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 Black Lantern wrote:

 Ktulhut wrote:
It's a huge shame, and really regrettable. But I'm amazed they lasted this long, to be perfectly honest.

Agreed. They like to rip most of their history down

Not when it's very possible they actually are NOT making money off of it. If they have been sitting in warehouses not selling, then they are simply taking space which ultimately costs money. The materials used to make them, as well as the time put in by the casters, has not resulted in any benefits, merely spent money. Having items sit around DOES cost money, realize that.

As for everyone claiming it's the end of GW... Please do some light research on how to run a business and product line, and also perhaps on logical falicies.

 Mad4Minis wrote:
What people should realize is that it may not be the end of the various IPs.

Yeah, we're all looking forward to 40Klix. Possibly with ponies.

Say what you will about GW, but they at least managed to not completely mess up the one good thing they have - the setting.

 notprop wrote:


I don't think this for tells GWs demise any, more likely they are dropping the relevant staff and metal casting kit and making space.

Having personally seen a few companies go down, I will say this has the same stink. Look at the timeline. Constant price increases, rules directly written solely to sell product (in particular large expensive product), closing/downsizing of stores, ceasing major events, discontinuing product lines. These are all actions of a company that is trying to pull out "just one more fiscal quarter in the black". They know the IP is worth a hefty sum, so worrying about sales figures for a sell out is irrelevant. The game right now seems to be pulling off as many positive quarters as possible, making shareholders as much money as possible, before the bubble finally bursts and they start screaming "sell Mortimer sell!!".

Sorry folks, but the blood is in the water, and soon you will see the sharks start to circle. The end of the current version of GW is approaching. The big question is where it goes. Restructure? Bulk sell out? Sell in parts?

Another little cut then. This and specialist actually has a direct impact on their main core biz of "selling minis to collectors"

 Mad4Minis wrote:
[before the bubble finally bursts and they start screaming "sell Mortimer sell!!".

I don't think it will end in the explosive manner you're suggesting, I think they are cutting and cutting and reshaping the company yet further from what we'd all like it to be.

But have many internets for your reference!

 JohnnyHell wrote:
Gods forbid a company that doesn't keep everything it ever produced in production forever?

(Cue inevitable gnashing, wailing and questions on where I source so much Kool-Aid from.)

I agree. Let's face it, not many people could have been buying all of those metal IG boxes. They are cool models, but they are from a bygone era and GW's design concepts/priorities have moved on.

No...they can't get rid of the Goff Rockers!!!!!!!!!!

 His Master's Voice wrote:

 Mad4Minis wrote:
What people should realize is that it may not be the end of the various IPs.

Yeah, we're all looking forward to 40Klix. Possibly with ponies.

Say what you will about GW, but they at least managed to not completely mess up the one good thing they have - the setting.

Im honestly hoping it goes to someone who wont mess it up either. I like the fluff of 40k, and I think with some less cartoon-ish sculpting it would be an awesome range of miniatures.

@Mad4minis

You do realize they are actually opening more stores in the US than they are closing right? And have continued to do so throughout this year so far. Heck, one just opened up here last weekend.

Can't speak to the rest of it but I generally don't see companies opening stores when they're in their death spiral.

Sounds like we have plenty of basement MBAs here doomcasting any move GW makes.

Can't GW cut a line of old poorly selling miniatures because they simply aren't that profitable? What many of you fail to understand is that just because something may technically make a "profit" it might not be worth the time or effort. Star product lines such as 40k can actually be hurt by attention being redirected away from them to keep a collectors range slowly grinding along.

Consider this scenario: Everyday there magically appears $10 in a box which is a 1 hour drive from your house. So you go and drive to the box and grab the $10, but it cost you $5 in gas. Congratulations you made a profit of $5..... but was it really worth an hour of your time and the potential wear and tear on your vehicle?

^^ The collectors line and specialist games follow the same principle, time and effort can be put to use developing and selling more profitable products. It is much easier to follow a simplified organizational strategy when you don't have all these random bits trailing off in all directions.

gossipmeng wrote:
Sounds like we have plenty of basement MBAs here doomcasting any move GW makes.

Can't GW cut a line of old poorly selling miniatures because they simply aren't that profitable? What many of you fail to understand is that just because something may technically make a "profit" it might not be worth the time or effort. Star product lines such as 40k can actually be hurt by attention being redirected away from them to keep a collectors range slowly grinding along.

Consider this scenario: Everyday there magically appears $10 in a box which is a 1 hour drive from your house. So you go and drive to the box and grab the $10, but it cost you $5 in gas. Congratulations you made a profit of $5..... but was it really worth an hour of your time and the potential wear and tear on your vehicle?

^^ The collectors line and specialist games follow the same principle, time and effort can be put to use developing and selling more profitable products. It is much easier to follow a simplified organizational strategy when you don't have all these random bits trailing off in all directions.

Yeah it's 2012 doomsday all over again. A zombie apocalypse has a higher chance of happening than GW closing it's doors because it scraps some stuff that produces nearly no income to refocus resources elsewhere

GW isn't going anywhere, they may restructure and refocus the business but cutting off stuff that doesn't make sense business wise is a smart move.

Have we had any reliable reports of all these lines being killed off? Or just some guy?

edit: Both this and the specialist games threads are based off of nothing that I have seen other than some blog saying 'We have confirmed that...' Or 'I heard that...'

There are plenty of worldwide business's that close or cut off merchandise that does not produce income.

 pretre wrote:
Have we had any reliable reports of all these lines being killed off? Or just some guy?

edit: Both this and the specialist games threads are based off of nothing that I have seen other than some blog saying 'We have confirmed that...' Or 'I heard that...'

Well I can confirm that things that have been selling out have been removed from the main website. I'm hoping it's more along the lines certain models will be recast but most are going in the can but it's doubtful.

And the forgeworld stuff is also out of stock. Guess we'll see.

Hmm. Interesting.

Backfire wrote:

 pities2004 wrote:
Collectors range and Specialist games didn't make much money, why not cut them?

But when you cut them, they make zero money. Seems to me "not much money" is better than "zero money", no?

Actually, they probably lose money. It costs money to pay salaries of the casters, upkeep of equipment, storage space, taxes on inventory, and such. Even if they make a small profit over all of these costs is it still worth it? GW is a business and must operate like one. Getting rid of this stuff is probably a smart financial move.

 BrassScorpion wrote:
It appears that Games Workshop is preparing itself to be purchased. All of their recent moves have been to divest themselves of a huge amount of non-core property including subsidiaries (e.g., Black Industries), operations (e.g., manufacturing in Memphis), and slower selling products (e.g., Specialist Games and Collector Range models). Combined with the recent extreme cost cutting and draconian price increases it appears that they are trying to boost the appeal of the company to buyer(s) through extreme streamlining and short-term profit boosting.

I don’t know a lot about business acquisitions but doesn’t it take like the top 10 shareholders to equal up to 51% of the company? Do you think that they’d all get together in hopes of getting bought out? I personally don’t think so.

If true, the recent cuts make sense. Even though I'm big into specialist games, business is business.

In my eyes, this all points to a shift to Lean Manufacturing. I don't see GW closing their doors or putting up a 'For Sale' sign. Piggybacking off of this, I'd be surprised if White Dwarf ISN'T fully electronic in the next year or so.

 jmsincla wrote:
If true, the recent cuts make sense. Even though I'm big into specialist games, business is business.

In my eyes, this all points to a shift to Lean Manufacturing. I don't see GW closing their doors or putting up a 'For Sale' sign. Piggybacking off of this, I'd be surprised if White Dwarf ISN'T fully electronic in the next year or so.

With the way the world spins now, fully electronic is smart, though it does suck if they continue to only support ipads ( I have an ipad and love reading my white dwarfs and books on them)

But the niche market is Android

They could also offer it online in a paid format to PDFs

NOOOOOOO!!!!! Now I will have to try and get my cypher the fallen angel models from ebay. 1 for my DA and 1 for my chaos marines.

 Kirasu wrote:
The problem I see is that what purpose does a 6 month special serve when those same models were on the site for YEARS with most likely extremely little sales. The amount of players that will spend 8$ on an ancient metal model that is outclassed by modern models just for nostalgia sake is fairly slim I would imagine. In relation to IG units specifically, you can't even build a current army with them due to their models being based on only using 3 different weapon options, so that reduces their demand by an even larger degree.

It's sad to see history go into the dustbin.. but that's what pictures are for.

If the collectors models never sold, then cutting the line makes sense. If the collectors models sold then tailed off, then rotating collectors offerings makes sense. That lets them target a niche with minimal cost (no new molds to produce).

And there's lots of models in the collectors/specialist ranges which have never been outdone.

 pities2004 wrote:

 jmsincla wrote:
If true, the recent cuts make sense. Even though I'm big into specialist games, business is business.

In my eyes, this all points to a shift to Lean Manufacturing. I don't see GW closing their doors or putting up a 'For Sale' sign. Piggybacking off of this, I'd be surprised if White Dwarf ISN'T fully electronic in the next year or so.

With the way the world spins now, fully electronic is smart, though it does suck if they continue to only support ipads ( I have an ipad and love reading my white dwarfs and books on them)

But the niche market is Android

They could also offer it online in a paid format to PDFs

Agreed on all points, I will say I love downloading WD on Saturday morning and having a good read.

 Laughing God wrote:

 Kroothawk wrote:
Seems like Games Workshop is preparing for the final countdown.

To what?

Every watch Independence Day?

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:

 Mad4Minis wrote:
[before the bubble finally bursts and they start screaming "sell Mortimer sell!!".

I don't think it will end in the explosive manner you're suggesting, I think they are cutting and cutting and reshaping the company yet further from what we'd all like it to be.

But have many internets for your reference!

Best Movie!

I am hoping with the whole licencing of video games, they may spin down all official specialist games and then 'license' their specialist games to 3rd parties. I also hope this means they may consider licencing other miniature manufacturers to make 'official' add-in models for 40k/Fantasy.

How much effort would it be to allow some of these 3rd party model makers to make a model with an official '40k universe' on it and GW gets either a flat fee for the license or a royalty per model? And then those manufacturers then become promoters of the entire system.

Finecast sucks? Metal Sucks? Ok, make your awesome plastic kits, and then partner with "Bombshelter Studios" to make high-quality, advanced individual or multipart kits for things which can't warrant a full-blown plastic kit. And then partner with "Krumbum Universe" to make weapon packs for your plastic models.

Then people who seem to have a really good representation of your IP can make whole 3rd party support lines for your dead armies like sisters.

I feel like this would be the result of a corporate restructure because people who know the industry with business sense would be able to handle this. I think you will see this way before bankruptcy or takeover by WotC.

God forbid a company no longer sell something which isnt profitable. This is like a VG company dropping making video games for ps1 and people getting upset.
This is just way to little of a thing to care about.
Also, Now they are really collectable.

 Davespil wrote:

Backfire wrote:

 pities2004 wrote:
Collectors range and Specialist games didn't make much money, why not cut them?

But when you cut them, they make zero money. Seems to me "not much money" is better than "zero money", no?

Actually, they probably lose money. It costs money to pay salaries of the casters, upkeep of equipment, storage space, taxes on inventory, and such. Even if they make a small profit over all of these costs is it still worth it? GW is a business and must operate like one. Getting rid of this stuff is probably a smart financial move.

Not necessarily. It's smart only if you assume that your games compete with each other, and people who play BFG and Mordheim will buy more 40k and Fantasy if those game ranges are discontinued. However, I believe this to be untrue - if so, then cutting out "less succesful" product lines will only lead to customer base getting smaller.

Now, as far as individual miniatures are concerned, of course they come and go and companies can't be expected to keep them in production indefinitely. "Collector range" has probably become a drag - sure there are probably still few nostalgics who buy them, but as a whole I agree they probably aren't worth retaining when you're getting rid of metal altogether. Those miniatures which still sell can be transferred to Finecast, and become part of the regular range: hopefully Mordians, Tallarns etc also see plastic kits in the future.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
God forbid a company no longer sell something which isnt profitable. This is like a VG company dropping making video games for ps1 and people getting upset.
This is just way to little of a thing to care about.
Also, Now they are really collectable.

Yeah, things shipping in in 24 hours aren't really collector items now, are they?

If it is not profitable in-house... then license it and let someone else take on the 'risks'. If there is no market, then the license holder can fail and not you.

Basically what New Line is doing to GW with the Hobbit

Part of me is slightly relieved that this abomination is getting the chop. To be fair to them, I understand that if a product's not in fitting with their current business plan (which in this case seems to be ****ing around it's customers), then there's no reason to continue in such a manner. However, an actual statement from the company would have been better, instead of just sweeping the range under the rug and continue like nothing's happened, instead leaving us to rely on rumour-mills which will be shut down eventually because getting people excited about future releases has been shown to be detrimental to sales(!)

 Valkyrie wrote:
Part of me is slightly relieved that this abomination is getting the chop.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat500022a&prodId=prod1140299

 Valkyrie wrote:
Part of me is slightly relieved that this abomination is getting the chop.

Thank god that Pumbagore made the transition to Finecast so I can still get him in the near future... (and no I am actually considering getting him for a modeling project)