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

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**Compel**

I dunno, I think Disney owned Marvel when the 'Planet Hulk' animated film was made.

In case you haven't seen it. In 'Planet Hulk' they nuke a baby.

To be honest, worst things could happen.

**His Master's Voice**

Korraz wrote:It can only get better from this point.

Yeah, Confrontation got so much better after Rackham went under. Target Games' death didn't hurt Warzone either, no sir.

Can the game live though the demise of it's company? Perhaps. Perhaps my soul will ascend to a better world when I die. I'd rather avoid checking that for as long as possible.

**Scarey Nerd**

His Master's Voice wrote:Can the game live though the demise of it's company? Perhaps. Perhaps my soul will ascend to a better world when I die. I'd rather avoid checking that for as long as possible.

I'm sorry, I have to sig this, it's amazing!

**Frazzled**

iproxtaco wrote:I agree. I now want GW to fail, hard, so it can be taken over by someone who actually knows what they're doing.

That argument lacks coherent support. More likely, as demonstrated by the said history of miniature companies, they will just fold completely. They are the big fish in a puddle.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

infinite_array wrote:
Scarey Nerd wrote:
Kilkrazy wrote:I think it would be quite interesting if GW went bust. It would open a space in the entry level wargame market and possibly lead to huge amounts of creativity.

An excellent point. What would we all do if GW did indeed go under? I doubt that many of us would quit wargaming altogether, so would we turn to Warmachine and other existing games, or would we risk our £ on new games that would presumably come out to fill the niche that GW so heavily defend?

If GW went under, I can see the fans taking over the franchise. And why not? Their are plenty of companies producing Fantasy and Science Fiction figures. And the precedent has already been set with Epic: Armageddon and Blood Bowl - games that only improved when GW decided to abandon them, and the community took over.

how many times have you seen an EPIC game being played?

**Balance**

Pacific wrote:I'm wondering when the prices will get so high that it will become economically feasible to buy a boat and a depth charge, and head to that boat carrying all the GW stuff that sank in the Atlantic, and get hold of all the Falcon Grav Tanks still awaiting rescue

Why would you want a depth charge? I thought you wanted to recover them, not destroy them?

Where did the boat sink? I missed this story.

**mikhaila**

First wave of Falcons shipped to the US were on a boat that sank in the Atlantic. Years ago when the falcon first came out.

**Kirasu**

how many times have you seen an EPIC game being played?

Tons of epic games are played.. in the minds of many players. Just like Blood bowl!

They are games that everyone seems to love yet no one actually wants to physically spend the time to play them. Even when Epic was in print I barely ever saw it. Now, I played Bloodbowl for like 3 years in a row (6 or more seasons) and its an 'alright' game. It loses its charm due to its small amount of ways to play the game and/or build your team

But hey its amazingly fun if you play it once and then just think of it fondly.

**Korraz**

His Master's Voice wrote:
Korraz wrote:It can only get better from this point.

Yeah, Confrontation got so much better after Rackham went under. Target Games' death didn't hurt Warzone either, no sir.

Can the game live though the demise of it's company? Perhaps. Perhaps my soul will ascend to a better world when I die. I'd rather avoid checking that for as long as possible.

Compared to the value of 40k and Fantasy, those things were chinchillas. The opportunity to seize something like 40k won't go unnoticed and unused.

**His Master's Voice**

Korraz wrote:
His Master's Voice wrote:
Korraz wrote:It can only get better from this point.

Yeah, Confrontation got so much better after Rackham went under. Target Games' death didn't hurt Warzone either, no sir.

Can the game live though the demise of it's company? Perhaps. Perhaps my soul will ascend to a better world when I die. I'd rather avoid checking that for as long as possible.

Compared to the value of 40k and Fantasy, those things were chinchillas. The opportunity to seize something like 40k won't go unnoticed and unused.

To make computer games, perhaps. Or maybe another Clix abomination. A direct to DVD movie. Grimdark Khorne Flakes.

Actual game with actual models? I'd rather not take the chance.

**Claimh_Solais**

theoretically how would we the consumers be able to get Tom Kirby to step down ?

I mean it's not the first time a president hade to resign from a big company because of all criticism

;D

**Kirasu**

Generally the most cost efficient way is to pay a girl to be a honey pot.. worked flawlessly for the KGB for the entire cold war.

**insaniak**

Claimh_Solais wrote:theoretically how would we the consumers be able to get Tom Kirby to step down ?

Er... that already happened a year or two ago...

**Claimh_Solais**

insaniak wrote:
Claimh_Solais wrote:theoretically how would we the consumers be able to get Tom Kirby to step down ?

Er... that already happened a year or two ago...

huu? explain

Tom is the presidet of GW or am i wrong

**Kroothawk**

Rymafyr wrote:Disney taking over the ip...worse fate by far ...lol

**Korraz**

Claimh_Solais wrote:theoretically how would we the consumers be able to get Tom Kirby to step down ?

I mean it's not the first time a president hade to resign from a big company because of all criticism

;D

Not in 40.000 years. GW has proven to be critic resistant.

**carmachu**

Frazzled wrote:
That argument lacks coherent support. More likely, as demonstrated by the said history of miniature companies, they will just fold completely. They are the big fish in a puddle.

The IP is still worth something, unlike many other companies listed.

how many times have you seen an EPIC game being played?

Quite a bit, actually. When it was space marine and titian legion. When GW screwed the game up and released it as a epic game box set- "updated the rules", it pretty much crashed and burned.

**Rymafyr**

Kroothawk wrote:
Rymafyr wrote:Disney taking over the ip...worse fate by far ...lol

That good sir, has sent the coldest chill down my spine I have ever felt.

**Adam LongWalker**

insaniak wrote:
Claimh_Solais wrote:theoretically how would we the consumers be able to get Tom Kirby to step down ?

Er... that already happened a year or two ago...

IMHO Kirby STILL calls the shots at GW.

He is STILL the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Games Workshop.

IMHO Mark Wells is only a figure head picked by Kirby.

**Valhallan42nd**

Disney is looking for something to capture the imagination of tween boys in the way that the princess and fairy lines have captured girls...

Perhaps I can mention this to my former corporate masters. A leveraged buy out would be all too easy.

But seriously, if you want GW to listen to you, buy a signifigant amount of GW stock. Then they have to answer to you. Hell, I don't know why we gamers haven't formed an LLC to do just that.

**Pacific**

Balance wrote:
Pacific wrote:I'm wondering when the prices will get so high that it will become economically feasible to buy a boat and a depth charge, and head to that boat carrying all the GW stuff that sank in the Atlantic, and get hold of all the Falcon Grav Tanks still awaiting rescue

Why would you want a depth charge? I thought you wanted to recover them, not destroy them?

Where did the boat sink? I missed this story.

Apparently, the idea is that if they could pierce the hull (the boat is lying upside down), then the sealed packing will ensure they will float up the surface.

**candy.man**

Kilkrazy wrote:I think it would be quite interesting if GW went bust. It would open a space in the entry level wargame market and possibly lead to huge amounts of creativity.

I agree with this. GW going bust may not result in an apocalyptic scenario as some might think. We’d probably see more creativity from third party companies such as CH (under the scenario that IP lawyers wouldn’t be around to harass them). We’d probably also see some of the larger miniature companies make a move to gain a larger share in the market (bigger, riskier releases and whatnot).

That being said, if GW were to go into receivership, they’d probably get bailed out somehow (even if it meant selling a large chunk of the IP to FFG/PP or something like that).

As a side note, if the crazed panic buying brought on from embargo/finecost/price rise was any of measure excess sales induced due to a crisis, imagine the apocalyptic panic buying caused by a hypothetical receivership *shudder*.

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

Kilkrazy wrote:... and possibly lead to huge amounts of creativity.

... during the 6-12 months it takes for the new owners of the 40K IP to relaunch the game.

**Sixtus**

If GW DOES go under with the way things are going, us LOTR players will have no company to turn to. ;w;
I doubt other miniature wargaming companies would bother prying the license from GW's cold fingers...

**insaniak**

Claimh_Solais wrote:huu? explain

Tom is the presidet of GW or am i wrong

Kirby stepped aside some time ago. Mark Wells is the current CEO.

**MeanGreenStompa**

Wells is to Kirby as Maul is to Sidious.

**Pacific**

Haha

Remember all those rumours years ago of Hasbro buying out GW? Not sure if there was ever anything to that, but you have to figure it would be some big Chinese company if anything ever were to happen.

Then, pre-painted miniatures in blister packs, and 40k miniatures on big stands in squads of 5, which can be removed with a single dice roll (like 30mm epic). Which, come to think of it, might not be too far off the mark with what we would see with 40k 8th edition anyway..

**Grot 6**

Ok.

Seriously, WHO is the genius behind all of the insanity?

Am I the only one wondering if these tools are doing this to dismantle the company and get out of the minis business on purpose?

Not only are they cutting off thier nose to spite the face, they are doing it with a dull nail file.

Mantic needs no serious boosting or overly excessive advertising except fot GW to keep doing what they are doing...

Wells fiddles as GW burns.

**Kroothawk**

Mark Wells is a lawyer (who would have thought

) and manager from the shampoo industry, so he knows exactly how gamers think and what they need

**Kilkrazy**

carmachu wrote:
Frazzled wrote:
That argument lacks coherent support. More likely, as demonstrated by the said history of miniature companies, they will just fold completely. They are the big fish in a puddle.

The IP is still worth something, unlike many other companies listed.

how many times have you seen an EPIC game being played?

Quite a bit, actually. When it was space marine and titian legion. When GW screwed the game up and released it as a epic game box set- "updated the rules", it pretty much crashed and burned.

It's hard to say how much the IP is worth.

The sales of BL novels and computer game licensing account for a tiny fraction of overall revenue -- about 3.5%. Those sales are the purest form of IP, which hardly argues that the IP is in itself very valuable especially when you consider that a lot of actual players buy the novels.

The other value of the IP is the amount to which it drives sales of the actual game and models, which is where GW makes 90+% of its revenue. It's very hard to put a value on that, however obviously the value is totally linked to game sales.

**lords2001**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
NAVARRO wrote:Well, first thing GW sould try to do is having a massive predominant presence on events outside the GW official event calendar... ( privateer press has done that on some American independent 40k tournaments if I recall it right)... then maybe get a truck and go to schools, have roadshows, summer activities outside GW stores. The main problem here is that today they are closed to outsiders and their communications are no more than internal memos, that will not give them more customers.

This is the problem right here, and something I've been saying for a long time and which no one has been able to counter with anything better than "Oh HMCB... your just a h8r! GW can do no wrong!":

GW won't participate in events outside of their own events because in their minds they are not part of the greater miniature wargaming hobby. Instead, they are part of the "Games Workshop Hobby" an entity that (they believe) is 100% separate and unrelated to other miniature companies. To go to Gen-Con, or show up at PAX, or anything like that would be an acknowledgement that there are other game companies out there, and they cannot and will not do that.

GW exists in a state of wilful ignorance, where their aim is to stay as insular as possible, keep everything as secret as possible, ignore every modern facet of gaming and commercial enterprise (social networking, the Internet in general, etc.) and treat everyone as the enemy, especially their customer base.

I must say that a promising start by GW Aus was to include MOAB (a big tournament run by my local club) as part of their gamesday package. Indeed, if you are part of the tournament, the cost of your ticket actually gets you into the event. So they are supporting a local club actually at their own games day. They are also assisting with the setting up and packing down and transportation of everything to the event. And it looks like they will have stalls for local clubs to promote and possibly even run games from for people. I'm not saying that GW Aus is perfect - not in the slightest. But its an encouraging first step along a much better path.

Note this is totally seperate to GW Aus pricing and the arguments running.