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Hi all, Just seeing other people's views on how games workshop are doing at the minute. From my experience I have seen my local games workshop lose all of their experience staff and the new set of staff transform my FLGS from a hobby centre to a shop. This over time has scared off all veteran gamers and teenagers who come down to play due to having to book tables and painting stations and can no longer turn up in the afternoon, hang out and play some games with friends. I would just like to see what other peoples experiences with Games Workshop are at the minute. Thanks Guys.

Give it a couple of months, your local GW will have spontaneously generated a whole shop full of new 'little Timmys'. Either that or it will have another iteration of staff members.

Financially they aren't going down the drain.

Now as far as my view of them as a company ignoring finances, yes they are going down the drain.

They sell things no one wanted, don't sell things that people do want, they have almost zero QA, and insist on raising prices well beyond inflation every year. They view no other company as competition, therefore they do nothing to stay competitive.

100% of the top management brass needs to be let go and replaced with people who know what they are doing, instead of pumping the company for a retirement fund.

Those are fair points aerethan, and about giving it some time, its been 3 months now maybe, I pop in every now and then and I'm still greeted with the same cold greeting as the rest of my friends as we were "Old Clientèle" it seems incredibly unprofessional, so much so that I spoke to them about it, and they said they should be devoting 80% of their time with new comers and the 20% with people who already play, and I saw that not only as unfair, but also unjust as we come down for a nice atmosphere and if we feel shunned... well it just defies the point really.

It's another one of these threads,boys!

Yippee!

As far as my local GW (Oxford), I've been in there once in 3 years to buy my brother three boxes of Grots for his birthday....
My old local GW in Peterborough used to be great. Three staff at all times, nice atmosphere, plenty of tables, no booking to play nonsense, informative and enthusiastic staffers, a genuinely nice Manager, and helpful Vets....

Mind you, that was 15 years ago

I never got the cold shoulder from the GW back home, though I had been going there a great number of years, by the end-before I moved- the new staff left me alone and didn't try to sell me anything, except paint. It was the only thing I did buy and its the same price everywhere so when GW redid their paint line they told me that several old colours were back, which I liked.
(I found I like that textured paint for model railroads lol)

Sold all my GW stuff, got into Warmachine and also made enough money to buy christmas presents this year.

Not looking back. WarmaHordes is cheaper to get into, quicker to play, has a better tighter ruleset, makes better models, has a more appealing release schedule, and more people play it.

yes but there are no little faerie/sprites, my sprite army is one of the few things keeping me around on the GW side lol

FLGS?

What a novel concept...

 Deraiderspam wrote:
Those are fair points aerethan, and about giving it some time, its been 3 months now maybe, I pop in every now and then and I'm still greeted with the same cold greeting as the rest of my friends as we were "Old Clientèle" it seems incredibly unprofessional, so much so that I spoke to them about it, and they said they should be devoting 80% of their time with new comers and the 20% with people who already play, and I saw that not only as unfair, but also unjust as we come down for a nice atmosphere and if we feel shunned... well it just defies the point really.

Look, I don't want to say they way they are operating is right but they're a retail outlet, not a social club. You don't go down to your local sporting goods store and just hang around all afternoon, do you? Or your local supermarket? You shouldn't expect to be able to go to a GW store and just hang out. That's not what it's for.

Now, gaming stores are a bit different. My local game store has ~8 tables, and runs gaming nights twice a week. During those nights, we are free to turn up, get a game in and hang out with our fellow geeks. And if a GW store has a game night, or time dedicated for gamers, then you should feel free to turn up and not feel shunned. But during regular retail hours? No. The staff are there to sell models to customers, and if you and your friends are just hanging around without buying, then you're not really customers.

Short version: GW is going down the drain, and the sooner they die and get bought by WOTC the better.

assuming Ancient Aliens is wrong and we don't all die this year, how long do you give them before they fold?

 Rainbow Dash wrote:
assuming Ancient Aliens is wrong and we don't all die this year, how long do you give them before they fold?

A very very very long time.

Games workshop share price is exceptionally high and has shown a massive increase in the last few years.

 Peregrine wrote:
Short version: GW is going down the drain, and the sooner they die and get bought by WOTC the better.

I'd be ok with this. I'd be ok with damn near anyone buying GW if only for the management redundancy purge.

There are so many ways GW could be making money beyond just the models, but instead of releasing other products like swag(which I would totally buy) they just do price hikes to increase profit per sale, instead of increasing sales.

 Peregrine wrote:
Short version: GW is going down the drain, and the sooner they die and get bought by WOTC the better.

Honestly, considering how Hasbro pushes the kid friendly characters above and beyond all others, being bought by them wouldn't be a change from how GW operates with regard to releases.

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
Short version: GW is going down the drain, and the sooner they die and get bought by WOTC the better.

Honestly, considering how Hasbro pushes the kid friendly characters above and beyond all others, being bought by them wouldn't be a change from how GW operates with regard to releases.

We're talking about the same WoTC that just finished the Innistrad block, right? Wouldn't precisely call the block that introduced "Sacrifice a human" "kid friendly above all else." Although admittedly their RPG fare has been bland beyond all imagining lately.

There are differences between a company which is financially making ground in many ways and a company which has core problems with their product and customer base.

GW is making grounds financially, and the next few years should show strong numbers on their balance sheets. Their new license for Warhammer Fantasy should end up being an additional $3 million or so a year if the sales are comparable to the relationship between 40K sales and the value of their 40K license.

The Hobbit will sell miniatures to movie goers and collectors. The three movies should be able to milk that out for a few years as well.

Structural problems though are that the value of their licenses that they sell to video game companies are tied to the popularity of the miniatures. The movie miniatures are a short term value. The popularity of the miniatures have been dropping - especially in the US. Miniatures and analog gaming in general have been loosing ground (though I think it may have dropped to a level plateau and will generally hold steady now).

yes you can only rely on kids forever, there will be a point where you will price them out, I have a pretty good job and even I can't afford to play the game

 Laughing Man wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
Short version: GW is going down the drain, and the sooner they die and get bought by WOTC the better.

Honestly, considering how Hasbro pushes the kid friendly characters above and beyond all others, being bought by them wouldn't be a change from how GW operates with regard to releases.

We're talking about the same WoTC that just finished the Innistrad block, right? Wouldn't precisely call the block that introduced "Sacrifice a human" "kid friendly above all else." Although admittedly their RPG fare has been bland beyond all imagining lately.

Head to TFworld or Seibertron and ask about "The Yellow Menace".


Or not. It was a joke about how Hasbro is clogging shelves with Bumblebees and that GW does the same with Space Marines.

least hasbro makes ponies... though there are a lot of instances where they are just as small minded and stupid as GW

I would prefer GW to be bought out by Disney, to be honest.

Get a new management structure with a push into Star Wars miniature games and perhaps a new movie franchise?

They have been dipping their toes into more pg-13 fare as of late. Maybe not to GrimDark levels, but Marvel has certainly upped the ante somewhat.

 Kaldor wrote:
You shouldn't expect to be able to go to a GW store and just hang out. That's not what it's for.

Exactly. GW stores are actually meant to be used as free child daycare for all the mothers who can't be bothered dragging their kids around the mall.

Or maybe that's just how they were used in Oz...

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Kaldor wrote:
You shouldn't expect to be able to go to a GW store and just hang out. That's not what it's for.

Exactly. GW stores are actually meant to be used as free child daycare for all the mothers who can't be bothered dragging their kids around the mall.

Or maybe that's just how they were used in Oz...

Nope, that's how they're used in the UK as well, in my experience.

Used to drive the old manager of our FLGS mad, so he formalised it to one night a week and clamped down any other time.

Since that closed, the GW isn't anywhere near as strict, I avoid it as it is invariably full of unsupervised Timmys, oh and fugitives from the Shower Patrol and Indoor Voice Police.

We have a great independent club though, else it would hurt a lot more.

Griever wrote:
makes better models, has a more appealing release schedule, and more people play it.

Well these three points are just laughable.

 azreal13 wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

 Kaldor wrote:
You shouldn't expect to be able to go to a GW store and just hang out. That's not what it's for.

Exactly. GW stores are actually meant to be used as free child daycare for all the mothers who can't be bothered dragging their kids around the mall.

Or maybe that's just how they were used in Oz...

Nope, that's how they're used in the UK as well, in my experience.

Used to drive the old manager of our FLGS mad, so he formalised it to one night a week and clamped down any other time.

Since that closed, the GW isn't anywhere near as strict, I avoid it as it is invariably full of unsupervised Timmys, oh and fugitives from the Shower Patrol and Indoor Voice Police.

We have a great independent club though, else it would hurt a lot more.

The problem of course is that that takes away the appeal for a lot of parents to drop $100 or so a week on plastic toys for their kids.

When they could go to the shopping district and dump the kids off in the store for a few hours while they do whatever it is that they feel like doing (catch a grown up movie, do some unmolested shopping, just get some peace and quiet) - the parents would be more likely to pony up that money.

Once that is removed from the equation though, the value of the product is reduced. GW might think that their retail stores were not daycare centers...but the parents who were paying for the toys for their kids would likely have disagreed. Add into that the increased relative prices and the cost/benefit on the decision makers side of the equation becomes less appealing.

 gunslingerpro wrote:
I would prefer GW to be bought out by Disney, to be honest.

Get a new management structure with a push into Star Wars miniature games and perhaps a new movie franchise?

They have been dipping their toes into more pg-13 fare as of late. Maybe not to GrimDark levels, but Marvel has certainly upped the ante somewhat.

Besides the issue of content and properly handling the grimdark of 40k, Disney doesn't have any experience with gaming, other than licensing out their movies for video games. They could probably fix the retail stores (or kill them off entirely) and license out the IP effectively, but I don't have any faith in their ability to manage the game itself. WOTC, on the other hand, has extensive experience with tabletop gaming (including their own miniatures games) and a proven record of success with MTG and D&D. Give them 40k and it will be a better game.

 Deraiderspam wrote:
Those are fair points aerethan, and about giving it some time, its been 3 months now maybe, I pop in every now and then and I'm still greeted with the same cold greeting as the rest of my friends as we were "Old Clientèle" it seems incredibly unprofessional, so much so that I spoke to them about it, and they said they should be devoting 80% of their time with new comers and the 20% with people who already play, and I saw that not only as unfair, but also unjust as we come down for a nice atmosphere and if we feel shunned... well it just defies the point really.

Could you clarify what you want from the store?

When I go to a GW, all I really want is a place to play 40k/WFB on nice tables with nice terrain. Usually, I don't need anything from the staff.

Occasionally I'll want to build a new army and I ask them for advice. It's a 10 minute conversation, maybe. Sometimes I want some painting advice - this might take a little longer if they show me on a test figure. Sometimes they have to get up in between steps to talk to customers - I have no problem with that, I probably have to wait for this step to dry anyway.

When I come in on the evenings, there's always tables to play on. It's busier on the weekends, and sometimes they let younger players play on the tables, but I'm cool with that. 14 years ago I was that young player and I would have loved to get the kind of care and attention I see kids get nowadays from the staff. I've been to stores where this is done badly and the store is a glorified babysitting centre. I've also been to stores where they really had them organized to learn constructive hobby stuff.

Note that I really only go to GW for gaming nights or maybe some advice. I don't just sit there doing nothing as I see some customers do. So, my point is I really don't need much from the staff, and I'm curious what's making you feel "shunned." Maybe things are different between here in Toronto and wherever you are.

I dont know any kids now that wanna read a 300 pg rulebook, realize none of it sunk in and then have to read it again. They are gonna choose porn or video games lol. 15 yrs go id say yea. I was one of those kids.
Have they lost their minds? No no no, they are trying to keep thier minds. As a consumer im a lil confused on thier target demographic. I saw the hobbit package and laughed. Id just make one and charge 2 million $ for it or whatever they think their profit margin will be.
The reason their stock prices are rising is because they are meeting thier quarterly earnings quota by inflating prices to compensate for decrease in sales. Eventually they will hit a ceiling and the empire will crumble or be bought out. I expect then stock to split. All of this is speculation tho. Im not an authority in this.
If WOTC buys them out then we ill prob see rotations sooner than every 4 years

People have been predicting GW going under since I got into the hobby in the early 90's and here we are still.

One thing though, if another company were to buy out GW then I would bet money that they would close the retail stores as any sane company would realize they don't make money. So careful what you wish for (if you like playing in a GW store - personally I can't stand it).