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This may be one of those false memory things but back during 5th, 6th, 7th Im nearly certain leaks for new codicies, models and rules would be out months in advance of the actual release.
I recall being a bit annoyed at one point even because there was no suspense left for a big release.
8th releases (and even recent AoS) have been much tighter.

Firstly off, am I remembering correctly?

Secondly, how has GW gone about this? (Orks are a good example of late)
Harsher NDAs?
Less info given out to stores/managers?
New tighter design teams?
Deliberate tightening of info (as opposed to deliberately leaking it in the past)?
Community webpage used as the new driver?
etc etc

I wonder if the weekly release schedule rather than monthly has reduced the window of releases - or at least cut down those who need to know what is coming further out.

It may also have allowed more guess work. When you have 12 release windows - and Christmas is non-deal deals, you can put together a fairly accurate picture through guess work.

Still back in the day (2010-2015 or so) there were people leaking the release schedule that was largely accurate out to about 18-24 months. (Yes, there were also a lot of people who leaked rubbish but you could just ignore them.)

I suspect that considering their factory is all in one site its easier for them to keep tabs on employees and discourage leaks. This might be in the form of several approaches such as;

1) Harsher penalties if you are caught leaking.

2) Clear instruction on why leaks are bad for the company and how its harmful to employees and company income if leaks occur.

3) Tighter regulations on who knows what within the company chain. This might even include segregation of staff working areas so that pickers (for example) are not allowed into development areas etc...

4) A more formal business practice and air - ergo not just ahving rules but having them followed on not leaking things to other staff members etc...

5) Respect toward the company and fellow staff from employees. Ergo people won't leak if they respect the company they work for (esp if there's basically no financial benefit for the to leak info).




The faster turn around might also have something to do with it in so much as because so much is coming out and so much is going on staff don't feel the need to leak like in the past. When previously there could be bigger time gaps between releases I'm sure some leaks came from staff wanting to share a bit of info early cause they could see that there was a long long wait ahead.


It's likely a combination of things and could include other stuff as well. In general the leaks are a lot less ,but then again we are getting weekly releases so its hardly like the market is starved for content (though everyone has their own list of things they'd like to know if/when its coming)

id say two ways

1) old GW employees probably felt like if nobody were to hype the products, nobody would ever know about them. Feeling like there is an official channel to get people excited about the things you're working on (which DOESNT risk you getting fired!) leads to a lot fewer leaks. People primarily leaked because they were some minor employee and something fell into their lap that NOBODY knew about, and they would go "oh MAN I gotta tell everyone!" but now, games workshop does that proper. If someone ends up with the new aberrants on their desk a couple months in advance...why tell anyone? Everyone knows.

2) a lot harsher crackdown on leakers. games workshop has always had a zero tolerance policy, but they now use a lot harsher methods to get at the leakers. I was buddies with the guys at a local shop, and they told a friend in confidence about some minor upcoming release. his friend told a few other local people and then went to the internet thinking "well its anonymous right?" Welllll, to a point. A lot of folks popped up all at once knowing about the same release all from the same local area, and GW picked up that it must have come from this store. They announced that everyone at the location would be fired unless the leaker came forward, and my friend admitted to it, so only he got fired.

AKA...there's a carrot, and there's a stick. Like everything New GW does.

To be fair most GW store employees that I've spoken too generally know about as much as gamers know about upcoming stuff. They get very little advanced warning on releases coming up. In fact if they are not online active chances are they might even know less than gamers who are hunting for leaks and rumours.

They are basically on the same level, just that they get paid to play and sell the game. I suspect the only advanced warning they get is a major release event for which they have to setup their own event/store themes etc....

HQ staff who might see things are under NDAs, and 3rd parties (such as printers or delivery companies) who leak are not used again.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
GW seem to think that if people know what's coming out in the future they won't buy stuff now - hence their attitude.

We have been getting a lot of leaks as of late (necron codex for example) but the leakers are always never heard from again. Spooky.

I suspect they've probably just implemented and enforced a proper policy. I wouldn't be surprised if they've also started partitioning different parts of the development and sculpting teams to keep information more restricted as a whole. Even something as simple as a rule preventing printing of materials and keeping everything in a secure, restricted, document management system would probably prevent about 90% of the sort of leaks we used to see from GW.

It may also be down to GW actually doing their own previews now. Previously we'd get no official info about a release until it was actually happening. This resulted in lots of low-res scans and pictures of White Dwarf and models, which were pretty bad for the company just in terms of how poorly they reflected on the quality of the product.

We have been getting a lot of leaks as of late (necron codex for example) but the leakers are always never heard from again. Spooky.

Hehehe

beast_gts wrote:
HQ staff who might see things are under NDAs, and 3rd parties (such as printers or delivery companies) who leak are not used again.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
GW seem to think that if people know what's coming out in the future they won't buy stuff now - hence their attitude.

IT can also be because not everything developed gets released or gets released "on time". A leak showing a new model concept or rule concept could be cancelled and thus the public never gets to see it. Or rules released in isolation might make a new army or release appear really bad and thus have a negative impact on marketing just because its taken out of context.

You only have to look at Spartan Games for how a fanbase can get very diminished when the company leaks out info months in advance on products that never come/get endlessly delayed/are only concepts and never make it into production.

 Overread wrote:
IT can also be because not everything developed gets released or gets released "on time". A leak showing a new model concept or rule concept could be cancelled and thus the public never gets to see it.

Yep - FW were particularly bad for this. Look at Bran Redmaw and some of the larger Fantasy monsters.

 lolman1c wrote:
We have been getting a lot of leaks as of late (necron codex for example) but the leakers are always never heard from again. Spooky.

Different kind of leak though.

Its one thing to go "here's a camera phone shot of the codex that's coming out in 3 weeks, we got some a bit ahead of schedule, don't tell anyone, hehehe"

Its another to say "In April 2019 there will be the Sisters of Battle Release. In June 2020 there will be a Black Legion release with the new Abbadon."

....

"In September 2021 there will be new Plastic Aspect Warriors."

And have it turn out right.

Most big leaks happen during initial distribution. Probably the biggest thing they’ve done is start sending out NDA laden preview copies out to the internet press. This has essentially legitimized the old leaks in a way they control.

Tyel wrote:

 lolman1c wrote:
We have been getting a lot of leaks as of late (necron codex for example) but the leakers are always never heard from again. Spooky.

Different kind of leak though.

Its one thing to go "here's a camera phone shot of the codex that's coming out in 3 weeks, we got some a bit ahead of schedule, don't tell anyone, hehehe"

Its another to say "In April 2019 there will be the Sisters of Battle Release. In June 2020 there will be a Black Legion release with the new Abbadon."

....

"In September 2021 there will be new Plastic Aspect Warriors."

And have it turn out right.

i don't remember those kinda leaks from old gw. But the necron codex was leaked fully in hd digital detail. And surprisingly the Goodern super Mehriens were predicted months in advance. But if someone did say years in advance thatnwould be a rumour not a leak. A leak is actual evidence in my mind.

I think GW took some lessons in some of the other industries, and are using it to pressure some of the sites slightly.

Pretty sure if you ask BOLS to put a lid on any rumors, and 2 weeks before release you will give them official rumors to circulate, they would be on board. Same with Spiky bits.

Can someone explain why giving people a guide about the next 6-12 months stuff they want to do is a bad idea?

No, it's not just you, I remember during 6th and 7th there were reasonably accurate rumors on, if nothing else, approximate release date and order of codexes and models.

But ever since 8th, there's been nothing until copies hit physical shelves, and then people take pics and upload them.

And I've no idea how they've done it, but geedubz has done a hell of a job. Maybe summary executions?

The holds of the Black Ships must be packed to the gills.

In a short span of time, there were some very high profile leaks from the most reliable sources, where they got 99% of the details right, but one specific, glaring, obvious, and important rule they were 100% certain of, and were completely wrong. And it tended to be something that would certainly be shared in a leak.

Shortly after those 'reliable sources' shared those dumps, with their one incorrect detail, the dried up.

Bharring wrote:
In a short span of time, there were some very high profile leaks from the most reliable sources, where they got 99% of the details right, but one specific, glaring, obvious, and important rule they were 100% certain of, and were completely wrong. And it tended to be something that would certainly be shared in a leak.

Shortly after those 'reliable sources' shared those dumps, with their one incorrect detail, the dried up.

Yep, a Canary trap.

 Kap'n Krump wrote:
No, it's not just you, I remember during 6th and 7th there were reasonably accurate rumors on, if nothing else, approximate release date and order of codexes and models.

But ever since 8th, there's been nothing until copies hit physical shelves, and then people take pics and upload them.

And I've no idea how they've done it, but geedubz has done a hell of a job. Maybe summary executions?

A guy at my store told me that way back in time he was getting his info from a friend that knew someone working at a studio outside of UK, and that he knew 3-6 months in advance what the rules are going to be and what to sell and what to buy when it is cheap. But then GW murdered the studios outside of UK, and the leaks stoped. I just don't know if by murdered, he actually ment killed or closed.

Karol wrote:
Can someone explain why giving people a guide about the next 6-12 months stuff they want to do is a bad idea?

It isn’t, TSR use to do that, as does FFG. However, GW, since at least 3E (and I seem to recall the poor selling of Codexes with the knowledge new ones were in the works), they have been extremely resistant up until recently about letting us know ahead of time. They seem to be afraid that they’ll get stuck with old stock when new versions are on the horizon.

Somehow, in all of this I have in my mind the scene from Game of Thrones where Tyrion tells each of the lords a slight variation of the same rumor to see which one comes back to him and then punish the lord that actually leaked the info. Wonder if Roundtree did something similar to plug some of the rampant leaks.

Karol wrote:
Can someone explain why giving people a guide about the next 6-12 months stuff they want to do is a bad idea?

"Oh hey the new IG codex drops in 3 months, maybe I shouldn't buy anything for a bit until I know this model will actually be good"

"Oh hey there was that rumor that there's a new tactical marine box coming out, maybe I should hold off on purchasing these ones."

"Oh yeah 8th is dropping in 4 months, why would I ever buy any of these books when they'll be useless soon?"

And countless more that we've all heard and probably used ourselves at some point. It annoys me too, but to a degree it does make sense to not just state some of these things are coming out so people will buy up the old stock and save you some trouble. Think about it this way, let's say we heard a rumour that Cadians were getting a new infantry squad kit. Why on Earth would you buy any of the old boxes once you knew? They lack tons of options, have boring poses, and look very dated. No, you'd be smart and wait to see more info and get an idea of what the new kit will be like. That's bad as far as GW is concerned because the moment that info gets into the wild the obsolete kits sales will nosedive.

I'd prefer they post the schedule then when it's getting close for a kit to be replaced, they put it on sale to clear iventory instead, but that "devalues the brand"

You also need to consider that gak happens. Books get delayed at the printer. Kits have issues with their molds. Perhaps a batch of instructions was printed incorrectly. Maybe the boat carrying plastic sisters got lost in the Bermuda triangle and was never seen again. Tell people what's planned to early can leave you up gak Creek when a delay happens that is unexpected. Nerds practically live on salt, especially on forums. Leaks given in good faith to generate hype can quickly turn into salt if people online don't think it's being done properly or don't believe an excuse. Take a look at how Ork and space wolf players feel after seeing kill team and sigmar 2.0 delaying their codexes for what seems like 2 more months at least. They're not happy.

Karol wrote:
Can someone explain why giving people a guide about the next 6-12 months stuff they want to do is a bad idea?

Look at the venom surrounding 'The Fires of Cyraxus'. If you announce something (no matter how vaguely) then fail to deliver (even when it's not your fault) the backlash is immense.

 Stormonu wrote:

Karol wrote:
Can someone explain why giving people a guide about the next 6-12 months stuff they want to do is a bad idea?

It isn’t, TSR use to do that, as does FFG. However, GW, since at least 3E (and I seem to recall the poor selling of Codexes with the knowledge new ones were in the works), they have been extremely resistant up until recently about letting us know ahead of time. They seem to be afraid that they’ll get stuck with old stock when new versions are on the horizon.

Somehow, in all of this I have in my mind the scene from Game of Thrones where Tyrion tells each of the lords a slight variation of the same rumor to see which one comes back to him and then punish the lord that actually leaked the info. Wonder if Roundtree did something similar to plug some of the rampant leaks.

They absolutely did.

As for why they don't map out the whole year; it basically comes down to consumer attention span. Announcing something cool and exciting and telling people that they can't have it for a year means that by the time its actually possible for them to spend money, their attention has already moved on to other things. This is particularly true in a hobby where, after purchasing something, you're not going to have it looking the way you envisioned for a month or so after purchase.

beast_gts wrote:

Karol wrote:
Can someone explain why giving people a guide about the next 6-12 months stuff they want to do is a bad idea?

Look at the venom surrounding 'The Fires of Cyraxus'. If you announce something (no matter how vaguely) then fail to deliver (even when it's not your fault) the backlash is immense.

Riot learned that leson with Aurelion Sol. Theres a reason Blizzard always uses "coming soon".

beast_gts wrote:

Karol wrote:
Can someone explain why giving people a guide about the next 6-12 months stuff they want to do is a bad idea?

Look at the venom surrounding 'The Fires of Cyraxus'. If you announce something (no matter how vaguely) then fail to deliver (even when it's not your fault) the backlash is immense.

Or the Ork Rumor's thread. Keep checking for rumors, and in the grim darkness all I find is complaining.

One of our really good rumor mongers was Lady Atia on here. Has she even posted anything in a while? Or did her well dry up too?

 timetowaste85 wrote:
One of our really good rumor mongers was Lady Atia on here. Has she even posted anything in a while? Or did her well dry up too?

She occasionally posts on War of Sigmar (although that site and others like Battle Bunnies just seem to recycle official articles now).

Ok, thanks for explaining guys. I thought that GW, if it fails to deliver, would just fire the responsible person, putting the blame on him and apologize to the public seems to work for other companies. The argument about not showing stuff they do, because they maybe bad or hurt already existing players, is a strong one. Kind of a explains why their communication is so bad. I thought that the warhammer community was a fan page, and found out today it is an official GW site