wizards Of The Coast has 300 employees!

But, but , but .... they have a paper from PriceWatterHouse that says so. How can you not belive it?

M.

I would say its more like the 94% is sales of games and figures in their own shops and the other 6% is books, paints etc... Its amazing what a bit of spin can sound like...
Mick

Sorry meant to say- very good report, cheers!
Mick

precinctomega wrote:
Global Stock Management

Anyone working in the UK’s hobby centres will probably already be aware of this. The introduction of an automated stock management system in Games Workshop was well overdue. Essentially, it means that the shop tills track the throughput of stock, identifying those areas that are selling strongly or weakly and adjusting the regular deliveries to ensure that stock levels in stores remain high. This is a major change to the old system in which individual managers were responsible for ordering stock after doing a weekly, manual count of held stock.

The downside to this is that new products are extremely dependent on pre-orders. As an example, when the Apocalypse Reload came out, they guys at the store tried to get me to pre-order it. I said no, that I might pick it up after seeing it. When it did come out, they had only gotten a couple of pre-orders, and so the computer decided that the store only needed 5 copies to cover those pre-orders and initial demand. They were then sold-out for three weeks.

Kilkrazy wrote:Great write-up -- many thanks.

I too am highly cynical about that claim that GW has 94% market share.

GW revenue in 2007 was 111.5 million GBP. By the PWC claim, that values the entire wargames market at a piddling 118.6 M.

Are we expected to believe that all the other companies in the world only earned about 7 million pounds between all of them? Wizards Of The Coast has 300 employees!

That's a fantastic way to put things into perspective.

This isn't the first time that GW has said equally absurd things about their revenue and marketshare. A few years ago when I attended Gamesday LA they said that space marines represented 50% of GW's total sales. Now how can this be when they also say that paints and supplies represent 20% of their total revenue (said by Mr. Sherman of GW)? By basic math, this would mean that LOTR, Warhammer fantasy, all other 40K armies, and everything else (Black Library, Specialist Games, etc.) makes up only a combined 30%!

Mick A wrote:I would say its more like the 94% is sales of games and figures in their own shops and the other 6% is books, paints etc... Its amazing what a bit of spin can sound like...
Mick

Oh it's far more amusing to think that they look at market share within their own stores only, and that within their own stores they only have a 94% market share, and something else makes up the other 6%, even though they only sell their own products.

BYE

Or that they looked at the 'Games Workshop hobby' and only 6% of players are using non-GW figures

I wouldn't be surprised if GW held something around 60% of the market....but 94%....thats stretching it a bit.

But then, you never know.

Perhaps, just perhaps, it's to do with how much of a % of gamers use GW products, including things like Paints, Glues etc. THEN I can see it being up around 96%. Then it wouldn't mean 96% of Hobbyisys worldwide play GW games.

IF that makes sense?

GW revenue in 2007 was 111.5 million GBP. By the PWC claim, that values the entire wargames market at a piddling 118.6 M.

Are we expected to believe that all the other companies in the world only earned about 7 million pounds between all of them? Wizards Of The Coast has 300 employees!

I like to imagine that this only applies to miniatures and that Privateer Press and Rackham take the majority of that 7 mil split up between its dozen employees.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Perhaps, just perhaps, it's to do with how much of a % of gamers use GW products, including things like Paints, Glues etc. THEN I can see it being up around 96%. Then it wouldn't mean 96% of Hobbyisys worldwide play GW games.

IF that makes sense?

Could that 4% be non GW dice and measure tapes?

M.

stonefox wrote:

GW revenue in 2007 was 111.5 million GBP. By the PWC claim, that values the entire wargames market at a piddling 118.6 M.

Are we expected to believe that all the other companies in the world only earned about 7 million pounds between all of them? Wizards Of The Coast has 300 employees!

I like to imagine that this only applies to miniatures and that Privateer Press and Rackham take the majority of that 7 mil split up between its dozen employees.

With their profit margins I'm sure it's possible. Least GW have massive overheads to justify the price. PP are just a bunch of greedy little chancers if you ask me!

Kilkrazy wrote:Great write-up -- many thanks.

I too am highly cynical about that claim that GW has 94% market share.

GW revenue in 2007 was 111.5 million GBP. By the PWC claim, that values the entire wargames market at a piddling 118.6 M.

Are we expected to believe that all the other companies in the world only earned about 7 million pounds between all of them? Wizards Of The Coast has 300 employees!

Oh I agree on the idea that 94% seems a bit steep, but i would also point out that your example is a bad one. Considering most of Wizards revenue comes from RPGs and Magic/CCGs, when GW is talking about the Wargamming market. I'm sure wizards makes a fair few sales via D&D figs and Star Wars, but neither are likely to scratch their bread and butter lines such as D20 and Magic the gathering.

This 6% may not be entirely GW's fault. I've worked with people from PWC before, and I'd say over half are incompetent douchebags*. I'd look there as well.

*In their defense, this is lower than the general population.

Maybe the research was based upon a poll question, something like: 'Do you use GW products?' That'd probably get a 94% result for GW, wherever you went.

Rackham are floated on the French stock exchange, what was their turnover last year?

Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:

Kilkrazy wrote:Great write-up -- many thanks.

I too am highly cynical about that claim that GW has 94% market share.

GW revenue in 2007 was 111.5 million GBP. By the PWC claim, that values the entire wargames market at a piddling 118.6 M.

Are we expected to believe that all the other companies in the world only earned about 7 million pounds between all of them? Wizards Of The Coast has 300 employees!

Oh I agree on the idea that 94% seems a bit steep, but i would also point out that your example is a bad one. Considering most of Wizards revenue comes from RPGs and Magic/CCGs, when GW is talking about the Wargamming market. I'm sure wizards makes a fair few sales via D&D figs and Star Wars, but neither are likely to scratch their bread and butter lines such as D20 and Magic the gathering.

Actually the original post says the GW management confirmed that the PWC report includes RPGs, CCGs and Clix type games within the definition of wargame market.

Well I have no idea which RPG's would be in the wargame market, that tbh that statement makes no sense. CCGs likewise, unless for GW they just including anything they or their subcompanies sell, but are only putting them up against the rest of the Wargames market to get that higher figure.

Because there is no way in hell the whole RPG and CCG worldwide market is worth only a 6% share v's GW.

Tbh I'd like to see the report now, because apart from possibly the Star Wars RPG, that now includes minature and RPG rules in their books, I can't think of another one that would be placed in Wargames.

Yep, I agree.

The report seems nonsensical based on the very limited reportage we have had of it versus other facts we know.

To be frank, I would be surprised to find out that GW rules and figures comprised 94% of the entire rules and figures tabletop game market.

My suspicion is that GW defined the market as something they would get a high percentage in, when they commissioned PWC to do the research.

Actually the original post says the GW management confirmed that the PWC report includes RPGs, CCGs and Clix type games within the definition of wargame market.

Well, that's what Ernie told me. However, I did rather get the impression that the meat of my point had passed him by. It was a dense conversation (three of us and just one Ernie) and I might have been waving a prawn at him.

I didn't see the report. Ernie didn't say he'd seen the report. He merely stated that it existed and that it confirmed a 94% market share based upon a "stringent" definition of "wargaming hobby". As far as he was concerned, it was clear that he considered this to include - as I explicitly asked - RPGs, CCGs, Clix and suchlike. But whether he was talking from a position of actual knowledge, I cannot say.

R.

Yes. It could easily be some kind of misunderstanding or misreporting by the GW management bloke.

Hi all.
Great report , very informative.
As reguard to the 'market share' values.

I remember a poll in a wargames magazine in the mid 1990s .(Wargames monthly 1994?)
Apparently there was 3, 000,000 appx gamers world wide.
And they were split roughly,equaly between Historical games and fictional games(scifi-fantasy) , appx 1,500,000 each.
And out of these 1,500 ,000 'fantacy/scifi gamers' approximatley half were GW customers.

At this time GW were producing a WIDE range of games , with Hero Quest and Space Crusade in main stream outlets, etc.

I find it hard to belive GW have grown thier market share (appx 25% of the total wargames market?)
As they appear to have developed a 'churn and burn' atitude towards thier new customers.

I could be wrong .But as GW have concidered themsevles SEPERATE from the 'wargames market'.
No where do GW refer to any thing but the 'GW Hobby.' (This is similar to the wargame hobby but far more expensive! )

So as GW are not part of the wargame hobby , they are not part of the wargames market, but 100% of the GW hobby/market.
Or 96% of people in a GW store said they might buy a GW product.

Lanrak.