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Either as Direct ONly or Forgeworld? I have heard LOTR/Hobbit sells well in Europe.....

Would they really axe the whole line???? Give it the specialist games treatment????

I hope they don't get rid of the line entirely, although there is almost no hope of anything new (they didn't even do any new figures for the third Hobbit movie).

I imagine the line will be discontinued. Whether because the license lapses or because it's not profitable. Either way its days are numbered.

I expect to see things slowly go out of stock until there's almost nothing left and they just kill it.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I expect to see things slowly go out of stock until there's almost nothing left and they just kill it.

Licenced stuff is tricky, New Line may require they keep in production until the licence expires. And once the licence does expire they usually can't sell the products at all.

Personally I would hope they signed a licence that expires soon after the 3rd film comes out (and that was a year ago) and then they kill it.

While we all agree LotR and the Hobbit are classics and are evergreen books, the market for toys collectables etc died the minute the last film came out and unless GW is able/willing to launch something new it's just a zombie game at this point.

It's an albatross. As soon as GW can stop paying money to produce something no one wants, they will.

It will be touted as further efficient cost-savings in the annual report.

As it's on a licence from New Line Cinema, clearly GW cannot go on with the titles after the licence expires.

GW might choose to renew the licence, however, anecdotal evidence suggests that The Hobbit game sold a lot worse than the original LoTR game, due to different distribution, higher prices, and other reasons. It seems unlikely that the titles are doing better than 8th edition WHFB.

Therefore I think the game is likely to be phased out in the next two years.

I expect the property to remain around somewhere (GW were just the last in a long line of miniatures/game makers with the stuff) but it probably won't remain GW forever.

GW were contracted and licences expire.

 chromedog wrote:
I expect the property to remain around somewhere (GW were just the last in a long line of miniatures/game makers with the stuff) but it probably won't remain GW forever.

GW were contracted and licences expire.

Bottom line, if you like the models buy them now.

Even if someone picks up the licence they almost certainly will not get the molds.

Yeah, the end of the line is drawing near. I'd expect them all to be discontinued within a year, two at the most. After how badly the movie and the mini line underperformed, GW is clearly only fulfilling their licensing agreement at this point.

Gen Hobbs is Larry Vela:

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2015/11/gw-horus-has-his-sights-on-bilbo.html


Not really folks as I know neither person.....

 Kilkrazy wrote:
anecdotal evidence suggests that The Hobbit game sold a lot worse than the original LoTR game.

Anecdotally? The LE starter box is still on sale 3 years later, and there's been essentially no new releases.

I can see it sitting on a shelf for a bit longer, then quietly axed. With HH coming, I think stocking up now is a top idea.

The gobbos in that set (film) were so ugly and lacked any sort of style you can see why it didn't sell.

I would have happily bought the Goblintown terrain but not at the prices they had them for.

This does however make me want to go to a store I know and pick up the Mines of Moria set they still have on the shelf.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I expect to see things slowly go out of stock until there's almost nothing left and they just kill it.

Licenced stuff is tricky, New Line may require they keep in production until the licence expires. And once the licence does expire they usually can't sell the products at all.

That doesn't appear to be how this licence works because GW have already started letting things go out of production.

 notprop wrote:
The gobbos in that set (film) were so ugly and lacked any sort of style you can see why it didn't sell.

I would have happily bought the Goblintown terrain but not at the prices they had them for.

This does however make me want to go to a store I know and pick up the Mines of Moria set they still have on the shelf.

I don't think it translated very well to wargame either, and the price was just too high for the dwarves alone (I picked it up just for them, but I got it at 45% off and then sold the terrain).

I'd totally pick up a Moria set for the Fellowship though, but I think i've managed to get all of them in metal (the one true material!)

notprop wrote:The gobbos in that set (film) were so ugly and lacked any sort of style you can see why it didn't sell.

I got a sprue for relatively cheap, to use as skavenslaves. I figured they could be goblins, dwarfs and humans that spent too much time in the warpstone mines to be useful for anything other than cannon fodder...

At the mo I'm only worried about the basic dwarf and mordor orc plastics. Might try to grab a couple of boxes, if ebay isn't forthcoming.

The rumour I heard is that the licence expires early next year. I believe this current financial year is the last that will feature Hobbit and LotR.

The license has a pretty high cost to it. If sales are producing a significant amount right now, i doubt they will keep paying on it. They don't bother to push it all, don't care if stores stock it;

Glad I read this. I just recently discovered that they were still offering the LotR miniatures. Thought they axed the old ones when it became "the Hobbit."

I personally don't want to live in a world wherein a tiny Gandalf and his firework-laden pony-cart don't grace my shelves.

 mikhaila wrote:
The license has a pretty high cost to it. If sales are producing a significant amount right now, i doubt they will keep paying on it. They don't bother to push it all, don't care if stores stock it;

Do we actually have any idea how much the license costs? I hear it said frequently but I'm not sure how much I believe it. The LOTR miniatures actually came out pretty cheaply back in the day which makes me think the licensing wasn't actually that huge, The Hobbit miniatures are significantly more expensive but I don't know if I'd directly attribute that to licensing costs.

The Hobbit range was launched after GW started their very agressive price-up in the late 2000s.

I know there is a wide understanding that people have always complained about GW prices, and it's true to a degree. But the rate of price increases was stepped up a lot from about 2007 onwards, in response to bad financial results after the collapse of the LoTR boom. That is when price complaints began to sky-rocket.

Naturally there was a lot of complaining about the high price of The Hobbit range of kits, and this I think was one factor in its poor performance compared to LoTR.

Well...apparently they are being moved to Specialist Games. This is a relief, though if the license expires.....

General Hobbs wrote:


Well...apparently they are being moved to Specialist Games. This is a relief, though if the license expires.....

You did see the job postings for Middle Earth Product Manager, Middle Earth Writer and Middle Earth Model Designer?

Licences CAN be renewed.

It's between the holder of the license and the licensee though to renegotiate the terms. I believe NLC did jack their rates up last time as well (it's not uncommon for them to do that with licence fees, especially those attached to successful film franchises.)

The SW licence is expensive, for example, but Hasbro and LEGO both know they can pretty much print money on those.

GW only GOT the original licence for the NLC LOTR stuff because of lobbying BY PJ (who insisted they were the best for the job, provided they used his mates to sculpt the model line).

I wonder if it is going to be the same licence going forward (based on the Hobbit) or whether they've got or intend to get one of the other licences for Tolkein stuff that may be going around

Jesus Christ hobbit pricing is so wrong.

Smaug is USD$490, AUD$550 from GW

At the USD price we should be paying $690

EVERYTHING STARTING TO WORK OUT FOR AUSTRALIA, FINALLY!

Seriously though, I'd buy that model, it looks great - but I'm not parting with that much for it :/

I would love to get one of those jobs!!!!



Huzzah for Middle Earth!!!!!

 chromedog wrote:

GW only GOT the original licence for the NLC LOTR stuff because of lobbying BY PJ (who insisted they were the best for the job, provided they used his mates to sculpt the model line).

And who don't work there any more. Is that likely to impact any renewal decisions?

 Ghaz wrote:

General Hobbs wrote:


Well...apparently they are being moved to Specialist Games. This is a relief, though if the license expires.....

You did see the job postings for Middle Earth Product Manager, Middle Earth Writer and Middle Earth Model Designer?

They still offer those jobs? Then I don't think they will end it soon. That would make no sense.


I also think the reason the Hobbit isn't selling better is because of the ridiculous cost of the miniatures. Building any sort of sizable army is even more expensive than building a full Forgeworld army. LotR is relatively cheap, which I think was a big factor in the huge success that it was. I love Middle Earth more than anything else, and would have loved to collect the Hobbit miniatures. But at those prices? No way, I just can't afford. I only picked up the knights of Rivendell kit so far, that one was just irresistable.

Yes, they still offer those jobs. If you notice, they were just posted this past Friday.