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Embarrassingly poor comprehension from some folks here. And very narrow minded views from some other. Nice to see the place hasn't changed much, though we did somehow wander back around to the actual topic.

First: digital versions of any books should be included with their physical counterparts. That it's 2019 and this still isn't a default is silly on so many levels. Not just talking about GW here.

Second: I use Battlescribe, but it's not the most elegant format and does miss... Maybe 3 pages of actual rules content from a Codex. Stratagems and Objectives are all I can think of off the top of my head. I've bought 6 codices and Vigilus Ablaze but there are definitely more factions I've used Battlescribe to plan out builds for.

I do sometimes read the fluff in a Codex, but maybe not all of it. Especially when it's blatant copy pasta from a dozen other sources. I'm more inclined towards that when it's something new to me. Being an old player/collector, there are a lot of things I'd love to read up on regarding some armies. The model showcase parts of the Codex are often interesting for the 3 or 4 minis they show that aren't in their box art/webstore colours.

Let's say I've spent £50 on rules a year. We'll be generous to my wallet and ignore all Index books and any supplemental stuff in White Dwarf. A tenner a month sounds expensive next to that, but I'm sure I'd feel like I'd be getting enough out of it with all the rules and fluff, along with the CA stuff like extra missions and what have you. Even better if there are, let's say, Quarterly campaign supplements added alongside. Automatically updating for FAQS and new units would icing on the cake.

I feel like a subscription based model, with pulped dead trees available still for people who need them, would be great for me, and for GW. I'd have access to all the rules and background I could want, without having to carry a dozen books around with me for a soup army and still having to refer to online resources to check things, and with my access to these, I may be tempted by other armies and so buy even more models and paints.

There are also a huge number of ways they could keep people hooked on their subscriptions, by adding a new mission each month (removed from CA and spread over the year rather than all at once, or tied into a WD battle report, live-stream or whatever) newly updated datasheets for individual units or characters one at a time, thus not needing to make every release themed. If they ever get over their fear of people customising and kitbashing they could even release special datasheets for these things very easily. Without being tied into a months in advance print schedule they could easily drop surprise updates for special events too. And the idea of gaming and bat-rep integration is a fun one as well. Hell, if they did tie in list building, and battle records, they could use the data for their ongoing balancing, basically having us pay to play test their games, as well as using it for market research into the kind of rules and models that more people like using.

 Jidmah wrote:
There is also the option to move to a subscription system which does not have the primary goal of milking its customers.

Office 365, for example, is a very successful subscription system for both sides - many people can use the same software at home which they use at work/school for a lot less money that those boxes with CDs in them used to cost and Microsoft gets lots of money because more people pay for their office instead of pirating or substituting it.

If you find fair prices for the subscription and provide enough content for that money, people will buy it.
For example you could make cheap subscriptions for people just wanting the rules for one or two codices, let's say half of what an codex ebook costs per year to get that codex updated with FAQ, new rules and point adjustments from CA.
In addition, you can get something costing five times that to get all codices for a year.
Last but not least, for ten times the price of the basic subscription, you can get the Imperator's suscription where you get all the rules, a digital copy of all white dwarfs, kill team, apocalypse, necromunda and a primaris sergeant.

Provide something for those who don't have a lot of money.
Provide something for those who have too much money.
And most importantly: Don't try to rip off your customers.

It always amazes me when people come out to bat for multi-million dollar companies like their old friends from HS. GW is a company created to make money. Just like EA, Bioware, Konami, Blizzard, Microsoft, and Google. All of them are free to pursue the goal of making money and being successful. But stop trying to say crap like "GW does it for the customers, they aren't in it for the money".

Not picking on you, just piggy backing.

No one is going to bat for GW. It's recognizing the realities of what a business would be willing to do when you mess with a major source of revenue.

I think a better model is somewhere in between: you buy and own the rules, but GW updates them for free (sort of like how the digital codexes work now). The format/layout just needs to change, and a printable summary needs to be part of it.

 greyknight12 wrote:
I think a better model is somewhere in between: you buy and own the rules, but GW updates them for free (sort of like how the digital codexes work now). The format/layout just needs to change, and a printable summary needs to be part of it.

I imagine that would be the perfect solution. Like how when you buy a game through steam/gog, they update it and keep it updated for the life of the game/publisher rights. For instance I bought a 23 year old game off of GoG last night, and it worked perfectly on my home built 2019 Windows 10 computer.

If GW gave even the slightest crap about it's fans, it would offer free updates. But it doesn't. CA isn't free and neither is the new BRB. I would gladly spend the extra 60-70 bucks on models if GW would just comp me the rules.

 FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:

 Jidmah wrote:
There is also the option to move to a subscription system which does not have the primary goal of milking its customers.

Office 365, for example, is a very successful subscription system for both sides - many people can use the same software at home which they use at work/school for a lot less money that those boxes with CDs in them used to cost and Microsoft gets lots of money because more people pay for their office instead of pirating or substituting it.

If you find fair prices for the subscription and provide enough content for that money, people will buy it.
For example you could make cheap subscriptions for people just wanting the rules for one or two codices, let's say half of what an codex ebook costs per year to get that codex updated with FAQ, new rules and point adjustments from CA.
In addition, you can get something costing five times that to get all codices for a year.
Last but not least, for ten times the price of the basic subscription, you can get the Imperator's suscription where you get all the rules, a digital copy of all white dwarfs, kill team, apocalypse, necromunda and a primaris sergeant.

Provide something for those who don't have a lot of money.
Provide something for those who have too much money.
And most importantly: Don't try to rip off your customers.

It always amazes me when people come out to bat for multi-million dollar companies like their old friends from HS. GW is a company created to make money. Just like EA, Bioware, Konami, Blizzard, Microsoft, and Google. All of them are free to pursue the goal of making money and being successful. But stop trying to say crap like "GW does it for the customers, they aren't in it for the money".

Not picking on you, just piggy backing.

There is a difference between someone selling you a solid product for a fair price and some overcharging your for a flawed or low-quality product. When it comes to how GW is currently selling its rules, it's the later, though most likely not because of malice. I'm an IT guy, I know how hard it is to convince your bosses of this new internet stuff, even in 2019
I took Office 365 as an example because it is simply one of the most successful software subscriptions right now. Ten years ago, almost no private person actually bought Microsoft Office because it was very expensive and wasn't something you wanted to buy, but something you need to buy in order to do your work, homework, papers, etc.
It either came free with your PC, you pirated it or you were using a free open source alternative. Today, every other person has an Office 365 subscription and is quite happy with it, because they feel they are getting the right amount of product for the right amount of money.

40k rules are in pretty similar boat when you think about it, you don't actually want to buy them, but you kind of have to.

There is the issue about the rules just being a driver to sell models though, unlike Office which is the product itself. In my opinion, they should be free, but a fair subscription model would be an acceptable alternative for me.