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What sold me I feel was the videogames, I love those RTS games, their still some of my favourites.

 wowsmash wrote:
I don't understand what you mean by flemsy. I was under the impression warma/hordes was pretty rock solid and balanced.

By flimsy I meant that the game itself, whilst having clear rules, really relies on both players knowing what their enemy player's army can do. In 40k and LotR (not sure about Fantasy) I can turn up with a decent army and do perfectly fine even if I'm playing against armies I'm unaware of. Also all that Fury stuff is a tiny bit confusing and difficult to grasp.

In WFB you will likely lose if you don't know the potential tricks and builds of any given army you face.

Aerethan
2012/09/07 07:11:02 Subject: Why is Games Workshop anti-publicity?



Which is interesting, because back in 2000ish GW was in talks with Wal Mart about distribution. GW's demands were laughable though, and Wal Mart passed. The terms were more or less:
GW product to have it's own isle. No other products allowed, with 2 end caps.
GW product had to be sold at MSRP, not Wal Mart's usual pricing.

GW wouldn't budge on the terms(which are steep), which is unfortunate because they are the ones who lost out from the deal. Not having GW is no skin off Wal Marts back, but the exposure and sales volume would have been epic for GW. So that gives a little insight into how they view themselves: Premium luxury items that are too superior for Wal Mart to sell at anything other than top dollar.

All I have to say to this is...WOW....where did you hear this from because I would love to read this article...if true this would be staggeringly arrogant/stupid on GW's part

To think of the opportunity squandered....this was before the company went publicly traded I assume?

I'd have to do some major digging, as it was 12 years ago and finding pages that old isn't always easy, and sometimes the pages are deleted or the sites gone. I'll see if a little google fu comes up with anything relevant.

Yeah, I'm also stunned by the arrogance on their part...I shouldn't be but am, lol.

GW believed the internet was a fad. That statement alone tells you absolutely everything you need to know about their business mentality.

I've seen those GW adverts on youtube. I understand why they didn't continue down that avenue.




I've been an addict for almost ten years now and that almost makes me want to give it all up.

 Davylove21 wrote:
I've seen those GW adverts on youtube. I understand why they didn't continue down that avenue.

Spoiler:

I've been an addict for almost ten years now and that almost makes me want to give it all up.

I have never seen that before. That being said KILL IT WITH FIRE AND LET US NEVER SPEAK OF IT AGAIN. No one saw a thing. Not a damn thing.....

Closest I ever came to seeing a proper GW TV ad was when they had this odd LotR dealy you could get from the newsagent. And one TV ad for a FLGS in the US which had 40K/WHFB in it, alongside Warmahordes. The handful of various 40K videogame ads I have seen don't count since GW would have had nothing to do with them.

I have never seen a TV ad spot for GW...Colour me astonished

I am also amused at their optimism for female players and the inteniveness (word?) lol of the parent...I remember our GW in the mall was mostly used as a drop off spot for parents while they went shopping *sigh*

not to say there aren't female players, but lets face it ...the ratio of female to male players are not 2:1

 RogueMage wrote:
I have never seen a TV ad spot for GW...Colour me astonished

I am also amused at their optimism for female players and the inteniveness (word?) lol of the parent...I remember our GW in the mall was mostly used as a drop off spot for parents while they went shopping *sigh*

not to say there aren't female players, but lets face it ...the ratio of female to male players are not 2:1

Nope its about 38:1 in my area, that is a lot of hot, sweaty, nerd on nerd action. Minus the chance of children even!

With that said, my GF likes to play the game lol.

I can't wait for the day that GW catch on to the trend of hiring female staff to lure in the males to the shop like EB/Game/Gamestop do.

It is going to be whole new level of awkward in there for me to watch and enjoy. Nothing like a Land Raider and a show for some light entertainment.

I WISH GW would be available at a place like Walmart, if GW sold and marketed like Lego I would be in heaven... If the price was reasonable of course, then I could afford an army of each faction!

I can only imagine the level of horror had GW hired any women while I was around (before the store closed)

There was even a time or two that the employee's had to tell some of the reg's that if they didn't adhere to norms of cleanliness (ie odour control) then they would have to kick everyone out of the store.....that was rather an embarrasing time to be a gamer

A rather ridiculous representation of GW stores there. Female gamers exist in small numbers, though most I've met do not do GW but other games, D&D and MtG for example. The impression they try to give that their shops are 50% attractive young women is complete fiction. I wonder what they specifically hope to accomplish by presenting their customer base as such. Are they hoping to pull more girls into the game, or draw in boys thinking girls will be around?

My vote is boys.

 Davylove21 wrote:
I've seen those GW adverts on youtube. I understand why they didn't continue down that avenue.

This is not a TV spot by GW, it is a TV spot by a local GW store in Virginia, obviously in a local TV channel. IIRC there was another one by a local store in Chicago. This is not the same as what MB is doing, but more comparable to the TV spot by a local used car salesman.

 BunkerBob wrote:
What sold me I feel was the videogames, I love those RTS games, their still some of my favourites.

Yes I only got into 40k through Dawn of War. I had no idea it existed before that.

 Kroothawk wrote:

 Davylove21 wrote:
I've seen those GW adverts on youtube. I understand why they didn't continue down that avenue.

This is not a TV spot by GW, it is a TV spot by a local GW store in Virginia, obviously in a local TV channel. IIRC there was another one by a local store in Chicago. This is not the same as what MB is doing, but more comparable to the TV spot by a local used car salesman.

You could call that an MB ad but I'm not going to believe that GW didn't OK it. Even for 1991, they didn't do a great job.

Not content to bitch endlessly about current GW practices, Dakka takes it upon themselves to dig up ninties adverts to nerdrage over...

The genestealer is sweeeet.

 CT GAMER wrote:
Not content to bitch endlessly about current GW practices, Dakka takes it upon themselves to dig up ninties adverts to nerdrage over...

The first commercial is just... cheap. It makes me wonder if GW HQ knew about it's production. If HQ approved it then shame on them. If it was made under the table by the store manager on his own budget, then sure. The quality is the same as any other late night local mom and pop shop commercial.

The second commercial is nothing out of the ordinary for the early nineties. Anyone remember Crossfire commercials? They were just as bad.

 English Assassin wrote:


As it is, GW, as the publisher of the only newsstand wargaming magazine (crap though it is.

Wargames Illustrated is almost as common as WD, you can certainly buy it in WH Smiths and larger newsagents. There are also a few others like Miniature Wargames.

GW doesn't advertise because it believes that it doesn't need to and until such time as GW's managment enter the real world I don't expect things to change.

Crossfire commercial bad? How dare you!

I agree with what people have said so far about it being a strong brand, and already attracting a lot of the people it ever could do.

But I think there's also something else, and it's either clever of them or just incidental. I've seen a lot of stuff blow up in popularity and then crash and die as a result; have a think and I bet you have too. There are a lot of problems associated with getting big, and it's not just things like having enough stock and the big cash flow problems when expanding. If they advertised and brought in loads of casuals, when those people leave again GW are stuck with the near impossible task of downsizing, whilst trying to sell to a market flooded with cheap 2nd hand models people are trying to get rid of. I don't think Warhammer could survive being a trend/fad/whatever.

I'm sure GW want to expand, but they need to do it in a sustainable way. Becoming fashionable can only ever be transitory. What I think they're doing is pretty smart; just servicing a dedicated fanbase that is expanding it's own community. I was pulled in by friends, who were in turn pulled in by friends, which makes it likely we'll keep playing (and spending).

Palindrome wrote:

 English Assassin wrote:


As it is, GW, as the publisher of the only newsstand wargaming magazine (crap though it is.

Wargames Illustrated is almost as common as WD, you can certainly buy it in WH Smiths and larger newsagents. There are also a few others like Miniature Wargames.

GW doesn't advertise because it believes that it doesn't need to and until such time as GW's managment enter the real world I don't expect things to change.

As mentioned...White Dwarf isn't the only one. However, it is the only one which isn't carried by either of the two local book stores (one comic book shop does carry it, the other hobby store stopped carrying it last year when the sales fell out the bottom and only order a single store copy as well as ones for those who don't want to bother with a subscription). Wargames Illustrated and Miniature Wargames are both on the magazine racks with related model and hobby magazines like Amazing Figure Modeler and various modeling magazines.

I like how the Space Crusade commercial calls the 40k setting a "parallel universe".

 ExNoctemNacimur wrote:
Here is my take on it:

1) Wargaming in general is not a very well known hobby. GW, on the other hand, has quite a large presence - I was on their website when a friend came up to me and said he saw a shop sporting that logo right outside where he stayed for the summer. Therefore they don't really need that much PR. And anyway, how many 12 year old hobbyists have really heard of other wargaming companies? We won't buy the Chinese airgun at $5 but we'd buy the Nerf airgun at $55 because the Nerf company is more well known and therefore we assume that their product is better even if they're identical.

The nerf gun thing isn't really comparable, but you do point out one thing: GW does far far more passive advertising *to non players* just by virtue of having stores.

3) A lot of people are attracted to high prices. We all want a Ferrari and we want to wear designer apparel even if the Honda sports car is similar or the Thai fake sunglasses are just as nice. Similarly if GW were to sell models at, say, $5 for a Tactical Squad the product will lose its prestige factor.

Somewhere out there, an economist just had a heart attack. You are right that there is a certain level below which people think 'wow, that's cheap. There must be something wrong with it.' $5 for tactical marines probably would do it these days. $20, probably not. And there are goods out there that have a prestige factor because of their price (called conspicuous or Veblen goods), where a large part of the value of the product to some people is related to how uncommon it is.
Games Workshop products are not in danger of being in either category. GW makes mass-produced plastic soldiers which you need to buy in the hundreds. They have no 'prestige' associated with them. Forge World, maybe a little. GW, no.

3) A lot of people are attracted to high prices.

And those people spend their entire welfare check on designer jeans and gawdy jewelery.

I've never in my life bought something BECAUSE it was expensive. There are two types of people who do that:

1. The 1%. They have enough money to throw around, and to them a high price means exclusivity. They want to feel superior to the masses, so they buy pricey toys and what not to give them that feeling.
2. The other 1%. Not a precise number I'm sure, but you get the idea. The exact opposite end of the financial spectrum(at least here in the US). These people live well below the poverty level, and yet somehow have money for rims, chains, ridiculous looking rhinestone covered pants, 1000w sound systems in busted up old American cars that at one point in history were considered luxury. Some people may think I'm targeting a specific color of people, but I can tell you from my own experience that the above spending habits are not exclusive to any single ethnicity. I've seen people of every shade do this. And all of them wait in line at Social Services to add another baby to their food stamps. I challenge anyone who lives near a large city to take a peek inside the Social Services building. Count how many people have Iphones, gold jewelery, designer clothes etc.

So yes, I suppose if "a lot" of people are in either of those brackets, sure, high prices are appealing. 98% of the world doesn't exist in those two brackets.

Wargames as a hobby are really only done by the middle class. Some players are at the higher end of that, others like myself are at the lower end. To anyone who has to budget their income and who owes any kind of money to anyone, lower prices are what we want. Not a single damn person on earth plays warhammer because of its prestige or exclusivity.

I should also add that the vast majority of all advertising is aimed at said middle class.

When they released Hero Quest and Space Crusade (published by MB games and carried in all the mainstream toy/game stores) we were seeing national TV adverts with the Games Workshop logo and there was a GW brochure in the box.

They found a lot of new players over that period which would otherwise never have heard of them.

I'm surprised they never thought to repeat that.