Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Looking at their constant upward trajectory in terms of takings, expansion of offerings and profit margins?

Absolute top marks. 100%.

Remember. It isn’t his job to fluff Nerds. His job is solely to deliver as much profit as possible. And he’s been doing that with aplomb.

Back in 2017 Andy chambers did an interview where he talked about how they would have epic fights between the game designers/artists and management.

I think we know who won that fight once most of the old guard who created the game were gone.


My grade D-
.models for the most part look good.
.game rules are a dumpster fire
.prices are atrocious
.treatment of the fan community is obscene

They are running on inertia due to their size and historical position in the industry and a sales bump from the lockdowns giving gamers the impetus to buy models for something to do.

Most of the "positives" in the current company are easily blown away by 3d print design that look better and are far cheaper as well as better written rule sets by fans

Compare these- i know which one i would buy if i played space wolves.

It is true that balanced rules are otiose in a niche.

Sorry, but the claim they’re running on inertia and a covid boost is simply not a factually accurate statement.

Go back and look over their sales figures over the past 10 years. They’re all published, and importantly, independently verified before publication as a legal requirement.

What you are seeing is increase after increase. That’s a momentum. Not inertia.

Did covid help? Yes, clearly. I’m pretty sure they even confirmed as much in their own report.

But “they’re just riding nostalgias and inertia” is simply not supported by the evidence.

But “they’re just riding nostalgias and inertia” is simply not supported by the evidence.

I did not say nostalgia, i said POSITION in the market as well as inertia.

Everybody knows that if any new company, without the reach established after nearly 50 years of operation with the related infrastructure they built over that time, tried to do what GW have gotten away with in recent memory would never survive the backlash from the game community.

We are back to the circular argument

1.because GWs main games are bigger than any others (see above reasons) they are active and accessible
2.people want to play games that are active and accessible, making GW games bigger and more accessible


It is the path of least resistance. there are many other game companies with better rules, and many other model makers with better models for cost. they still cannot compete with the 800 pound gorilla in the room.

I've found 40k opponents in Beijing, New Delhi and Cairo.

Now granted all 3 cities have more than 10 million people and most of the community was expats but still.

That does speak to a good sized fan base worldwide.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Remember. It isn’t his job to fluff Nerds. His job is solely to deliver as much profit as possible. And he’s been doing that with aplomb.

And his grading should be relative, not absolute. To borrow the sports concept of "wins above replacement" we should be considering his performance in terms of "share price above replacement". So, for example, has he managed to oversee GW having at least a basic social media presence? Sure. Has he done better than a replacement-level CEO could have done in his place? Nope. So he gets $0 SPAR and a C grade for that work. He's not in D/F territory where he's actively harming the company on that point and clearly needs to be replaced, but he's also not adding any value to it.

If we consider Rountree's SPAR I think that C grade fits pretty well. Diversifying the product lines has been handled competently but not exceptionally, so I'll give him a B for that. The HR failure of letting the 40k design team run the core product into the ground gets a D/F (depending on how you want to allocate blame between GW's managers). Brexit and global logistics issues have done some damage but it has been reasonably limited so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and another B here. Add it all up and you get a C, maybe C+ average, and a textbook replacement-level CEO. If GW could get a replacement-level CEO at half his salary they should immediately make that trade.

(And for comparison, Kirby was a well below replacement-level CEO that should have been fired long before his actual departure. Every year he remained CEO produced negative SPAR.)

The mention of sports just kind of hit the nail on the head for me. Rountree and GW is a bit like Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys. Under Jones's leadership, the Cowboys are the most valuable NFL franchise, but when was the last time they won a Superbowl?

F.

Price rises, 9th edition and more importantly several screwed up codices.