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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 09:28:17
Subject: GW and the Squandering of an IP
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Fresh-Faced New User
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Like many people on here, I grew up with GW being a big part of my gaming life. I didn't have a store near me, so my exposure came through White Dwarf, FLGS and comic shops. While so many options are now available to spend money on through Board, Card, Video and Miniature games it would be easy to think GW dwindled, due to the availability of so many competing gaming options. While this is definitely true to an extent, their inability to utilise one of the best IPs around is unbelievable.
For many people, they entered the gaming scene through gateway games. Heroquest, Space Crusade, Battle Masters. Games that were readily available, self contained and at an affordability level that allowed for birthday or Xmas presents from our folks, and from venues our folks could easily find. Here is where I believe one of the greatest opportunities was missed with GW, their specialist games. These done at the right price are a gold mine for not only purchases, but as a gateway into the more expensive world of miniature gaming. It's also a no brainer as everyone else is already doing it based on what GW walked away from. The benefit that GW has is the strength of their already existing IP.
Blood Bowl - The original Fantasy football game. Dreadball is proving that there is an appetite for this. It's really popular as are the amount of these style of games being funded on KS. Excellent gateway game, new teams, boards and accessories drive sales.
Battlefield Gothic - Firestorm Armada doing strong business. Again there is an appetite for space battles. Nothing stopping them doing a smaller scale X Wing version or even a 40k Flyers, Wings of War style game.
Mordheim/ Necromunda - Skirmish level games. Massive appetite for this style of miniatures gaming. Malifaux, Infinity, Mercs, Dark Age, Bushido...clearly people want this. These are also great starting points for 40k and Warhammer. Kill Team could have a starter set!
Epic - Plenty of interest of in large scale battles with small scale models. Dropzone Commander and Dystopian Wars are obviously doing well.
On top of these, leveraging their licence with the boardgame stuff FFG distributes, gives them even more options to get people involved. The CCG market is huge and yet you will never see Conquest in one of the stores. Again it seems like an easy way to get people interested in the miniatures world at an affordable price.
The most amazing thing about all of these is that they all sit under 1 IP. How many companies would love to leverage the cross pollination that is afforded to GW?
Anyway rant over and thanks for listening?
TLDR . GW have a strong IP that they could cross pollinate to increase sales on so many lines but don't!!
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/10 07:39:03
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 16:46:17
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Focused Fire Warrior
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There are a lot of hopes and dreams for the GW franchise. We all hope for the better, but prepare for the worst.
I think you are exactly right. If there were a starter set for Kill Team, I would have bought it. Allowing players to play what they like in any format, and have that format compatible with the next level game (or at least the models) is an amazing way to catch more players.
I doubt anything will change GW's ways very quickly. All we can do is wait, speculate, and hope.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 16:50:34
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Regular Dakkanaut
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fleegle23 wrote:Nothing stopping them doing a smaller scale X Wing version or even a 40k Flyers, Wings of War style game.
For what it is worth, Aeronautica Imperialis was essentially an EPIC 40k version of Wings of War, and given the prices they go for on the secondary market, SOMEONE out there is playing it. Though pretty much anything from Specialist Games was a wise investment opportunity.
With all the crazy 40k flyers and talk of 'narrative' gaming in the rulebooks, they could even do rules for 28mm flyer combat, provided you had around 8'x8' and a $70 (at least...) set of movement templates.
I would say Blood Bowl is still alive, despite GW's efforts, and far more popular than anything else like Dreadball or Street Ball. Locally, there are two Blood Bowl leagues that have been going for years, while all I have seen of Dreadball is a few fliers for demos and boxes lingering in discount bins.
The amount of IP that is essentially dead is rather amazing. They are willing to flog Fantasy and 40k to any mobile developer that asks, while there are plenty of other opportunities a decent marketing manager could run with for YEARS.
To me, the thing that is so frustrating is their willingness to do something completely random like Dreadfleet, and not tie it to anything nostalgiac like Man O War, or do it in a logical war that encourages multiple purchases. If I knew they were more competent, I would almost be willing to say that Dreadfleet was a conspiracy to prevent anything like Specialist Games ever happening again. 'Look at the numbers, it sold horribly, therefore, more Space Marines...'
I was hoping the digital version of Warhammer Quest would be popular enough to inspire some kind of anniversary release, or one-shot game, but I have a feeling like the Warhammer Fantasy line has its own problems at the moment.
Not supporting the dead IPs for years has probably made the issue untenable. At the time, how many skirmish miniatures games were out with Necromunda, or space combat games with Battlefleet Gothic? It was easy to get noticed as the market was fairly sparse. Now any of those games has to go up against multiple newer games, and all the Kickstarter-come-latelys that crop up weekly.
Perhaps one day, someone with authority will pull their head out long enough to realize what they are missing.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 16:53:43
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Grizzled Space Wolves Great Wolf
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Aeronautica Imperialis was actually an awesome game that suffered from not being remotely advertised. It existed for years before I even discovered it and then when I did discover it the bastards dropped it :( But yeah, GW are sitting on an awesome IP both in 40k and WHFB that they are wasting. Over the years I've had more fun with the side games than I have had with the main games.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/09 16:55:06
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 16:56:27
Subject: Re:GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Infiltrating Oniwaban
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Yes, many GW customers wonder why GW doesn't do more with the IP. They've done it before. We know it can be done again.
Somewhere along the line GW decided that these other games do not expand their business. They decided that instead of cross-pollinating as you say and serving as gateways to the flagship systems, these games cannibalized sales from 40k and Fantasy. I think this was also a part of their decision to shift focus away from gamers towards collectors. It's also related to how GW started, since at least 2007 when they released Apocalypse, trying to extract more revenue from each customer instead of trying to get more customers. I think margins play into it too. GW is focused on margins these days and that's why they've moved so much to direct only. Standalone games probably don't have the margins that the plastic kits have.
To many of us it's intuitively obvious that GW could do well by bringing back the specialist games and maybe making new games. GW disagrees and I'm not sure that they're wrong. They've released Space Hulk twice in the past 5 years. The first time it sold out almost immediately. The second go around last year didn't do nearly as well. My FLGS still has a couple of copies sitting there collecting dust. How would it do if it was permanently available as part of the GW line? I have no idea. I suspect, however, that GW thinks of it like McDonald's McRib sandwich. It's a beloved classic that is only worthwhile to bring back once a year as a special treat, not as a regular menu offering. People have asked McDonald's to bring the sandwich back full time, and McDonald's says it's not viable that way.
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The Imperial Navy, A Galatic Force for Good. |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:04:21
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Sniping Reverend Moira
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And all of those things you listed, combined, don't scratch the balls of the $$ that GW brings in with it's primary two product lines.
It costs money for them to maintain those lines. More money, apparently, they they made from the lines.
Pretty simple cost-benefit situation.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:05:26
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Decrepit Dakkanaut
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I have the Talisman Ap on my Kindle Fire. I'm doing my part!
Also, it's fun and doesn't take 4 hours to play a fething game.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:06:21
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Sniping Reverend Moira
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BaconSlayer wrote:They are willing to flog Fantasy and 40k to any mobile developer that asks, while there are plenty of other opportunities a decent marketing manager could run with for YEARS.
But they don't have to actually DO anything by licensing out their 40k and WHFB IP to mobile developers. They license it with some guidelines, and it's set it and forget it. They're not on the hook for the development. They're not on the hook for the marketing costs. The person they licensed it to is.
And then they get a cut. It's easy money.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:12:51
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Regular Dakkanaut
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Good, creative IP doesnt necessarily make money. And GW doesn't force people to play their games in any fashion. If you want to play any of the afformentioned games, do it. If you want to expand on them yourself, do it. If you want to play 40k using Fantasy minis, do it. The only thing GW is gonna stop any of us from doing with any of their IP is making money. Heck, sometimes it feels like they're encouraging us to expand it ourselves simply so there's less whining.
There's this sort of glorification and regret towards the creative output of others that results in a disassociation towards one's own creative abilities. I applaud GW for encouraging us to 'forge the narrative' and breath our own life into the greater creative presence.
If you want a new edition of Bloodbowl to play with your friends, make one. Just don't sell it as Bloodbowl. That's the exact mentality which led to the creation of Dreadball for that matter.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:13:38
Subject: Re:GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Lieutenant Colonel
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@cincydooley.
What about all the other companies that made games to fill the void that GW left when they dropped their specialist games?
The specialist games were to way to keep players engaged with GW if they had no/or lost interest in 40k/ WHFB.
Now GWs competitors are taking all the money GW could have made on the specialist games, and stealing their potential customer away.
GW plc has done a great service for the table top games hobby.By being so short sighted and money grabbing, they have left the door open for actual gaming companies to make great games for us to enjoy.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:18:50
Subject: Re:GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Sniping Reverend Moira
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Lanrak wrote:@cincydooley.
What about all the other companies that made games to fill the void that GW left when they dropped their specialist games?
The specialist games were to way to keep players engaged with GW if they had no/or lost interest in 40k/ WHFB.
What about them?
It's really simple: GW decided the resources they were spending on FTE were better spent allocated to 40k/ WHFB. That's almost assuredly driven by a cost-benefit analysis. If Blood Bowl/Mordheim/Etc carried their weight in $$, they'd still be making them. The fact that they're not should tell you everything you need to know.
Now GWs competitors are taking all the money GW could have made on the specialist games, and stealing their potential customer away.
Which, and I said this before, wasn't enough for GW to care. In dollars.
GW plc has done a great service for the table top games hobby.By being so short sighted and money grabbing, they have left the door open for actual gaming companies to make great games for us to enjoy.
All of whom would sacrifice a testicle to the great horned Goat God to make a 10th what GW, even with declining earnings, makes in a quarter.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:21:02
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Tea-Kettle of Blood
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cincydooley wrote: BaconSlayer wrote:They are willing to flog Fantasy and 40k to any mobile developer that asks, while there are plenty of other opportunities a decent marketing manager could run with for YEARS.
But they don't have to actually DO anything by licensing out their 40k and WHFB IP to mobile developers. They license it with some guidelines, and it's set it and forget it. They're not on the hook for the development. They're not on the hook for the marketing costs. The person they licensed it to is.
And then they get a cut. It's easy money.
Yes, its easy money, but that easy money comes with the hidden cost of seeing the brand associated with shovelware and as such devalued.
They are making a fraction of the money from licenses than they were a few years ago, and they are licensing out the IP to many more companies than they were in the past.
Its funny because its shows just how bad GW seemingly is at everything that it sets out to do. They want their brand to be associated with an high quality / high value product in the miniature wargaming sub-niche, but on the other hand they don't seem to mind that that same brand is being associated with low quality / low value crap in much bigger and more mainstream markets...
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:23:56
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Sniping Reverend Moira
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PhantomViper wrote:
Yes, its easy money, but that easy money comes with the hidden cost of seeing the brand associated with shovelware and as such devalued.
They are making a fraction of the money from licenses than they were a few years ago, and they are licensing out the IP to many more companies than they were in the past.
Its funny because its shows just how bad GW seemingly is at everything that it sets out to do. They want their brand to be associated with an high quality / high value product in the miniature wargaming sub-niche, but on the other hand they don't seem to mind that that same brand is being associated with low quality / low value crap in much bigger and more mainstream markets...
Do we have any proof that it "devalues the brand?" I mean, there's been shovelware for Star Wars all over the joint. Doesn't seem to have affected it.
Remember that all that shovelware is really another entry point to the other GW product lines.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:36:20
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Bounding Ultramarine Assault Trooper
Dawsonville GA
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A few years ago I was out and about and I was talking to a guy and told him what I did. (I was in the environmental clean up business at the time). He mentioned his company needed some work done and gave me his card. On top of this the work he wanted done could be done on the weekend so I could get some Overtime. I went back to my boss and told him I met someone who was looking to hire us to do some work.
My boss replied he wasn't interested, he basically told me we had enough customers and he was rich enough. This might require more work on his part.
I was stunned. I was going to lose out on OT, not to mention the kudos you would think one would get for bringing in some more business.
I suspect GW is like that. They are rich enough and to expand on their IP will require more work. This might take away from their golf time. They are already bilking us for every penny they can. Sure some people quit but new suckers i mean customers get into the hobby. Sure sales and profits are dropping but they are still making millions. Why do more work when you an just raise prices?
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:49:35
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Tea-Kettle of Blood
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cincydooley wrote:
Do we have any proof that it "devalues the brand?" I mean, there's been shovelware for Star Wars all over the joint. Doesn't seem to have affected it.
Remember that all that shovelware is really another entry point to the other GW product lines.
They were making more money out of the IP licensing in the past than they are now. And they were selling fewer licenses at the time, meaning that they are selling the license for less money now than they were in the past. That seems like pretty good proof to me.
Also, there has been shovelware for Star Wars? Where? Genuine question since all that I'm aware for Star Wars are games from pretty big name companies.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:51:25
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Sniping Reverend Moira
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PhantomViper wrote:[
Also, there has been shovelware for Star Wars? Where? Genuine question since all that I'm aware for Star Wars are games from pretty big name companies.
The shovelware clash of clans clone was the first to come to mind.
Second was the 'card game'.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:53:31
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Regular Dakkanaut
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How about this, GW sells more Space Marines than everything else. That's not their fault, that's the consumer habit. Why go about providing any other games at all if people will still buy mostly Space Marines? Whose to blame for that besides us?
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 17:56:06
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Sniping Reverend Moira
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scuzz_bucket wrote:How about this, GW sells more Space Marines than everything else. That's not their fault, that's the consumer habit. Why go about providing any other games at all if people will still buy mostly Space Marines? Whose to blame for that besides us?
See: Heresy, The Horus as a pretty good exemplar
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 18:09:32
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Tea-Kettle of Blood
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cincydooley wrote:PhantomViper wrote:[
Also, there has been shovelware for Star Wars? Where? Genuine question since all that I'm aware for Star Wars are games from pretty big name companies.
The shovelware clash of clans clone was the first to come to mind.
I'd never even heard of that one, thanks.
FFG's Star Wars card game? Because that is a highly successful and very good game.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 18:26:11
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Fixture of Dakka
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There is a few 'shovelware' ones out for star wars.
Star Wars Commander, Star Wars Galactic Defence (These both seem clash-of-clans-ish) and Star Wars Force Collection (the card game). Then, of course, you have the myriad Angry Bird Star Wars games.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/09 18:26:38
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 18:30:25
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Sniping Reverend Moira
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Compel wrote:There is a few 'shovelware' ones out for star wars.
Star Wars Commander, Star Wars Galactic Defence (These both seem clash-of-clans-ish) and Star Wars Force Collection (the card game). Then, of course, you have the myriad Angry Bird Star Wars games.
These are the ones!
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 18:32:28
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Tea-Kettle of Blood
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Compel wrote:There is a few 'shovelware' ones out for star wars.
Star Wars Commander, Star Wars Galactic Defence (These both seem clash-of-clans-ish) and Star Wars Force Collection (the card game). Then, of course, you have the myriad Angry Bird Star Wars games.
I genuinely wasn't aware of any of those, especially that virtual card game... Doesn't that compete directly with FFG's license?! Weird.
As for the Rovio Angry Bird Star Wars, I wouldn't exactly call them shovelware. They are mobile games, true, but they are hugely successful and played by millions.
But anyway, I stand corrected and educated on the mater, please go back to the OT!
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/09 18:33:26
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 19:16:17
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Stone Bonkers Fabricator General
We'll find out soon enough eh.
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cincydooley wrote:And all of those things you listed, combined, don't scratch the balls of the $$ that GW brings in with it's primary two product lines.
It costs money for them to maintain those lines. More money, apparently, they they made from the lines.
Pretty simple cost-benefit situation.
It is, which is why GW are morons; they only consider the cost, not the benefits.
To torture an analogy, consider a comparison to multiplayer F2P videogames. There are essentially three types of customers for both tabletop wargaming and F2P games; Mooks, Vets, and Whales. Mooks are your churn & burn types, they don't make many purchases and they typically don't stick around for long, but at the same time there are a lot of them and they don't cost the company much so they're a good moneymaker, plus they're useful for ensuring the game projects an image that it's popular and growing which creates positive feedback to ensure it keeps doing so. Vets are the people who're fully invested in your product. They're often the "least desirable" segment of the playerbase from a purely cost-based perspective, since while they spend much more than Mooks individually they're much less numerous, they use up more resources, and their personal emotional and financial investment in your product usually means they're the most vocal, which can be inconvenient. However, most companies are capable of recognising the potential of that vocal tendency and can harness it to make the vast majority of Vets into evangelists for the product which helps to ensure a constant flow of new Mooks, and that Vets perform another useful function; they provide the stable core of population necessary to support Whales. Whales are the holy grail; individuals who either have so much money or so warped a sense of value that they will almost unthinkingly pour cash into your product, so much so that despite their very low numbers they spend at least as much if not more than Mooks and Vets combined. Without Mooks to provide frequent and varied opposition/cooperation, and Vets to provide a stable social core to interact with, you won't get enough Whales to sustain the growth of your bottom line at the same or better rate as the growth of your running costs.
GW's problems began when they decided they could simply ignore the intangible social and interpersonal costs and benefits implied by the symbiotic model above and make more money by cutting fixed costs and only targeting the "most profitable" parts of their market to the exclusion of everything else. First they tried the "one starter, one birthday, one Christmas" method, targeting the wargaming world's equivalent of Mooks. The LotR bubble largely concealed the problems with that strategy until recently, but when the chickens did come home to roost, GW adopted their present strategy of trying to focus on wargaming's Whales, the "Collectors" and " GW Hobbyists( tm)". It remains to be seen if it'll work this time, it's still technically possible that their current problems are the tail-end results of the previous strategy, but I doubt it.
If your want a product with a large social component to succeed in a sustainable way, you have to create and support a community. A whole community, including the segments which are less than ideal from a strict financial cost perspective. You need to maximise the number of entry points, minimise the number of exit points, interact with the vocal elements of that community in ways that turn their passion to your advantage, and learn to value qualities in a customer beyond the absolute amount of cash that they personally will spend.
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I need to acquire plastic Skavenslaves, can you help?
I have a blog now, evidently. Featuring the Alternative Mordheim Model Megalist.
"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
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"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 19:42:37
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Sniping Reverend Moira
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Really well articulated post, Yodhrin. I'm just not entirely sure where the Specialist games fit into that for GW, if they do at all.
I mean, I'd say GW has a pretty well established "Vets" player base, many of whom are also "Whales." I think the "Mooks" base is exactly who they're targeting with all the shovelware; if they can get 1 out of every 10 that tries a piece of shovelware to purchase something from their "actual" product lines, I'd argue that the license was worth it. Again, I think the "shovelware" is merely another entry point into their brand, and as such doesn't really need to be much more than that. And for them, it's a far easier entry point than maintaining a specialist line.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 19:59:58
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Posts with Authority
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scuzz_bucket wrote:Good, creative IP doesnt necessarily make money. And GW doesn't force people to play their games in any fashion. If you want to play any of the afformentioned games, do it. If you want to expand on them yourself, do it. If you want to play 40k using Fantasy minis, do it. The only thing GW is gonna stop any of us from doing with any of their IP is making money. Heck, sometimes it feels like they're encouraging us to expand it ourselves simply so there's less whining.
There's this sort of glorification and regret towards the creative output of others that results in a disassociation towards one's own creative abilities. I applaud GW for encouraging us to 'forge the narrative' and breath our own life into the greater creative presence.
I think there's a difference in 'forging the narrative' because the rules are a tight, balanced, elegant, tactical set that can be relatively easily used, proxied or tweaked for a variety of other units, factions or even settings etc.; and 'forging the narrative' by trying to focus on big Michael Bay moments in the game because the rules are the equivalent of a thirty-year-old car with a faulty carburreter, no doors, leaking oil and too many buttons, that provides the requisite explosions every so often.
I do agree that the Specialist Games can still be played without GW's say-so, and there's an increasing number of suitable proxy minis out there that can be used for this purpose; but again, I don't think that's what GW means by 'forging the narrative'. In fact, from all appearances I think using the rules with other settings and other minis is precisely the opposite of what GW wants.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/03/09 20:00:42
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 20:29:49
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Fresh-Faced New User
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I think the main point I was trying to get across is that GW seems like it has very little to lose and so much to gain from supporting their specialist games.
As they all tie into either 40k or Fantasy, the potential to get people to buy into the systems is quite strong. Based on what many other companies are already producing, they know there is at least a market there. If they do these well, sales of 40k and fantasy increase, as well as the sales from supporting the specialist games. The ongoing releases to support the initial starter games also brings in revenue.
The key is to market them as gateway games I think. It can only increase the total customers for GW products.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/09 22:50:06
Subject: Re:GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Fixture of Dakka
West Michigan, deep in Whitebread, USA
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The problem is that GW is not a company that would consider something like Specialist Games any more. They are complacent with milking their two low-risk standby games for the foreseeable future.
Evidently they are completely ignoring the collector's market for all the Specialist Games right now as a way to determine whether they could make money, because the inflation of, say, Epic models over the old prices is manytimes (not always, but in a lot of instances) higher than modern 40k models' inflation over the same timeframe.
It is hilarious how I feel I could have personally wrote the exact same post as the OP.
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This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2015/03/09 22:54:06
"By this point I'm convinced 100% that every single race in the 40k universe have somehow tapped into the ork ability to just have their tech work because they think it should." |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/10 02:57:44
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Longtime Dakkanaut
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From the people I know who are in the gaming industry (The Founders of Heritage/Reaper, Steve Jackson, Sculptors for Partha and Citadel, and many of the old FASA crowd, just as a few), they all see GW as too niche, and trying to milk the same cow way past its prime without any innovation.
Their players base from the 1980's, 90's, and now 00's has matured, and most of them discover how inadequate GWs games are at providing an experience that fits between simulation and pure game (chess or rock-paper-scissors).
GW has leaned too far into the pure Rock-Paper-Scissors Game territory, and everything that ventured outside of that territory, they scrapped, even if it provided for a market that game the company bragging rights to working toward providing more toward the "simulation" side of gaming.
And then the expense.
I have always been a person who will pay whatever it costs to get the best models available.
Yet GW pretty much ceased to be that (Forgeworld has made many models I have bought, which I would never have known GW even made versions of if others had not asked why I didn't by "The metal ones from GW"), yet they still charge exorbitant prices as if this is what they provide.
And they completely ignore whole demographics of gamers that would not really cost them much to cater towards.
Their whole schtick nowadays is catering to Steampunk. Both 40K and WHFB are nearly indistinguishable in terms of style, and both have gravitated toward Napoleonic Era styled battles (yet pretend to be other eras) all while failing to even capture Napoleonics very well (which I suppose is not a problem for those who remain unaware of what that period is like).
Eventually, other people are going to begin providing better products for essentially the same genres at a lower cost, and with better innovation in the rules.
GW effectively enjoys a monopoly at the moment (and has for decades), yet that is coming to an end.
They will have to either adapt or die.
MB
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/10 04:20:49
Subject: GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Sniping Reverend Moira
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BeAfraid wrote:
Their whole schtick nowadays is catering to Steampunk. Both 40K and WHFB are nearly indistinguishable in terms of style, and both have gravitated toward Napoleonic Era styled battles (yet pretend to be other eras) all while failing to even capture Napoleonics very well (which I suppose is not a problem for those who remain unaware of what that period is like).
Whut?
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2015/03/10 04:25:18
Subject: Re:GW and the Sqandering of an IP
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Fixture of Dakka
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Love Necromunda and Battle fleet gothic, starting a fleet again and hope to get those beautiful battlefleet helios ships soon.
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