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What with the prices of Island of Blood and Assault on Black Reach, how is GW really planning to get new players(or rather their parent's money) into the hobby?

At my local GW, new people who walk into the store to see what the hobby is about generally get a quick overview of the game and a demo game with either starter set if they have about 20 mins. After which they are asked if they think it might be something that they might be interested in and the starter set they just used is suggested.

Now, with the price hike on AoBR and the high cost of IoB, I envision many, parents grabbing their child, leaving the store, and never returning. I know I probably would do the same if it was my 12-13 year old getting offered the set, or even if I was 16-17 year old with my own money trying to be introduced via a starter set. Thoughts?


On a side note, anyone else get the feeling that the starter sets are so expensive because of us damn veterans kept buying them to save some money?

Hey there, thanks for the post. Didn't realize the price for Assault on Black Reach went up. It's still a nice deal, but it scares me a little. Black Reach's price was one of the few things 40K'ers seemed to agree was a very fine thing. I wish they could have held off the price hike a bit longer, but I guess times are hard...

Be well Tzeentchling9! Nice avatar by the way!
Frankie

How much does an AoBR cost now?

*EDIT* I just looked on GW's website and see that its $90.....HOLY HELL!

I paid $60 per box x4 two years ago.

People still seem to be buying them, you just have to bear in mind that the starter sets come with alot of stuff, and its still the cheapest way to get into either game.

AoBR is 90 USD.

IoB is 99 USD.

$90 for AoBR and $99 for isle of blood

well, still look at what you get

2x units of 20 clanrats = $64
1 warlord = $12
1 warlock = $12
warpfire thrower = $15
Plague Mortar = $15
2 Rat Ogres = $30 (minus the giant rats from the old set)

= $148 for the rats alone.

High Elves.

Griffon = $45 if you are lucky
Swordmaster = now plastic? $35 +
Sea Guard = now plastic? $25 +
Ellyrian reavers = now plastic? $25+
mage = $12 +

= $142 for the high elves, estimated conservatively.

so, we are looking at $300 worth of Models alone for a $99 set? I am still impressed, and I think its a great deal.

I know it's a great deal in comparison to all that you get out of it, but 100 USD is an awful lot to drop at once for a parent/teen just introduced to the hobby.

Yep when you add it up like that it looks great, but in reality your asking the parents to drop $100 on something their kid was just "sold"

And as a parent of a teen age boy I can tell you his interests, and the interests of his friends change every single week it seems.

The problem with them having only one such set per new edition of rules is that they lose out on sales to people that could care less about the two armies they're trying to pawn off on us.

GBP60. That's one and half xbox games. Seems pretty reasonable to me for what you get.

Especially considering that the other fantasy rulebook is GBP45.

I' sure GW did market research to find the sweet spot of maximizing sales and profit. I highly doubt their market researches just tossed a dart at a list of prices and went with what popped up.

A lot of big boxed games cost that much these days, anyway.

Yeah, but those are generally complete games and not ones that require multiple hundreds of more dollars dropped on them.

Yeah, you get like 500-600 points for $90? An average game in 40k is 1500-2000....

the prices are fine to me, you get over $300 worth of mini's in it, a rulebook (which retails $60 or $74.25) templates and dice another $10-12)

Most parents I see jump at the chance to get their kids into it as long as you explain to them that its about the hobby aspect as well, modelling, painting AND playing, not just playing a quick 1 hour game. that $100 boxset, gives you about a month's worth of building and painting alone.

I wonder if this will lead to a swing in the other direction. Will GW go backwards, and release a conservative starter set for the next edition, say 20-30 models a side at around the 50 dollar mark?

It would make it much more approachable for new players, but far less desirable for older players- unless they skimp on the basics and keep the exclusive 'holy grail' units like the deffkoptas. It could be just as engaging, especially if they invested the time to create some training scenarios like Battle for Macragge. Heck, with their new online delivery system they could just release PDF scenarios for what you can do with the boxed set.

Wasn't the original Space Hulk about 60 dollars in the late 80s?
I seem to remember earning money and buying it as a young-one. (yeah, what's up paper route)

A Ben to get in is more (as in better) than fair.
As a comparison most video games cost about 50 dollars.

Spectacularly failtastic business practices rear their ugly heads again.

Just have people join a "club" when they buy their first box using a photo ID to add their basic data points to the system, and connect the system electronically, and get it 50% off when they do. Then you can milk the veterans, and entice the starters. You also get all the newbs into the e-mail chain for updates / newsletters / etc.

GW Corporate must be the most toxic, back-biting, politically charged work environment ... with way too much "power" in the hands of way too disparate a selection of executives and designers ... b/c the business approaches they come up with are in no way sensible, lean, or focused.

Eh it seems like a ton of money but keep inflation in mind. 5 years ago I could buy a candy bar for 50 cents (USD) now they're up to $1 money just doesn't go as far as it used to.

Beside its still a great deal and with the rise of video games, board and table top games are hurting. I mean a standard set of risk runs for $45+.

GW costs have actually materially decreased in the last decade, due to their advancement to better crafting techniques and a larger plastic line.

Don't let 'em kid you.

The problem is complex, and relates to everything from a really bass-ackward business acumen to overinflated/politically-retained staffs of underpaid-but-too-plentiful-and-undermotivated ... what "geeks" I guess ... the writers/rules people/etc.

As a parent I would say "hey its your money, your funeral."

This isn't inflation at work, just good old fashioned price gouging. Just because the the same models would cost over 300 to buy separately doesn't make them a deal if the customer feels like they're getting taken for a ride, which most new customers will assume. Its alot easier to plop down 60 bucks for the newest halo whatever game and play with a bunch of friends, than it is to drop 100 big ones (thats a lot for kid) on a game not many people have heard of. Thats before you even begin to invest the additional money and man hours needed to paint and assemble before you can even start playing.

Shas'O Dorian wrote:Eh it seems like a ton of money but keep inflation in mind. 5 years ago I could buy a candy bar for 50 cents (USD) now they're up to $1 money just doesn't go as far as it used to.

Beside its still a great deal and with the rise of video games, board and table top games are hurting. I mean a standard set of risk runs for $45+.

More like 25. http://www.hasbro.com/risk/default.cfm?page=Products/Detail&product_id=22163 and I see it in stores for 19.99 all the time. In Canada, AoBR is $108 and IoB is $118.75. I can buy 5 copies of risk for that.

Hmmm.
My 60 dollar Space Hulk run through the CPI Inflation Calculator says: 2010 -- $105.57 dollar Space Hulk.
Which came with less stuff than the new fantasy box set.

Yeah, I'm not feeling the price gouge.

People act like GW products are as required as bread and milk.

You cant really gouge a luxury product. If people dont want it they will live with out it, so will you.

Vocal minority at its finest.

In many ways $100 is not alot of money for what you get. Sure. Try to tell that to anyone who isn't used to GW sticker shock. I can see it now "Well $100 is a deal compared to this box of blood crushers 3 for $52". GW pricing is off the hook. When I started it was a cheap and fun hobby ($18 for 30 marines). My friends and I in high school and college payed because it was relatively cheap (yes we still complained about some prices back then too). We had multiple armies in 40k, Epic, and warhammer, not to mention things like chaos warbands (kind of like mordhiem). Armies were smaller back then and for giant battles we played spacemarine/epic.

Yes I talk the talk and walk the walk. I have not bought anything new from GW in years, Thanks ebay. And yes stilll play.

Every time I hear people stick up for GW pricing and practices in general I get the douche chills. I cant wait to see how Mantic's pricing plays out vs GW.

Lets face it If Hasbro was making this game these miniatures would be cheap cheap cheap. Lets look at the costs. GI joe action figures cost about as much as GW miniatures. 5 GI joes in a box for $20, the Joes have many more pieces, are pre painted and assembled and are much bigger. (not that i would want pre paints or pre assembled....but its still a cost). Space marines 10 for $40, its just a few sprues of plastic.

GW needs to get real. If the retail stores are not making you money close them, why should customers have to pay the cost of you running retail stores? I really cant figure out how they were doing ok at $1 a miniature and now at $4 they are struggling?

Luxury product my a@@, its a hobby go to a model shop and see what miniatures cost there. Same with forgeworld resin $20 for 10 bolters and some bayonets. By those standards my old $18 dollar box was worth $60 just in bolters. What a load.

The vending machine at my office just had a 30% price increase on everything in it.

$100 just isn't what $100 was before. Still, if two kids go in on it together, it ends up being less than a video-game each. I think these starter sets are designed to buy with someone else.

There is no such thing as price gouging. In a free market, you are free to sell your products at whatever price you want. The consumer is free to buy whatever products he wants. Price Gouging to gamers means they aren't selling the products to me at the prices they want.

I'll tell you what will change GW's tune.....

Get the tournament scene to drop the Citadel Only rule. When players start shopping at other companies for orcs and elves and Shock Troops, and get them cheaper, then GW will have to change its business practices.

The only negative result will be you can't play at a GW store or the Las Vegas GT. Big deal.

GW has a worldwide network of stores. Multiple games that has been going strong for over 20 years. Books, video games, accessories and all kinds of other bs all under their IP.

They get massive web traffic for terms related to their IP.

They have legions of devoted fans.

They spend about NO money on advertising.

Are they perfect? No.

Are they idiots? No.

They are the most successful company in their vertical, ever. That says a lot.

While other game companies come and go like the turning of the tides, GW trucks on through thick and thin and continue to innovate and grow.

They have done this because they run their company like a business which upsets some people who seem to think a game company should be an NPO. They have made mistakes, but they have overcome them consistently.

So anyway, these discussions about GW's business practices are always pointless. A bunch of people with limited information and big opinions all chime in as if they were experts when none of us really know the entire story.

I am sure new people will continue to get into the hobby as they have since the 80's. Some will stay and dump thousands into the hobby like most of us. Some will go after a year and sell their crap on eBay. And through it all, people will always complain (as is their right) about prices.

Same old story and yet pretty much everyone continues to buy the stuff.

While it is quite a bit more expensive than the Black Reach and Skull Pass sets were originally, the 3rd edition 40k boxed set was like $75 back when I got into the hobby when I was like 14 or something, and it had waaaay less stuff than any of them. It had 10 marines, a landspeeder, and 20 Dark Eldar warriors, ruined buildings and plastic trees, plus rulebook and dice and all the accessories. If they could sell that for $75 back then, I bet they'll get away with selling this for close to $100 now.