News about changes to GW's product release marketing - New Info added 21/5/2011!

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**Kroothawk**

Actually, all June releases are on preorder (including 18th June releases).
But no incoming article for August (and its existence deleted from the "why register" page) and no June news poster for shops yet.

**Alpharius**

So the Official News Embargo is in place, and functioning well?

**Kroothawk**

Not yet. WD was also as early as ever. Maybe next month.

**FordPrefect**

Sidstyler wrote:Nope, I've never seen trailers for games before. Or screenshots. Or developer videos on YouTube talking about some of the game's features. Or gameplay videos showing you how the game plays in real time and not just pretty cut scenes. Or detailed reviews by magazines who got advance copies and played them.

Complete, total, 100% black-out is the only way to stay in business. If anything ever got out, people would IMMEDIATELY lose interest in the product and would never buy it, whereas if you announce it as a SURPRISE, you get rich because everyone will have to buy it then! Because...it's new! And it just came out! That's all the reason anyone would ever need!

SS - you were soooo sarcastic that that I thought you were a Brit

LOL

Any chance you are an ex-pat ?

**skyth**

After thinking about this, the obvious reason for this new policy is that GW doesn't want you to know what is being discontinuued/nerfed from the army so that you will still buy those things as long as possible.

**The Fragile Breath**

Sidstyler wrote:Nope, I've never seen trailers for games before. Or screenshots. Or developer videos on YouTube talking about some of the game's features. Or gameplay videos showing you how the game plays in real time and not just pretty cut scenes. Or detailed reviews by magazines who got advance copies and played them.

Complete, total, 100% black-out is the only way to stay in business. If anything ever got out, people would IMMEDIATELY lose interest in the product and would never buy it, whereas if you announce it as a SURPRISE, you get rich because everyone will have to buy it then! Because...it's new! And it just came out! That's all the reason anyone would ever need!

Sid, I love you. Just throwing that out there.

This is a pretty awful move if true. I even have a good example. I heard about this game, Hunted: The Demon's Forge a LONG time ago and have been quite excited about it. I was planning on buying it on release date (today, May 31st) until I heard about some Dark Eldar models I really wanted (Scourges and a Venom) coming out on June 4th, so I decided to not buy Hunted and instead buy the Scourges. Money given to Games Workshop, whereas now they'll be losing quite a bit of business from me, I plan on buying models, it's not often I walk into the FLGS and buy a new model, I generally wait until I have a few things.

I guess I should be happy that I have almost everything I need for the army I care about most, and what I don't have yet is already out?

**Lord of Deeds**

Between the news blackout, the price increases, the sales restrictions, and suspect quality of Citadel Finecast, GW is not only making it more difficult for their customers to buy their product, they are also training its customers to be more conservative which also portends a decrease in sales.

Brilliant GW, Brilliant!

**Kroothawk**

Small update:
The news poster for shops only came several days before the release.
It only shows the releases of that week plus the flyer.
It doesn't include any Finecast: No Wracks, no Grotesque, no Haemunculus, no Ushabti, no Tomb Kings singles. Of these only the Grotesque is mail order only. So half the month's releases as revealed in the WD are kept secret in the store advertising.

So another manifestation of GW's anti-marketing in place.

**H.B.M.C.**

So even the stuff that's coming out within that month is kept secret?

Wow... I guess they figured that blasting their lower left leg off with a shotgun wasn't enough - now they're going to blast the right leg off as well!

**Miguelsan**

At this rate I can just imagine next year´s marketing plan.

1)No drawings, no photos in the codex.
2)Rather that a clear blister they´ll use a blank box.
3)The miniature inside will be totally random, if GW feels like it they´ll bother to print the army outside the box.
4)Rise prices due to the increased price of metals.
5)Don´t bother selling at all and just take the money from every guy that enters a GW store.
6)C&D every other company that dares to use the latest trade marked IP (like elf, orc, player, dice, measuring tape, stupid management)
7)Shut down the internet.

This is like a slow-mo train crash, you can see it happening but fail to see how to stop it.

M.

**Kroothawk**

8.) Sue the White Dwarf editors for breach of secrecy. From now on the magazine doesn't even contain advertising for GW products. For the time being, WD will contain only fixed battle reports

**derek**

Kroothawk wrote:8.) Sue the White Dwarf editors for breach of secrecy. From now on the magazine doesn't even contain advertising for GW products. For the time being, WD will contain only fixed battle reports

No, because it's been decided that even featuring released models may in some way hurt the bottom line. So instead they will now require all employees to have children, and those children to do four pieces of crappy artwork a month, which will equate to no change in the current quality of White Dwarf. However, White Dwarf will now cost five ounces of pure gold, as paper money will no longer sustain the Games Workshop's hunger for human flesh.

**AlexHolker**

Kroothawk wrote:8.) Sue the White Dwarf editors for breach of secrecy. From now on the magazine doesn't even contain advertising for GW products. For the time being, WD will contain only fixed battle reports

But if they're fixed, someone knows ahead of time what the result is. We can't have that.

**Padre**

H.B.M.C. wrote:So even the stuff that's coming out within that month is kept secret?

Wow... I guess they figured that blasting their lower left leg off with a shotgun wasn't enough - now they're going to blast the right leg off as well!

Legs?

Hell, you're optimistic...

I think that they've put the muzzle under their chin, myself, and pulled the trigger with a toe.

Padre^.

**Chaos Lord Gir**

I think this is all just acouple of the managers at GW sniffing glue and getting bad ideas.

Not Citadel glue obviously, too pricey.

**Fafnir**

**snowman40k**

This seems quite relevant to GW's CEO at the moment...

**LunaHound**

H.B.M.C. wrote:So even the stuff that's coming out within that month is kept secret?

Wow... I guess they figured that blasting their lower left leg off with a shotgun wasn't enough - now they're going to blast the right leg off as well!

After blasting left leg, its only logical to also blast the right ( we need balance and aerodynamics! )

and only by having no legs can they continue to evolve. Maybe a pair of new wings , or anti gravity drive.

New step forward GW!

**Scarey Nerd**

LunaHound wrote:
H.B.M.C. wrote:So even the stuff that's coming out within that month is kept secret?

Wow... I guess they figured that blasting their lower left leg off with a shotgun wasn't enough - now they're going to blast the right leg off as well!

After blasting left leg, its only logical to also blast the right ( we need balance and aerodynamics! )

and only by having no legs can they continue to evolve. Maybe a pair of new wings , or anti gravity drive.

New step forward GW!

Eurgh... That pun hurt me to my soul...

**LunaHound**

Thank you :3

**Alpharius**

And on that note...

**Alpharius**

Unlocked for the addition of updated info...

Play nice!

**Kroothawk**

Also posted in the WD thread but better fits here, as the scope is much wider.

More details on GW policy change as posted by the same person on BoK giving us the 6th edition rumours (actually this is how his post starts and the motivation to spill the beans):
http://bloodofkittens.com/network/members/rideroftheerk/activity/14616/

rideroftheerk wrote:I was told in privacy but can’t vouch for the accuracy. Corrected some spelling errors from icq conversation:

anonymus wrote:I am really pissed! The recent shift in GW’s marketing strategy is only the beginning. The goal is to completely control every bit of information that is going out and make every advance sneak peek look like an accidental leak. Think of Apple and you know what they are trying to achieve. They simultaneously try to keep the internet crowd happy with some leaked bits here and there and the store crowded focused on the next release. Prepare for more of these infamous “you see one eighth of the miniature and should stand in awe” pictures. The restructured White Dwarf will be the only place for “official” news. The days when Games Days were a good source for exciting news are gone. No more seminars.

Independent shop owners will get the info at the same time as the public. From autumn on product codes will be chiffres and retailers have to order bulk packages for new releases without knowing what is in it if they want to get the releases on the first day. If they want to buy the boxes individually they have to wait two weeks until GW releases the chiffres. Mail Orders won’t arrive on the day of release, they will be SENT on the day of release. So no more accidental early arrivals. If you want to buy a product on the day of release you have to go to a GW store or one of the shops that have bought the release package. There is no chance to get the products via an online store on time.

The retail embargo for the southern hemisphere were initially planned for every single country, so no more exports from UK to continental Europa, but GW’s law division stopped this as it would have violated EU laws. So now they will introduce two boxes for every release with exactly the same content but different boxes. One is for the retail in a single country and comes at the standard wholesale price. The other box has all the necessary taxation and regulatory clearances for export. These boxes are virtually the same but GW is charging an extra fee for them. Online shops can choose to stop exports or accept a serious blow to their profit margins.

We, the gamers, are sitting on the receiving end of this dishonest policy once more. We are treated like children and that is exactly the goal of these changes. So here are some of their plans, as long as the info is available, to spoil some of their surprises:

Seems like GW didn't take into account the number of staffers pissed by the new decisions and willing to ruin the information embargo.

**Sidstyler**

There is no chance to get the products via an online store on time.

That's a god-damned shame, since that's the only reason I pre-ordered some Dark Eldar during the first wave directly from the website, so I could get the models on release day without having to drive an hour to the store (and because the store don't do pre-orders). If I have to wait for them regardless then why should I bother buying direct at all? Might as well go to the Warstore and get a discount while I'm at it.

Ugh, 6th edition...I get so tired of this crap where they update half the armies for the new edition, then instead of updating everyone to the current edition, they decide to do a new one so everyone is out of date again, and then it'll be the same gak later on...half the armies will be 6th edition armies, and then 7th will come out (probably in only 2-3 years since 5th is barely 3 years old and we're already hearing about a new fething rulebook). And with each new rulebook armies will get even bigger, and entirely by coincidence I'm sure, prices will keep soaring.

**Howard A Treesong**

GW screwing the independent stores again. They expect them to order blind if they want stuff on the release date. But they won't have them on the release date because they are only sent out that day so they will always get them late letting GW undercut those stores by maintaining exclusivity on new releases for a few days. They day it's to prevent independents selling early, well ship to them a day or so before then, to shop on release day is to deliberately deny them new releases. Oh then the independents can't order individual items for two weeks leaving independents again in the position of being unable to re-order in the popular items for their customers. I guess GW stores won't have this problem.

If you're an independent B&M store you're being shafted, online stores doubly so.

**H.B.M.C.**

What other companies out there order their stockists and retail partners to order stock blind? GW can't be the only one.

**Kroothawk**

Howard A Treesong wrote:GW screwing the independent stores again. They expect them to order blind if they want stuff on the release date. But they won't have them on the release date because they are only sent out that day so they will always get them late letting GW undercut those stores by maintaining exclusivity on new releases for a few days.

Brick and Mortar FLGS get the new stuff on release day, if they order the package blind.
Only mail order folks get their stuff a few days later, or FLGSs not ordering blind.
But other than that: Yes, GW is screwing the independent stores again.

**H.B.M.C.**

Welcome to the 'Games Workshop Hobby' it seems...

**LunaHound**

So according to GW, they are always right, the customers need to be told what to like and dislike.

And any private own business that sells GW products are just leeches?

I got that right this time?

**NAVARRO**

The retail embargo for the southern hemisphere were initially planned for every single country, so no more exports from UK to continental Europa, but GW’s law division stopped this as it would have violated EU laws. So now they will introduce two boxes for every release with exactly the same content but different boxes. One is for the retail in a single country and comes at the standard wholesale price. The other box has all the necessary taxation and regulatory clearances for export. These boxes are virtually the same but GW is charging an extra fee for them. Online shops can choose to stop exports or accept a serious blow to their profit margins.

What?! Extra fee? The thing is overpriced already. Kill the exports in Europe, I mean the sales in Europe are already so good.