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Apologize if this is a double post, didn't see it up yet.

Lots of insights into how and why GW does some of the things it does.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ppwzq/iama_former_games_workshop_employee_ama/

Include text in quote for the work blocked?

I can never read reddits format. It's meandering and difficult to follow.

You can thank new line cinema for this. Since GW got the license agreement for the hobbit only because they agreed to crack down on their information leeks.

This is interesting. So its New Line Cinema's fault?

ShumaGorath wrote:I can never read reddits format. It's meandering and difficult to follow.

Click the little [-] before every string of conversations and you can collapse trees.

Mr Hyena wrote:

You can thank new line cinema for this. Since GW got the license agreement for the hobbit only because they agreed to crack down on their information leeks.

This is interesting. So its New Line Cinema's fault?

That makes no sense, though. There's a difference between leaks and official news.

VladtheEmailer wrote:The cost of entry is part of the panache of the whole thing.

I understand your point, but I also understand the company's point: they don't want everyone to be playing.

They want it to be a prestige game. And, quite frankly, take a look at the new plastics. It IS a prestige game.

Ugh. Really? Who the hell are they trying to keep out? It's not as if wargaming only attracts the model citizens. See the 'GW horror stories' thread for proof. What a load of gak.

infinite_array wrote:

Mr Hyena wrote:

You can thank new line cinema for this. Since GW got the license agreement for the hobbit only because they agreed to crack down on their information leeks.

This is interesting. So its New Line Cinema's fault?

That makes no sense, though. There's a difference between leaks and official news.

This isn't new, at all. With "The Two Towers", GW supposedly caught huge amounts of flak for the fact that someone showed off scans from the rulebook showing the Elves at Helm's Deep, and the Uruk-Hai Berserkers(both of which were not in the actual novel). Then there was also--again, supposedly, an issue when the Army of the Dead models got previewed before the movie released.

Someone in the Redditt post made a good point. Smaug is going to be a key part of the movie, and we don't know how/what they're going to show him as. People have an expectation of him looking a certain way, but exactly how he looks will be part of the surprise of the movie.

I wouldn't put too much bases on it. It's just a guy who worked at the store level and it's an AMA on reddit.. meaning unless it gets confirmation, might just be someone trolling.

Mr Hyena wrote:

You can thank new line cinema for this. Since GW got the license agreement for the hobbit only because they agreed to crack down on their information leeks.

This is interesting. So its New Line Cinema's fault?

It's nice to see how they're so keen to stop leaks about a movie whose book was published SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.

Hes a bit more than store level, given some of the stuff hes said.

Mr Hyena wrote:

You can thank new line cinema for this. Since GW got the license agreement for the hobbit only because they agreed to crack down on their information leeks.

This is interesting. So its New Line Cinema's fault?

New Line Cinema, and other movie producers, are notorious for keeping their future products secret and not showing sneak peeks to fans until only about a week or so before actual release. After all, if people don't know about it, they're more likely to buy the product when it actually is released.

They also charge Asians, Australians and continental Europeans outrageously high rates to see their movies.

Some or all of the above might not be true.

Kanluwen wrote:
This isn't new, at all. With "The Two Towers", GW supposedly caught huge amounts of flak for the fact that someone showed off scans from the rulebook showing the Elves at Helm's Deep, and the Uruk-Hai Berserkers(both of which were not in the actual novel). Then there was also--again, supposedly, an issue when the Army of the Dead models got previewed before the movie released.

Someone in the Redditt post made a good point. Smaug is going to be a key part of the movie, and we don't know how/what they're going to show him as. People have an expectation of him looking a certain way, but exactly how he looks will be part of the surprise of the movie.

I do agree with you on the leaks on items associated with LoTR, The Hobbit, and New Line Cinemas.

But why would any of that - why should any of that - also have a bearing on how GW treats it's own lines of products. They've stopped previews of anything 40k or Fantasy related as well, with the whole 'announce it a week before release' strategy.

That's a very interesting take on GW insights and such. But after losing money year after year you'd think that they'd come up with a new gameplan. Either that or they're okay with losing the money that they are, or not really losing money. Then again Vlad could be way way off. But his explanations seem plausible at least.

Mr Hyena wrote:

You can thank new line cinema for this. Since GW got the license agreement for the hobbit only because they agreed to crack down on their information leeks.

This is interesting. So its New Line Cinema's fault?

No, that's pretty silly. Games Workshop, like any other game company, will have a strategy about communicating products in development. While NLC might have input on how they communicate Lord of the Rings, GW make and chose their own policy for most other stuff. GW do what they do because its' what THEY believe works best.

Agree that the format is awful for getting any useful info out of it, and what 'useful info' there is in there is limited...

Also, as much as Smaug should look like this:



I can't stop picturing him like this:



for obvious reasons...!

Swara wrote:I wouldn't put too much bases on it. It's just a guy who worked at the store level and it's an AMA on reddit.. meaning unless it gets confirmation, might just be someone trolling.

Actually, it was both a guy who worked in corporate sales and the famous "Dirty Steve."

Stoffer wrote:No, that's pretty silly. Games Workshop, like any other game company, will have a strategy about communicating products in development. While NLC might have input on how they communicate Lord of the Rings, GW make and chose their own policy for most other stuff. GW do what they do because its' what THEY believe works best.

From what I've heard, NLC was so angry about the previous leaks that they required GW to take a very restrictive policy in order to prove that they could successfully keep things under wraps.

I hope GW doesn't leak the plot of the Hobbit!!

That makes sense. They proved that by denying the 6th ed codex. True or not it makes no difference. They'd never denyed anything before. They're contractually obligated to be watertight, company wide

Fetterkey wrote:

Swara wrote:I wouldn't put too much bases on it. It's just a guy who worked at the store level and it's an AMA on reddit.. meaning unless it gets confirmation, might just be someone trolling.

Actually, it was both a guy who worked in corporate sales and the famous "Dirty Steve."

Stoffer wrote:No, that's pretty silly. Games Workshop, like any other game company, will have a strategy about communicating products in development. While NLC might have input on how they communicate Lord of the Rings, GW make and chose their own policy for most other stuff. GW do what they do because its' what THEY believe works best.

From what I've heard, NLC was so angry about the previous leaks that they required GW to take a very restrictive policy in order to prove that they could successfully keep things under wraps.

NLC may certainly have a say in how LOTR is marketed, but they don't determine GWs communication strategy across the board. The way they do business is pretty streamlined across products and that's how GW have chosen to do business, not NLC. They could easily do 40k in development blogs weekly, while keeping tight wraps on LOTR. They don't though, because they have a strategy they apply across the board because they believe it is the best course of action. NLC are not the cause of this, it simply doesn't make sense, especially considering how small a share LOTR are of GWs portfolio.

Mmmm... register with Reddit so I can ask about the 'SoB release' in WD.... or not register with Reddit....


*sigh* Fine...


To Reddit!

xttz wrote:It's nice to see how they're so keen to stop leaks about a movie whose book was published SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.

Kirasu wrote:I hope GW doesn't leak the plot of the Hobbit!!

They aren't worried about plot leaks, but art leaks. Some of the aesthetic elements of the film are still under wraps, such Smaug, the Necromancer, ect ect.

Kirasu wrote:I hope GW doesn't leak the plot of the Hobbit!!

Well they are filming the White Council (Gandalf, Saruman, Lady Galadriel) I assume they'll be driving out the "necromancer" (Sauron) out of his tower in Mirkwood. That might be cool. LotR might be a small part of GW right now but it could take up 50% of casuals when the Hobbit hits. Personally I'm more stoked for 40k this year and earmarking the big box for Xmas.

Well, on a serious note I've also heard that the IT department at GW has been instructed to clamp down on all emails being sent.. Apparently there was a lot of anger over the leaked book so all emails must be filtered before being sent out

Ahtman wrote:

Kirasu wrote:I hope GW doesn't leak the plot of the Hobbit!!

They aren't worried about plot leaks, but art leaks. Some of the aesthetic elements of the film are still under wraps, such Smaug, the Necromancer, ect ect.

I'm pretty sure the part about leaking the plot of an 80-year-old book was a joke.

Absolutionis wrote:

Ahtman wrote:

Kirasu wrote:I hope GW doesn't leak the plot of the Hobbit!!

They aren't worried about plot leaks, but art leaks. Some of the aesthetic elements of the film are still under wraps, such Smaug, the Necromancer, ect ect.

I'm pretty sure the part about leaking the plot of an 80-year-old book was a joke.

I would think so, but it keeps popping up, and this is the internet after all. Better safe than sorry.

The company LOVES and listens to the online community; up there above, you'll see that I mentioned the return of Blood Bowl, which was driven by the online folks and the retailers. It was a disaster for the company (which, by the way, is what everyone internally predicted) but they did it anyway. Without the fans, there's no industry, right?

There was a Blood Bowl re-release? There was a Blood Bowl re-release that was a disaster?

Plus I don’t believe for a second that the problem with a BB release was the notion that everyone ‘had it already’ so it didn’t sell. Granted, GW has proven themselves to quite incapable of promoting their own products, but isn’t the idea to get new players?

For Gorka Morka coming with enough stuff that you’d never need to buy anything else, I can see that being party true but I doubt that anyone did it that way. And I reckon you could make the same argument about Necromunda as well. You don’t need anything more than those two lots of plastic gangs, after all.

And as for the ‘Goblin Index’... insane...

infinite_array wrote:

VladtheEmailer wrote:The cost of entry is part of the panache of the whole thing.

I understand your point, but I also understand the company's point: they don't want everyone to be playing.

They want it to be a prestige game. And, quite frankly, take a look at the new plastics. It IS a prestige game.

Ugh. Really? Who the hell are they trying to keep out? It's not as if wargaming only attracts the model citizens. See the 'GW horror stories' thread for proof. What a load of gak.

The whole "prestige game" angle really makes no sense to me.

Someone help me out, whats the line of thinking here?

How can a rather niche game be a prestige game? (its very niche in my country, at least)

VladtheEmailer wrote:I don't know anything about Matt Ward. Sorry!

Clearly.

Not very educational. Seems a nice chappy though.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

The company LOVES and listens to the online community; up there above, you'll see that I mentioned the return of Blood Bowl, which was driven by the online folks and the retailers. It was a disaster for the company (which, by the way, is what everyone internally predicted) but they did it anyway. Without the fans, there's no industry, right?

There was a Blood Bowl re-release? There was a Blood Bowl re-release that was a disaster?

Plus I don’t believe for a second that the problem with a BB release was the notion that everyone ‘had it already’ so it didn’t sell. Granted, GW has proven themselves to quite incapable of promoting their own products, but isn’t the idea to get new players?

I think he's referring to when they released the updated Griff Oberwald, Zug, and the two "new" Human and Elf teams.

Obsidian Raven wrote:

infinite_array wrote:

VladtheEmailer wrote:The cost of entry is part of the panache of the whole thing.

I understand your point, but I also understand the company's point: they don't want everyone to be playing.

They want it to be a prestige game. And, quite frankly, take a look at the new plastics. It IS a prestige game.

Ugh. Really? Who the hell are they trying to keep out? It's not as if wargaming only attracts the model citizens. See the 'GW horror stories' thread for proof. What a load of gak.

The whole "prestige game" angle really makes no sense to me.

Someone help me out, whats the line of thinking here?

How can a rather niche game be a prestige game? (its very niche in my country, at least)

It isn't in reality a prestige game, they just want it to feel like it is by making it more and more expensive. If they make the hurdle to play the game money they feel it will make the game seem more exotic and hard to obtain, giving the consumer a sense of exclusivity. I suppose it is the opposite of the idea that people don't appreciate something that is free, therefore the opposite must be true. If a thing is to expensive you'll feel a sense of accomplishment just in obtaining it, as well as feel those around you are just as accomplished. It doesn't make sense unless you really want it to, and it made a bit more sense when there wasn't as much competition I suppose. I always thought that Warmachine and Flames of War would have made companies more competitively priced but it seems like they are just going up in price to match GW, so I guess there must be something to it.