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Dakka... I wrote GW a letter. Wanted to post it up here for thoughts, and also maybe to motivate you guys into writing GW yourselves. GW is not beyond salvation, and needs your help.
Dear Games Workshop,

I have been playing Warhammer 40k since I was 11, and started playing with the first release of Dark Eldar (around White Dwarf 227, if I recall correctly). Some of the happiest memories of my childhood (and admittedly still today) were formed around a 40k table, and a large part of my imagination was devoted to the outstanding and unsurpassed background your writers have meticulously developed over the years. Your worlds are truly second to none, and it is with a heavy heart that I am writing to tell you that I will be boycotting Games Workshop products for an indefinite amount of time.

I was already growing irritated by Games Workshop developments in the past years, but the recent announcements concerning price and trade policies have put me over the edge. Raising some models up to 20% in cost, when not only is GW switching to a cheaper resin material but GW boasts up to 75% profit on miniature sales, is unacceptable. I remember when a tactical squad of Marines was only 20 dollars, and the ones sold today are virtually the same but now are over 200% of the cost. When I was a young kid in my favorite local GW store (Gurnee Mills, Illinois), I remember being semi-convinced by the store employee who attributed the rising costs of miniatures to the instability of the oil market. Today, I am intelligent enough to read between the lines. Games Workshop is now a publicly traded company, and the rising cost prices are a shareholder attempt to squeeze every last penny out of devoted gamers that is possible. Prohibiting privately sold miniatures from making their way to roughly 50% of the world is yet another unfair example of GW sales practices that continue to horrify me as a once devoted customer. I am sure you are paying attention to the various online forums, and have seen the international outrage this has caused. Your customer base is furious and, unlike a decade ago when I began playing, they are moving to different sources of games.

I am not solely frustrated by your business practices. The recent Codex publications have been, in my opinion, ridiculous. I see what is being done. Games Workshop constantly tries to exceed the "awesome" of the previous release in order to encourage purchase of the new range. My problem is of course not with exciting changes and new products, but rather that oftentimes the new releases are completely out of sync with previously established canon. The most obvious example was Matt Ward's disastrous Necron/Blood Angel alliance, which has been the subject of endless complaint. The 40k universe has surpassed a simple fiction, and is practically alive with how thorough and detailed it is. The outlandish new fluff created for it is infuriating the "Old Guard" like me, who know better. Not only this, but the newest Codexes are overshadowing the older ones. Imperial Guard and Space Wolves are the only Codexes I am seeing winning local tournaments these days, and my Tyranid and Necron playing friends have all seen any hope at tournament glory destroyed by new rules. Necrons haven't even received an update in two editions, which speaks volumes for the sheer unbalance now visible on the 40k tabletops. People, myself included, are frustrated and angry to see the game we all love ruined by an endless pursuit of money. We know what is going on behind the scenes, and it saddens me to no end to see my childhood pastime devolve into a parody of itself with one codex debacle after another.

I wanted to let Games Workshop know that, until I see the aforementioned grievances addressed, I will be boycotting all Games Workshop products. I am proud to say that I have just begun playing Warmachine, and am happy to discover that Privateer Press is is privately owned and has a terrific relationship with its customer base. Wargaming has now developed to the point where I could very happily play exclusively non-Games Workshop products for the rest of my life. However, I would prefer this to not be the case. I very seriously mean what my subject line reads: I Love Games Workshop. Games Workshop has literally defined what it means to have a beautiful and complete game, background, and product range. Even after a four-year hiatus during college, I picked the game back up again because I remembered just how excited I felt to be a part of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. But Games Workshop is falling from grace, and I will no longer continue to support it if such practices continue. I very strongly urge that you reform your practices, reduce the price of your models, and focus on creating a balanced, fun game that we all know you are fully capable of making. Stop the greed, stop the outlandish and inconsistent new releases, and stop alienating your customer base in service of your shareholders. Your customers are transitioning to your competition, and are finding not inferior products at merely lower prices but rather equal or superior products and better prices. Your customers will come back to you in droves if you focus on their experience again, and not on your investors.

I can at least promise that I will. But until then, strike me from the list of your customers, as sad as that is for me to admit.

Sincerely,
[My name removed, all you Dakka Stalkers]
11 Year 40k Veteran

Did you post or E-mail this letter?

I strongly suspect that GW have already read every variation and combination of letter contents from customers to them. Be it pleading or raging or trying to compromise.

Unfortunately i think this is among the majority that will end up been deleted or thrown in the garbage can before been read.

We have protestors, complaints , and there are people that buys GW products just the same. For the company, its just the same usual income.

I would stick to the facts if you want to be heard.

Belerephon wrote:....Prohibiting privately sold miniatures from making their way to roughly 50% of the world is yet another unfair example of GW sales practices that continue to horrify me as a once devoted customer.......

Sales are not prohibited. GW are just stopping EU based resellers selling into markets that are apparently served at local level by GW and other independent resellers. This is common practice amongst distributors and manufacturers of other products (My company isn't allowed to sell certain products to the southern hemisphere as there are distributors in place serving this market).

codex creep, canon changing, BROFIST! etc

GW can change their fluff anyway they see fit. I may not like it but I will defend to the death their right to portray Necrons and Bangles brofisting.

We know what is going on behind the scenes

No, we don't, we only make assumptions from information that is out there, and contextually a lot of that info is third hand at best.

No, we don't, we only make assumptions from information that is out there, and contextually a lot of that info is third hand at best.

Reference what concerns you but make sure that you stick with facts as they relate to you and your purchasing.

Actually, as they are a publicly traded company, we do know a lot of what is going on behind the scenes. As a corporation, they are legally bound to do whatever they can to maximize their profits. That's why we are seeing outrageous price hikes like this.

Do we need a separate thread for everyone who sends a letter?

lord_blackfang wrote:Do we need a separate thread for everyone who sends a letter?

You can start a thread for everyone that sent GW a letter to post in.

Belerephon wrote:

No, we don't, we only make assumptions from information that is out there, and contextually a lot of that info is third hand at best.

Reference what concerns you but make sure that you stick with facts as they relate to you and your purchasing.

Actually, as they are a publicly traded company, we do know a lot of what is going on behind the scenes. As a corporation, they are legally bound to do whatever they can to maximize their profits. That's why we are seeing outrageous price hikes like this.

Agreed, but lot of what people think they know stems from hearsay and band-wagoning.