who made your opinion credible, anyways?
I didn't say my opinion was credible. You're questioning
GW's business acumen. I'm questioning your qualifications relative to THEM, not to me. They run a multi-million dollar business. You feel that's something you can do based on "common sense."
My "claims" are the fact that a lot of people are out there, upset over the fact that they cannot afford to be as involved in the hobby as they used to be
Ok, and why is that?
You've been shown that
GW plastic kits are priced similarly to other plastic kits.
You've been shown that the price of
GW kits has only slightly outpaced inflation.
I'm not going to tell people that they can or can't afford something. Let's assume they genuinely can't. If that's the case, then everything I'm seeing indicates that this has more to do with a general financial downturn, changing priorities in their life, etc.
Please look at what you're saying. You're irritated that we're talking about the change of prices over time, but then you restate your central argument as being about the change of prices over time.
I have been consistent in saying that their model of business is going to lead the hobby into a crappy direction as more people get out of it and scale back their purchases as a result of the events we see again and again.
Instead of going to one of the numerous other options for miniatures gaming? Or are all those companies just as evil, shortsighted and otherwise inferior to you in business acumen? Sounds to me like it's past time for you to start your own company, and eat those guys' lunch.
Heh, you love your abrasive little questions, don't you?
I think you find them abrasive because I'm trying to get you to take responsibility for your own words, to actually say something specific, rather than vague, generalized anti-
GW negativity.
It's really very simple.
You've been shown that
GW plastic kits are priced similarly to other plastic kits.
You've been shown that the price of
GW kits has only slightly outpaced inflation.
Either refute one (preferrably both) of those points, or admit you're wrong.
UK inflation was running under 2% a year for much of the decade preceding the global financial crisis.
Right, but now it's 4.5%. We can get some numbers as to what the inflation rate was in England over a given time period, but we need to know what that time period is.
We have a figure of ~40% price increase over the last 9 years. A quick google suggests the rate over that same period was about 2.5%, on average. Compounding that over 9 years, you get about 25%. That leaves about 15% over 9 years, or about a 1.67% annual increase, corrected for inflation.
Is that a lot? Does that make or break the hobby for people? I really can't believe that it does. I tend to think that these people saying "I can't afford it anymore" could afford it just fine if their priorities were the same as when they were playing more heavily.
Yeah, the problem with that is that the economies of most industrialized nations contracted a couple of points last year yet GW still raised prices...holding steady, that isn't.
GDP isn't the same as inflation. Inflation in most (all?) first world countries has continued mostly unabated for decades. It's a symptom of a credit based economy.
More like, they are slowly dying.
I would think they probably are, actually. But then I would also like to see how they're dying relative to other plastic model companies. I'd think it's much the same. The fact is, more and more entertainment is becoming virtual. People stop buying remote control cars, and they start playing Gran Turismo. People stop playing
DnD and they start playing WoW. I realize it's not THE SAME, but there's overlap, and there's lost market share.
As Redbeard said, even if
GW IS in decline (and I've seen no proof that they are), it's not necessarily bad management. It could simply be a case of the demise of miniatures wargaming in general. The fact that people refuse to consider that is just another demonstration of their agenda: they want to be mad at
GW, they don't want to know the truth.
people are angry with GW
Yeah, and 25% of people think there's a conspiracy behind 9-11. What's your point?
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