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NVM

Are people going to drop out due to financial difficulty?
At the extreme margins perhaps - but if you had say X to spend, you've still got X to spend - it just won't go as far. Is £2 or $3 etc a box going to be the cut off point?

Its annoying and then becomes normalised. I'm sure we will get see some calculated horror stories on buying a full 2k point army from scratch before and after. But if you were buying a box or two every 3-6 months, its just going to be a bit more.

The real whales are going to be people who promptly buy a dozen kits because they want to save themselves money - and these will then sit, unassembled and unpainted, forever. The sad thing is I might be one of them (although not playing for over two months has sort of put me into army-desire limbo).

@godswildcard: Thanks for the list. I just checked the price increase for the regular spray cans and it was 50 Cents. Thats OK for me and doesn´t make me panic buying right now.

I´m more concerned that FW will adjust their fantasy foreign exchange rate.

Hey, I don't know. I know a lot of highly paid software engineers working for Uber and AirBnB figured they'd keep their jobs right now too. The cascading effects of the pandemic are hitting all the income brackets.

This may be the most tone deaf and stupid thing I've seen GW do, and there's a lot of competition for that spot.

E: this was in response to the folks saying GW customers can absorb the hit here. Quoting was fethed up so I dropped it.

If the Blood Angel and Deathwatch stuff (which already had a price hike last year) is going up, GW is insane. I also like the number of ancient kits on this list, I can't believe they sold all that much even with lower price seeing how bad the minis look. Seriously?

On AoS side too, aren't DoK already very expensive army? As are GSC? Does GW want to ensure no one will start collecting these?

Matrindur wrote:
Probably wishful thinking but interesting that they call it price adjustments instead of price increases, so maybe we could even see some kits that sold bad decrease in price?

I wish I had your optimism...

9th is more than likely going to launch in a few months, meaning the initial turn-off from this hike is going to be made up for when those same people come running back, just like they did after 7th burnt them and all the times before that.

And they will still sell tons and have record sales...

20% price hikes? Didn't we just get told the inflation rate in the UK was at an all time low of 0.8٪
GW really do know how to squeeze their whales.

 CoreCommander wrote:
It is probably going to be the traditional 2 pounds for the smaller kits. Not going to blow away 100 pounds now to save a couple of quid later Btw some start collecting boxes are also going to up in price seeing as some units in them may get the price raise now, the Necron box for example

If SC boxes were increasing in price they'd be on the list. Also, if by "Smaller kits will increase by £2" you mean £20ish kits, then spending £100 now would save £10, not £2.

 Arbitrator wrote:
9th is more than likely going to launch in a few months, meaning the initial turn-off from this hike is going to be made up for when those same people come running back, just like they did after 7th burnt them and all the times before that.

I dunno, man. It's not really about that last dollar that GW's eking out here (though yeah, I'm on the record as disgusted at a company raising prices in a pandemic). I think it's more that with the global upheaval and the cascading effects of this, your 40k-playing audience has probably shrunk a noticeable amount. How many folks lost jobs? How many LGSes closed for good?

Maybe in W. Europe it's different, but here in the US, small business (which almost all LGSes are) are hurting. If you don't have a place to play, you're not going to buy as much stuff. And the 1 man Warhammer stores don't exactly make up for that.

Kirasu wrote: There is a difference in logic behind raising prices on GOOD units like Primaris vs on 20 year old models that are utterly terrible in the game such as Khorne Berserkers. Certainly they've made their money back? It seems incredibly dumb to increase prices on a unit that already doesn't sell.

See, I think they're smart to do just the opposite. People are price sensitive towards units that they are buying for gameplay reasons. "Sure, they're better, but are they $60 better?" If you're buying old, frankly outdated kits at full retail, you probably don't care. Also, keep in mind that GW wants to reduce SKU bloat, and raising pices on low sellers helps to milk the long tail.

JWBS wrote:Huh. We've been unable to buy any of their stuff due to current global circumstances. Now that we can buy their stuff again (but not really though. Their supply chain isn't able to make stock available to most of their retailers) they're raising prices. Great. I'll feel even better that literally every FW item I buy comes from China and I'll continue to ensure that 100% of the GW text and audio media I consume is unpaid

 Polonius wrote:
Second off, their target demographic are far more likely to keep their jobs/hours.

Explain please.

I think GW markets heavily towards white collar employees. And yes, all sectors are facing job losses, but the people least effected, and most likely to find a new job right now, are the upper middle class white color employees who make up their bread and butter.

Announcing that prices are going up is GW’s idea of a sale.

Gene St. Ealer wrote:Hey, I don't know. I know a lot of highly paid software engineers working for Uber and AirBnB figured they'd keep their jobs right now too. The cascading effects of the pandemic are hitting all the income brackets.

This may be the most tone deaf and stupid thing I've seen GW do, and there's a lot of competition for that spot.

E: this was in response to the folks saying GW customers can absorb the hit here. Quoting was fethed up so I dropped it.

that's true, but I think software engineers are going to have the easiest time finding new jobs. Bartenders can't tend bar anywhere in some states. Software engineers can still work.

JWBS wrote:

 CoreCommander wrote:
It is probably going to be the traditional 2 pounds for the smaller kits. Not going to blow away 100 pounds now to save a couple of quid later Btw some start collecting boxes are also going to up in price seeing as some units in them may get the price raise now, the Necron box for example

If SC boxes were increasing in price they'd be on the list. Also, if by "Smaller kits will increase by £2" you mean £20ish kits, then spending £100 now would save £10, not £2.

Well, not now, but probably further down the road We've seen this already - bump the price of the kits so you can either bump the box price or if it is priced accordingly already to make it seem as a good deal.

It does seem like really poor timing, but I guess its nice they gave us a heads up? Kind of.

Unpopular opinion time. I get all the hate, but when it comes down to it, this is a hobby. It's something we choose to spend our money and time doing. And although its way too expensive as it is, there's no reason people need to spend money on the hobby currently, if they're struggling to afford it. Yeah, its fun and a great way to pass the time. But if you're out of a job, maybe don't spend money on GW products until you're able to work again if its that big of an issue? With the exception of limited editon stuff, everything should still be available to purchase in a few months.

 Arbitrator wrote:

 Polonius wrote:
Second off, their target demographic are far more likely to keep their jobs/hours.

Explain please.

If you can afford to regularly but GW stuff you're probably working a job that gives you a good amount of disposable income.

Still confused. Are well paid jobs more resilient to recession/depression? (Also some people have higher disposable income due to lower expenditures, eg childless people).

JWBS wrote:
[
Still confused. Are well paid jobs more resilient to recession/depression? (Also some people have higher disposable income due to lower expenditures, eg childless people).

Yes, generally. Also, given the particulars of this recession, certain industries which tend to be lower paying were hardest hit, including food/beverage, tourism, and public events.

To my mind the forewarning is part of the strategy. The factory has only just opened back up after weeks of being closed. They've had no new releases (barring a few limited edition things) in all that time. They want a quick cash injection from stock they have on hand already so this is how you do it - prompt a quick burst of FOMO panic buying. It's smart.

Someone who was already in financial difficulties due the pandemic wasn't buying that unit of berzerkers anyway, going up by £2.50 or whatever won't change anything.

I find it to a very weird mix of items being increased.

old style marine sets when we know GW are slowly phasing them out. Datacards that are coming to the end of their life. And tons of basic troop sets.

I can almost seeing them sneak a fiver or so on top of things like Morathi. She's a huge kit that only a percentage of players will buy and only once at that. But increase on a box of bog standard guard or goblins. Insane.

Same with the plastic characters. They switched over to plastic as a cheaper alternative to metals and now characters cost two or three times as much as they did or other companies. Characters that are already €22.50 or €30 for a single model anyway.

They don't even include a whole unit with full options most of the time now. How can small companies or cottage industries put out insanely good value plastic sets, with full options and bases and GW can't. (GW don't even provide the correct bases in many of their sets now and after trying to swap the base for the correct one, I was informed they will only swap bases for ones that are shown on the web page)

It used to be that the mass produced minis used to be dirt cheap and small industry stuff was an expensive extravagance.

Oh well, I play Epic 40k which is pretty cheap anyway and only going to get cheaper and easier with 3d printing becoming so common.
And I've switched out from AoS to go back to WFB and oathmark. All my minis still work for all the games, but oathmark kits are good value. I'll finish off my dark elves army from GW and probably buy the new snotling Blood bowl team for the plastic pump wagons and I'm done. I have enough GW kits to last a lifetime of painting anyway and I'm not really that taken with a lot of the new releases/announcements.


Having made mad profits for the last couple of years and right as we are about to hit a global rescission as well. I just can't get the logic behind it all.

 Polonius wrote:

JWBS wrote:
[
Still confused. Are well paid jobs more resilient to recession/depression? (Also some people have higher disposable income due to lower expenditures, eg childless people).

Yes, generally. Also, given the particulars of this recession, certain industries which tend to be lower paying were hardest hit, including food/beverage, tourism, and public events.

At the same time too though... maybe this is too anecdotal but I played with folks of all walks of life at my LGS. Truck drivers, fast food workers, plumbers... as well as businesspeople and software engineers. If the combination of recession + small price increases + points drops necessitating more models turns this into solely a hobby of the upper middle class, that's a shame. And again, probably in the long run hurts GW. They'd turned a corner and instituted policies to make them less reliant on whales -- this is all going back on that.

LONG LIVE 3D PRINTERS!

Huh, so the Aeronautica Imperialis planes are old enough to warrant a price hike?

And the Mek Shop? They can't have been selling many of those kits due to the useless rules, do they think they'll sell more now?

I don't get it.

 Malika2 wrote:
LONG LIVE 3D PRINTERS!

Yeah, it's not like good quality Patreons are crawling out of the woodwork by the dozens or anything right at the same time ^^

 General Kroll wrote:
God help us all when the Aussies wake up...

This Aussie woke up several years ago, and stopped buying GW product, for the most part. Seemed easier on the liver than just complaining about the prices and buying anyway...

 Oguhmek wrote:
Huh, so the Aeronautica Imperialis planes are old enough to warrant a price hike?

And the Mek Shop? They can't have been selling many of those kits due to the useless rules, do they think they'll sell more now?

I don't get it.

Some of that stuff is made in China (especially scenery). They may be having issues there and so they increased prices on lots of "uncommon" products (like scenery, fortifications, etc).
Most of the items going up in price are made in UK though.

 Mallo wrote:
I find it to a very weird mix of items being increased.

old style marine sets when we know GW are slowly phasing them out. Datacards that are coming to the end of their life. And tons of basic troop sets.

Outside of basic troops (most whom are already in SC boxes), you're describing things that GW almost wants to sell fewer of. They wont' say it, but GW wouldn't cry if everybody just stopped buying classic marines, right?

I can almost seeing them sneak a fiver or so on top of things like Morathi. She's a huge kit that only a percentage of players will buy and only once at that. But increase on a box of bog standard guard or goblins. Insane.

The basic cadians and Leman russ both went up, but SC Astra Militarum did not. GW wants you to buy the SC box.

Same with the plastic characters. They switched over to plastic as a cheaper alternative to metals and now characters cost two or three times as much as they did or other companies. Characters that are already €22.50 or €30 for a single model anyway.

Plastic characters are an absolute cash cow for GW. I do not know how they do it. I'm genuinely baffled. My only guess is that price sensitive buyers already convert, so again, it's only the hard core buying.

How can small companies or cottage industries put out insanely good value plastic sets, with full options and bases and GW can't.

With a handful of exceptions... they don't. Nobody comes close to GW quality (aside from maybe Wyrd), and for most smaller plastic manufacturers, their best stuff still barely beats GW kits from 15-20 years ago.

It used to be that the mass produced minis used to be dirt cheap and small industry stuff was an expensive extravagance.

I have enough GW kits to last a lifetime of painting anyway and I'm not really that taken with a lot of the new releases/announcements.

This is the key. Right here. You are incredibly price sensitive because you know, deep down, that you not only don't need more GW, you might not even use more GW!

Having made mad profits for the last couple of years and right as we are about to hit a global rescission as well. I just can't get the logic behind it all.

we've been here before, and it works out. The secret: for an adult, GW is an fairly cheap hobby.

Whelp that stopped me from buying anything for a while. Good job, GW. I was legit gonna buy those Hunters/Stalkers and now I'm gonna hold off just out of principle.

I don't think this is going to be it, but one does wonder when GW will hit the magic threshold of people freezing their buying in droves.

I mean, I just saw that the Stormraven is CURRENTLY $90. That's insanity. I would NEVER pay $90 for a Stormraven. And now the price is going to increase. Yeesh.

 Polonius wrote:
we've been here before, and it works out. The secret: for an adult, GW is an fairly cheap hobby.

We're going to have to agree to disagree here. I'm 32 with more disposable income than I've ever had in my life. My GW buying has slowed to a trickle because GW has gotten to be so expensive. I can afford GW, but not for the prices they are asking for their products. If you play the same army you've always played and you only have to buy the occasional unit, I can see it being cheap. But want to start a new army? Nope. Not a chance of being able to do that for anything resembling a reasonable price.

 Arbitrator wrote:
And they'll keep buying it, so what do GW care?

At this point, as whiny as I am, I'm barely sympathetic to people who complain about GW prices and yet keep buying it up and end up denying their own prophecy that "This will surely hurt GW! This is madness! Omg I can't wait to pre-order the new boxset, I must have at least three!"

Speak for yourself, I was ready to buy DoK army multiple times and every single time one look at their laughably overpriced troops cured me right out of it, money going to other hobbies instead. Which was only reinforced by their zero effort SC. Now that the rest of the army is joining them? Good luck growing the audience, GW.

JWBS wrote:

 CoreCommander wrote:
It is probably going to be the traditional 2 pounds for the smaller kits. Not going to blow away 100 pounds now to save a couple of quid later Btw some start collecting boxes are also going to up in price seeing as some units in them may get the price raise now, the Necron box for example

If SC boxes were increasing in price they'd be on the list. Also, if by "Smaller kits will increase by £2" you mean £20ish kits, then spending £100 now would save £10, not £2.

I like how multiple people in this thread already forgot big, pretty recent price hike on SC. Why on earth they would be rising already high bar?

Gene St. Ealer wrote: At the same time too though... maybe this is too anecdotal but I played with folks of all walks of life at my LGS. Truck drivers, fast food workers, plumbers... as well as businesspeople and software engineers. If the combination of recession + small price increases + points drops necessitating more models turns this into solely a hobby of the upper middle class, that's a shame. And again, probably in the long run hurts GW. They'd turned a corner and instituted policies to make them less reliant on whales -- this is all going back on that.

In your example, you list two profession generally unaffected by this (truck drivers and plumbers) and one which had to have been struggling to afford any gW before (fast Food workers).

Really, though, the question isn't who is playing 40k/AOS, but who are buying the kits. Depending on what you believe, it's likely that over half of all GW are bought by people who never play.

Oguhmek wrote:Huh, so the Aeronautica Imperialis planes are old enough to warrant a price hike?

And the Mek Shop? They can't have been selling many of those kits due to the useless rules, do they think they'll sell more now?

I don't get it.

I think they're poor sellers. they can do one of three things: cut the SKU, and have people mad; increase the price and try to profit off the few people that do want to buy them; or stay the course and hope sales turn around. Given that most sales happen very early in a products life, I think some of this is a low seller tax. If you really want a mek boy shop, you gotta pay a premium to keep it in production.