Been gaming 40 years (yes, some sleep in between). Started back in the good old days and yes I LOVED Games Workshop back in the 80`s and 90`s. Now..... I wont touch them with a ten foot barge pole. Their policies anger me and make me want nothing to do with them. This is a good video and still relevant in 2016 - and beyond.
Agree completely, such a shame that the company I fell in love with in the 90’s are such shits now. They seem to literally hate their fans that made them great. For me, the price (just not value for only) is just extortionate, plus the never ending changing rule sets. Again, such a pity as I still love the worlds they created, but will not go into one of their stores.
Heh... and now they are shutting down all fan-films regardless of if they are monetized or not. Even though fan-fiction is still being allowed they are taking down all Warhammer fan-films to make way for Warhammer+ (a new subscription based streaming service for Warhammer content).
Who has the time to dedicate to what is an obscure and elite hobby? Who who can afford $75 just as a starter to what has been a consuming and expensive past-time? (I may keep some metal LordOfTheRings figures, but everything is going on TradeMe.) Everything from HeroQuest, AdvancedHeroQuest, WarhammerQuest to Gorkamorka and Necromunda. When I found a floppy disc fell out of one of the boxes I experienced an experience of sudden and striking realization :P no matter the nostalgia these games evoke they're just not future proof,, i'd better get a few dollars for them while I can.
The thing that pisses me off the most is the price of rulebooks and codex/army books. What do you mean I have to pay another $130 just to play after I bought your expensive ass models?
PurpleIsALetter i've gotten more than half my army (i have well over a company and a half worth of models) from ebay at fractions of the amounts GW asks for. there's ALWAYS unpainted 10-man squads of space marines for 15 bucks (buy now option, not a bid war). i'm talking legion of the damned, tanks, dreadnoughts, etc. and codices (7e grey knights for 40!)... it sucks, i know, because it's not new in the box, or fresh resin from the sprues, but on the bright side, i've saved literally hundreds of dollars because of it
Coming from board games, I find it completely insane that you have to constantly spend a ton of money for the rules. And that you have to constantly buy new rules
It's crazy how relevant this is becoming again today with GW's scummy FOMO sales tactics and them shutting down UA-cam content creation channels because of Warhammer+. They made leaps and bounds over the last 10 years, but they are going backwards in the last few.
Games Workshop hates you, hates their customer base and hates the hobby in general....hence why they are charging $40 for a single plastic figure and $5 for a small pot of crappy paint. In response to this video, GW put MiniWarGaming out of business. Any questions?
@@zartheprotogen No he is absolutely on point. Watch Northern Exile's video about being a store manager for games workshop and you see just how much the higher ups hate you
@@Arisawa_Heavy_Ind they literally don't even want people playing more than 500 point games in their stores. They literally want managers to kick people out.
They dont hate "you"; GW simply doesnt care. That dont mean what theyre pulling is in ANY way good, it honestly makes it even worse, they Seem to exclusively focus on profits, ignoring and neglicting their fanbase unless they can squeeze more money out of them
Great video, as a player of WFB and 40K I feel GW only cares about money now. I have not played a game since my loved Black Templars lost their own book and went to bog standard space marine. I have just over 6000pts in BT and almost 6000pts in Tau, in WFB I have Orcs and Goblins and High Elves. I have not brought a single model sense the last Space Marine codex came out and I cannot see that changing. I feel they don't care about the game as much now as they used to and that they have changed the fluff, history and the spirit of some armies to suit their own pockets. I feel this is a shame and a stab in the back of core players.
MiniWarGaming 100% right here, as a University (college equivalent) student in Australia I find it hard to purchase miniatures due to price. Other companies are becoming largely competitive and I have on 3 separate occasions considered buying from other companies and nearly did it last week for a more competitive price
When I started with Warhammer, I bought the boxed set. Came with the hardcover rulebook, dice, templates, rulers, and 500 point Empire and Orc armies. Since then the price has went up $75 to get the exact same items. They are pricing people right into other, cheaper brands.
What boxed set was that? Just as a clarification if you meant the 2nd Edition set from wayyyyy long ago, or Assault On Black Reach (Space Marines and Orks, 500 pt each), which came with a soft-cover small rulebook.
friends ogt me into it whe ni was younger but now i havent played warhammer for about 10 years and watching your videos has made me started collecting again. you guys deserve more credit than you get i think
I quit GW years ago because of 2 reasons; 1) the cost. It was marching far ahead of inflation and I couldn't afford the next new thing. 2) Folk in my local store were utter tools and would abuse me for not having the latest models or knowing every single rule when a new edition of the game came out. I'm only now thinking of getting a Leman Russ. Not for gaming but simply because it's a nice model. From ebay. For half the price.
Screw those people at your local store. The cost is reason enough, don't let a couple of assholes ruin something you enjoy. If anything, just remember that they are so pathetic the only thing they have going for them in life....is their plastic toy army and continual loss of potential opponents/friends.
***** 100%, exactly! GW isn't forcing anybody to buy newest edition models retail. There is a ton of stuff available on Ebay, etc. for a fraction of the cost. GW also isn't forcing anybody to play tournaments either. Tournaments are a gaming choice, nobody has a gun to their heads forcing them to play competitively.
My personal issue is that I can't deal with the thought of knowing that the games of the world are dumbing down... I.E. getting simpler. I understand it will appeal to a larger market but it hurts my nerd. All I hear about AoS is that they dumbed it down. If that's the case what about 8th edition if it's dumbed down I don't even want to start. WH40k has the best models I've been able to find but Not sure I want to play a game where the company cares so little about it's customer base. Much like a government the company exist at the peoples will but the people are scared to live without the big company. I.E. finding a different company to support and buy miniatures from.
40K 3rd gen was the most complex and hardest to play, as you could move the squad or treat each member of a squad as a totally separate person, then if you won each squad member could have separate stats you'd have to work out so you could have "heros" with in a squad. People complained about it becoming way way too complex to manage on the fly as you'd require 4 or 5 notebooks just to keep up with 1 2000 point army. Plus all the codexs requiring a lot of rule adjustments that you only got via white dwarf so if you didn't have a sub you'd be clueless, the net made a lot of that easier to deal with but still.
So sad they never took your information, you post here, and put it to use. sorry you guys closed your store, however I still love your videos, keep them coming!
I've recently got back into painting my warhammer. I used to play it alot, and hell i still REALLY get into the backstory, the books, the extended universe, etcetera. But when i went on Gamesworkshop UK the other day and realised that a space marine battleforce had gone from £50, when i first started, to £80, i was amazed.
biggest problem with GW: extremely overpriced what is the point in wasting thousands of dollars for a few plastic miniatures that fluxuate EXTREMELY in value depending on their INGAME VALUE, when i can simply get a 3d printer for a few hundert bucks or even make one myself. i stopped playing WH/WH40k because could no longer take responsibility in wasting that much money for some plastik shit, even tho they are really high detailed.
3D printing isn't all the way there yet, consumer versions simply can't recreate the detail you get from molds. If you want a cheap way of playing 40k without supporting GWs business model, buy the chinese knock-offs.
What makes it worse is comparing to other plastic models. They are just as or more detailed, they just aren't 40k. I can get 3 or 4 HG gunpla for a set of 5 40K squaddies, AT LEAST. Forget some of the other models. Price-wise, bigger 40k models are priced like a master grade, which have individually articulated knuckles and LED lights and shit.
Started playing Bolt Action. basic troops are 3x cheaper. Vehicles are 5x cheaper. About the same size. (Comparing to Imperial Guard) I will probably still play Warhammer. I enjoy painting my thousand sons, I like the guys at my local store, but by playing Warhammer, we are definitely paying a Warhammer tax.
i first got in 40k when i was about 10/11 (i had to get my parents & grandparents to buy my things because there was an age restriction) and i got into the game because of my local store (was no internet then) and i collected all the way until i was 15/16 and i lost interest because the hobby was far to expensive then and was only getting more expensive. I'm now 27 and started collecting WFB which shortly afterwards was abolished for AoS (big mistake imho, they should have WFB & AoS as 2 different games as that would create more revenue but what do i know i don't run a big company) and tbh i buy most of my stuff second hand of eBay because it is affordable and arrives quicker than if i was buying it from GW (every order i have got from GW's webstore has been late or wrong which is not helping my opinion of them at all). GW need to sit down and have a good long hard look at there business practices and sort it out. once again this is all my personal experience and opinion
Story of my experience right there. Started 40k played for 2 yrs. Heard total war warhammer came out and i'm still playing that. Wanted to get back into miniatures only to hear that GW killed Fantasy Battles. Feels bad man =(
I'm about twice your age and have seen this shit happen over and over. Look at atari and the videogame crash of the 80s. EA Sports simply abuses a loyal fanbase now. The difference between EA and these other examples is that EA has the money to buy up and own other IPs. Sony too. Same shit. Establish a fanbase for a product, charge a premium price, revise and re-release constantly, and gouge the diehards when growth slows. GW's major problem is that 40k is their only cash cow in a niche market. The reason it remains niche is their own practices. Videogames can do similar things very efficiently now without the setup and expensive bits and regular updates. A company CAN get on the dlc train but people are wise to that. It's another unsustainable model. So those companies still milk the die hards, pay to play is rampant, etc. Same old shit, and large companies never learn. They create environments that result in the "cash out while you can" end game for them.
You are so right about the dangers of being superceded by efficient competitors. 3D print companies are poised to start producing highly detailed products on a scary scale. Hence the appointment of a new marketing savvy CEO at GW. Look how many events they are scheduled to be at across US and Europe this year. That is a clear strategy to become more directly engaged with their customers and to inspire more investment. Personally, I LOVE the Forgeworld fine casts and the resin minis are generally very good to excellent. The designers and sculptors at GW are the best in the industry without doubt. But the pricing structure is in danger of getting carried away with itself which can impact on retailers.
Local GW prices are about double what you pay in the UK. I can have them shipped from the UK for half of that markup. Protection from currency fluctuation is a completely vapid excuse, it is and always has been about charging as much as they think they can get away with
Oh guys... this is so sad and disheartening to see. We are still in the same exact situation today. This company is shit, but I love 40k so much. I have so much money, time and love invested into that hobby and I cant hope to sell it for a fracture of the price.
I agree a lot with what you said on the price of starter sets. I'm really new to all this table top war gaming stuff and I had exactly the same experience going in to a games workshop store getting really excited over how cool everything looked and then hearing that it was going to cost over £100 to get started. For a 17 year old with no job (me) this is rather a lot, especially when you take into account that I had no idea what army or even game I wanted to play.
i'd give it a few more years until the average "private" 3d printers improve... have you seen a 3d printed space marine?? i.ytimg.com/vi/PHZB_2evE1Q/hqdefault.jpg
You've never printed anything, right? As is, even if the quality, even with home built printers can be far better than the above example of Daryl Fariza , the time it takes is something you've got to take into account! You're fare better off either sculpting, printing, modding an existing model, or purely recasting, either in pewter or resin, both time, and even costs wise (if you don't have the means to recycle plastics and make your own filament (wich comes with it's own set of problems to solve) Go on, try, have at it, it has it's uses, but months of printing to have a 2000pts army on the table isn't the solution you're likely to be after!
Home 3d printing can't do it yet, but industrial versions, cad machines, those all can very easily. Injection molding is still cheaper to do industrially, but not for long.
Phenomenal video, amazingly executed my hat is certainly off to you Matt. So many spot on points. It's a shame it's taken me this long to find the video after watching you guys for so long. I would however like to see an updated video on what kind of response if any that games workshop replied with and also maybe it's time for a new video seeing as the rise in prices is still happening and many retailers are meeting their demise.
I dropped GW like a bad habit about five years ago. Been playing WarMachine ever since, with little forays in to Dystopian and Malafeux. Privateer Press has treated me better as a customer than GW ever did.
I agree with much, if not all of what was said. I'm really glad he mentioned the currency issues especially. I've been bringing that up with my friends and the local GW and other shops lately, and I'm happy to see that he brought the issue up here.
I remember when GW used to make discount deals if you bought in bulk. They still do it with the megaforces for holidays release. The new Hobbit deal should do this too. I would have to pay $745 to get each new release and the deal offers the same price; it isn't much of a deal.
Unfortunately, a lot of GW clients, not all but a lot, will never drop GW and that's a damn shame. I am personally in the process of leaving GW altogether for Mantic. Their attitude toward the customer is far better and the product line has come amazingly far. I'm tired of giving my hard earned money to company that could give two rips what the customer thinks.
Thankyou for putting together this video. I will be honest. since the gw price increases ive been looking at warmachine and firestorm armada. it would be nice if GW as a corporate company had the same ammount of loyalty as my local stores staff.
I know this is an old video , but in 1996 I was in negotiation with GW and I have to say the had the single worst worst business reps , already in 96 it felt more like doing business trying to open a franchise with MC Donalds , they wanted to control just about every aspect of my business , needles to say I decided to not go with their terms and conditions ( I was 20 at the time ) and I have to say I don't have a single regret ( also we would have been the first GW importers in the middle east , I have not look into it in any way , but I am not sure they have any ( to lazy to do a 1 minute search ) , and the best part is it completely got everyone I know completely off GW games , I can Matthiew's dismay , but I doubt GW actually changed anything . what I really really hope is that 3'd printing will be accessible and cheap and then you will be able to buy your 100$ miniatures for 10$ , or print them yourself , and that will finally make them have to change their business strategies , ( maybe they will go back to metal ). either way I suggest buying on ebay , used miniatures , way way cheaper .
I dropped 40k in the 1999 - the pain was just beginning. Well, 3d printing is going to demolish GWs business model. There will be a lot of fans with a lot of time to scan models. If GW is smart they will embrace 3d printing
Funny I find myself back here and nothing has changed from their bullshit I bought a war band of chaos daemons and marines, and now I find myself with more privateer press and cool mini or not stuff, so I guess history does rhyme.
When GW crashes and burns, I hope a respectable company will buy the rights to their IPs. I mean I love the 40k lore and so on and so forth, but it has so much potential to be more popular. It's just that these price hikes discourage people wanting to get into the hobby
I'm glad you like it i've been using vallejo for a long time and I'm very satisfied with their quality. If you paing GW ministures if you search in the net there's a list thats says which vallejor are the same as the GW paints so if you are using a GW paining manual it will be ok =)
Im was a loyal GW player until recently, i wanted to add just a few models in a unit and it surely costed about 150 bucks, i was shocked because i had bought my army a few years ago and wasnt as expensive back then, plus orks is really outdated. Every time i try to convince my friends to start playing 40k with me, i get the response "i would love to play, but its far to expensive" everything else is getting cheaper, why is GW constantly raising prices?? Its plastic for crying out loud!
yeah same here...i don't get it Oo it should not be so expansive to build these cheap plastik figures oO i startet the game recently and payed nothing because i bought and reselled them oon ebay =) (have 2000 Points Armee now) i would support GW but not with these prices a standart squad wich costs about 10Euro/Dollar or whatsoever that would be a FAIR price but 30 bucks for some spacemarines XD nope to expansive ;)
you sir have spoken perfectly what all my friends and I have been thinking. We play 40k and are avid fans but with the new prices and embargo on aus we find it difficult if not impossible to continue at our current pace of buying new new models ( rounghly 3-4 sets a week). We love 40k but cant keep up with the costs and it is killing our enthusiasm so if GW hears your opinion I hope they hear ours too because they represent more then just a small group of 40k fans
Absolutely agree with his comments on pricing...use to buy gw alot as did a couple of friends of mine but now we look at the prices & its too expensive for our tastes...started to put me off the hobby.
I have been playing RPG'S and War-games ever since 1982, back then citadel was still in league with ral partha. I have the original rune quest broo. throughout the 1980's GW was great. Its motto was if we don't have it, you probably don't need it, all the classic cast's came from the 80's. GW was adult art boutique and if you were a little kid like I was at the time, it blew you away that you could relate to adults in a way that happened nowhere else, then I grew up the 1990's came around and GW did not like us anymore. 40k rogue trader was to dark for children and they were not going to cater for adults and mature young people any more. they got taken over by the midland bank and what they replaced WHFB AND 40KRT with was appalling. They must of been in league with the devil to of cornered the market with the crap they where pimping out at that point and the price of the products where quadruped. They turned their back on RPG'S and took over the world. GW will not change they treat everyone else like crud as far as they are concerned you should be taken to the gas chamber for dealing in anything other than GW products. well at least that is how it was. GW don't sell as many mini's any more, most people buy second hand from ebay. GW makes its money from royalty rights. Everything they do now will be to protect royalty rights. If they let people use there pic's then that will undermine how much the space marine image is worth to a p.c. game company GW always said it was a progressive company they don't give a damn about the hobby only there own survival. You may not agree but GW don't care and that is why most other competitor have fallen by the way side.This is also only my humble opinion.
@This Sword for Hire Yea bloody hell, 6 years ago now. It was true six years ago and it is even more true now. GW have proven they can and will change for the worse. Hopefully They will take them selves out of the Game industry and go and stand next to Dog Shit Disney. To big to fail, To shallow for a sail.
You make a number of excellent points, and I agree with absolutely everything you've said, however, I also appreciate that this video is four year old, and no real changes have been made. It's kind of heart breaking to say it, but I think Games Workshop needs to die. I loved warhammer, 40k, and lord of the rings, but it's simply too expensive. I can't sum up all the points as well as you have done here, and I would only be pointing out things that hundreds have probably done before me. I hope someone high up in GW saw this video, because you're right, they NEED to change.
Great vid, as an Aussie who is currently paying extremely high prices its great to see some International concerns as well. The Warmachine scene is huge is Australia now because of the issues you have highlighted. Some gaming clubs that were exclusively GW are now not playing GW games at all. To be honest it will be difficult to go back.
Adam Blyth No, we are paying double what the rest of the world is paying in Australia. For example, one squad of Imperial Guardsman, I believe they are about $30 in America. Almost $50 in AU.
Agree with the points raised, even if as a UK customer I don't have as many problems. Prices will always be complained about, but the 3 finescast models I bought have been miscasts and the 1 forgeworld model I have also suffered horribly from resin miscast. I now buy models from ebay for a fraction of the retail price and have few problems. Just an example of how the GW Quality:Cost ratio has put another long term customer off their newer products.
How? GeeDubs is largest modelling company in the world, not just model games. Furthermore in my area I know none who play those games, I live in west Swindon, England, but everyone plays 40k/fantasy and every new year they have about 20 people come into their store to play a massive apoc game
I love 40k for the lore... Love Dawn of War, love the Only War RPG, love WH40k Conquest card game, love "What if the Emperor had a Text-To-Speech Device" but I could never buy the plastic crack. What I spent on the above, combined, is how much it would cost me to get a single necron commander with a matching annhilation barge. That's not an army, that's a unit with a mount.
I agree on your point with the price hikes, but I am okay with paying the price for the things because the very friendly service the detail of miniatures, and it is very fun to do as a past time.
I think it got a lot worse. 3-4 years ago the local GW store used to be a busy place almost any time of the day. but the last few times I came by, the (lonely) store owner was by himself every single time... Also even what used to be die hard 40K fans now ridicule GW for their prices and their policies of changing the game(s) in ways that you constantly have to increase the number of models to play etc. People are trying different miniatures (and rules) more often now and quite a few leave GW behind for good. I think that's a good thing however. Either GW responds and returns to its roots, or they will slowly vanish from the market. It might take years, but it will happen and if they don't change, then I'm not really sorry for them.
I can kinda see what you're getting at, and I do agree. The one man store model they've been doing in the US has really killed their physical customer base. My old store used to be bustling with people looking to play. Yeah, they essentially mooched off of the tables, but got more people curious and showed potential players that there was a community. Now it's dead there. At this point, I just want them to treat their customers and clients with respect, and drop the excessive greed at the cost of customer loyalty. After that, we can worry about imbalanced rules and whatnot... lol
Great job on the video by the way.... You really know what your talking about.... I really hope things change for the sake of game store owners and the players that used to be so dedicated to the hobby
I agreed with every point in the video except two. The big one is that think there is a deliberate malevolence from GW towards its fans, as they bleed us for all they can get. The second is that Ford proved itself to have the better business practices over GM because Ford didn't take the government bailout.
The thing about their greed is that it can only go as far as we allow. The best way to get them to stop gouging us for everything is to simply boycott until they comply. Don't buy the 8th edition whenever it comes out and stick to playing 7th. Buy models secondhand from eBay. Buy secondhand codexes or borrow one from a friend/fellow game shop customer. Buy non-GW painting and modeling equipment. You'll either force GW to compete with third party pricing or find the lower prices without them.
Ford stayed in business on their own merit, while GM put itself into bankruptcy, and was bailed out by the government using our tax dollars. Whatever short term strategies they used, Ford's worked, and "Government Motors" didn't.
ikkedansk I think GW is in a war of attrition against itself. It keeps raising prices so much that it is killing it's own fanbase. I've found that just to afford to play their game I have to buy everything second-hand as opposed to new. I know people who go one step further and buy knockoff models from a company in China rather than even buy used GW models. GW is putting itself into decline.
As a GW customer for 8 years now, I must agree on all your points. Esp on the starter sets. Though, as you said, they are very much worth their money, it's hard to convince someone completely new into buying one of those. What GW is going for with those, I think, is trying to get two new people to share the box and thus get two new clients instead of just one. (and maybe they'll go back then and buy it again to increase their armies)
I stopped playing 40k because of the crap they are doing. I started playing back in the Rogue Trader days back in the early 90s. I supported GW for a long time. Now the company is nothing but money grubbing assholes. I'm sad to say it, but they need to take a huge hit and learn a lesson.
I know the feeling. GW Poole is closed all the time, open for a couple hours in the afternoon and Thursdays game nights have changed to, only if you have a particular army for a particular "theme". Only a few years ago I could tip up with my army, chill out and paint and battle if some one came in who was looking for a fight. Often I would buy something before leaving, whether more paints or a single miniature.
once bryan ansell was not running GW it started down hill. i find thier attitude disgusting . when i was a 15year old kid in the 80s i spent all my pocket money and my £10 paperboy wage on FB and RT stuff. £10 for 30 marines an £1.50 for each WD issue (which had army lists,lore, new rules and variations even a comic strip or two..now its a glossy overpriced advert with nothing in it cept pretty pictures an interviews about how cool the newest model is which costs £30 for 3 plastic figs!!!.. My boy who is now 15 likes wh40k just like i did. when i took him to a local games club (not a GW store) the owner was telling me that most kids who come in, use the clubs armies because none of them except a few lucky ones can afford the models or books.he makes most of his money not from selling GW stuff but from selling snacks and pizza the kids buy while they are in the club. anyway my lad uses my old 40k an FB armies in his club and aint told he cant use old figs like the GW store tried to...rant over..soz
Hi, just wanted to provide an example to illustrate your point. I am an Australian who went to a Games Workshop store in London and saw that the Assault on Black Reach set was 61.50. In Australia, the same set is sold for $165 Australian dollars. Now, the Australian dollar is pretty good at the moment, so the difference is exaggerated, but at current exchange rates, the set in London was selling for the equivalent of $91 Australian. That is a difference of $74... food for thought.
10 years later and most of this still exist on how they think sadly. they are that super old fashioned/archaic thinking and stubborn to understand the internet vs wotc they were like that up until about 2015 once the dnd product got more known to general public thanks to critical roll and later the show stranger things.
Totally agree about the price difference. I'm in Australia, and there is a product I'd like to purchase that is $43. In the US, the product is priced at $29, that's a ridiculously big difference- even with the exchange rate where it is, the US price is the equivalence of $31 Australian dollars... something needs to change
I would like to say that your remarks on the demographic and how most are online is spot on. my friends and I, all do research before we buy and it turns out to buy forge world models including gw kits on forgeworld and have them shipped to Australia (where we live) can be cheaper by up to say 40% in some cases INCLUDING postage, at the current exchange rate
Hi Matt, thank you for sharing. I agree with you from a consumer stand point. At the same time, Games Workshop have been able to post very strong share price results for their investors, so the exact business model you are criticizing is working for them in terms of profit growth. In their letter to investors, they explained that they intentionally try to remain a small size company. I am sure the strong video game licenses are a contributing factor as well.
Excellent open letter! One way to lower the starting cost is to make Killteam a whole product, but using 40k miniatures. It would have it's own starter set with a rulebook. But the smaller scale would allow you to play for less money.
For buying brushes buy it in a painting shop (i don't know if it's right painting shop) but for the price of 1 brush in a specialized shop you should be able to get 2 or 3 bushes for the other shops and they are the same quality
Finally, I feel for you as a retailer. One of my roles at one point was helping/dealing with independents. The main reason that GW has their own stores is to increase the number of players (ie. recruitment centers) and despite the arguments by many...most independent stores are absolutely horrible. I've seen food on shelves, owners who wouldn't even look up to greet you, etc. That said, I feel for those, like you, that give a damn and are left being treated like the crap stores.
"Share this video however you can"
UA-cam algorith 10 years later: "Got you fam"
Lol
@@xzzyyy4686 same here bro
I love how this resurfaced 10 years later.
You've said exactly what I thought. When I first read the title, I said "Oh, this must be new!" then saw the bit saying 10 years ago and went "huh?"
there should be a 2021 follow-up just saying how did you experience the last 10 years @MWG Studios?
defo now
"What you need to do is change your business practice" literally gw in a nutshell even 10 years later
And also 10 years earlier .
I mean 20 .
This video is still important today!
Still today!
They haven't fixed these problems in 9 years
@@northvietnam5218 lol
And especially important today
Fucking GW
Same thing - searched this out once I heard about the TTS debacle
Been gaming 40 years (yes, some sleep in between). Started back in the good old days and yes I LOVED Games Workshop back in the 80`s and 90`s. Now..... I wont touch them with a ten foot barge pole. Their policies anger me and make me want nothing to do with them. This is a good video and still relevant in 2016 - and beyond.
Agree completely, such a shame that the company I fell in love with in the 90’s are such shits now. They seem to literally hate their fans that made them great. For me, the price (just not value for only) is just extortionate, plus the never ending changing rule sets. Again, such a pity as I still love the worlds they created, but will not go into one of their stores.
Heh... and now they are shutting down all fan-films regardless of if they are monetized or not. Even though fan-fiction is still being allowed they are taking down all Warhammer fan-films to make way for Warhammer+ (a new subscription based streaming service for Warhammer content).
And update, this aged well
$75 for a box of tactical marines here in New Zealand... can't find many players locally, at all.
I'm praying for you
Who has the time to dedicate to what is an obscure and elite hobby? Who who can afford $75 just as a starter to what has been a consuming and expensive past-time? (I may keep some metal LordOfTheRings figures, but everything is going on TradeMe.) Everything from HeroQuest, AdvancedHeroQuest, WarhammerQuest to Gorkamorka and Necromunda. When I found a floppy disc fell out of one of the boxes I experienced an experience of sudden and striking realization :P no matter the nostalgia these games evoke they're just not future proof,, i'd better get a few dollars for them while I can.
dude u actually have one of the 1st models those retards ever made!! and ur selling them for almost nothing thats a big waiste!!!
rocco hooiveld who, me?
yes u :) why sell it for a few lousy dollars? just keep it or sell it to someone who is fan or collector so u atleast get something in return.
oh wait this is 10 years old yet also perfectly timed. HE KNEW THE FUTURE
The thing that pisses me off the most is the price of rulebooks and codex/army books. What do you mean I have to pay another $130 just to play after I bought your expensive ass models?
I don't advise piracy, but it is possible to get it other ways then through GW.
Jonatan Lacroix-Gosselin Or ebay
PurpleIsALetter i've gotten more than half my army (i have well over a company and a half worth of models) from ebay at fractions of the amounts GW asks for. there's ALWAYS unpainted 10-man squads of space marines for 15 bucks (buy now option, not a bid war). i'm talking legion of the damned, tanks, dreadnoughts, etc. and codices (7e grey knights for 40!)... it sucks, i know, because it's not new in the box, or fresh resin from the sprues, but on the bright side, i've saved literally hundreds of dollars because of it
Daryl Fariza Ebay is amazing.
Coming from board games, I find it completely insane that you have to constantly spend a ton of money for the rules. And that you have to constantly buy new rules
It's crazy how relevant this is becoming again today with GW's scummy FOMO sales tactics and them shutting down UA-cam content creation channels because of Warhammer+. They made leaps and bounds over the last 10 years, but they are going backwards in the last few.
10 years later, everything is double the price
Matt, you're argument is very well thought out and presented. I hope that your video does not fall onto deaf ears.
10 years old and still appropriate...
I love the placement of products shown in the background.
Subtle, yet brilliant.
i.. LOVE how he did this in front of the privateer press wall... that made my day
Games Workshop hates you, hates their customer base and hates the hobby in general....hence why they are charging $40 for a single plastic figure and $5 for a small pot of crappy paint. In response to this video, GW put MiniWarGaming out of business. Any questions?
Can you stop being so pessimistic...
@@zartheprotogen No he is absolutely on point. Watch Northern Exile's video about being a store manager for games workshop and you see just how much the higher ups hate you
@@Arisawa_Heavy_Ind they literally don't even want people playing more than 500 point games in their stores. They literally want managers to kick people out.
They dont hate "you"; GW simply doesnt care. That dont mean what theyre pulling is in ANY way good, it honestly makes it even worse, they Seem to exclusively focus on profits, ignoring and neglicting their fanbase unless they can squeeze more money out of them
Great video, as a player of WFB and 40K I feel GW only cares about money now. I have not played a game since my loved Black Templars lost their own book and went to bog standard space marine. I have just over 6000pts in BT and almost 6000pts in Tau, in WFB I have Orcs and Goblins and High Elves. I have not brought a single model sense the last Space Marine codex came out and I cannot see that changing. I feel they don't care about the game as much now as they used to and that they have changed the fluff, history and the spirit of some armies to suit their own pockets. I feel this is a shame and a stab in the back of core players.
matt i give you absolutely right.your video letter was very constructive.
MiniWarGaming 100% right here, as a University (college equivalent) student in Australia I find it hard to purchase miniatures due to price. Other companies are becoming largely competitive and I have on 3 separate occasions considered buying from other companies and nearly did it last week for a more competitive price
I know this is a old video but Matt you hit it on the head!!!
When I started with Warhammer, I bought the boxed set. Came with the hardcover rulebook, dice, templates, rulers, and 500 point Empire and Orc armies. Since then the price has went up $75 to get the exact same items.
They are pricing people right into other, cheaper brands.
What boxed set was that? Just as a clarification if you meant the 2nd Edition set from wayyyyy long ago, or Assault On Black Reach (Space Marines and Orks, 500 pt each), which came with a soft-cover small rulebook.
friends ogt me into it whe ni was younger but now i havent played warhammer for about 10 years and watching your videos has made me started collecting again. you guys deserve more credit than you get i think
I quit GW years ago because of 2 reasons; 1) the cost. It was marching far ahead of inflation and I couldn't afford the next new thing. 2) Folk in my local store were utter tools and would abuse me for not having the latest models or knowing every single rule when a new edition of the game came out.
I'm only now thinking of getting a Leman Russ. Not for gaming but simply because it's a nice model. From ebay. For half the price.
Screw those people at your local store. The cost is reason enough, don't let a couple of assholes ruin something you enjoy. If anything, just remember that they are so pathetic the only thing they have going for them in life....is their plastic toy army and continual loss of potential opponents/friends.
***** F that.
Gum tree :) LOL
***** 100%, exactly! GW isn't forcing anybody to buy newest edition models retail. There is a ton of stuff available on Ebay, etc. for a fraction of the cost. GW also isn't forcing anybody to play tournaments either. Tournaments are a gaming choice, nobody has a gun to their heads forcing them to play competitively.
My personal issue is that I can't deal with the thought of knowing that the games of the world are dumbing down... I.E. getting simpler. I understand it will appeal to a larger market but it hurts my nerd. All I hear about AoS is that they dumbed it down. If that's the case what about 8th edition if it's dumbed down I don't even want to start. WH40k has the best models I've been able to find but Not sure I want to play a game where the company cares so little about it's customer base. Much like a government the company exist at the peoples will but the people are scared to live without the big company. I.E. finding a different company to support and buy miniatures from.
40K 3rd gen was the most complex and hardest to play, as you could move the squad or treat each member of a squad as a totally separate person, then if you won each squad member could have separate stats you'd have to work out so you could have "heros" with in a squad.
People complained about it becoming way way too complex to manage on the fly as you'd require 4 or 5 notebooks just to keep up with 1 2000 point army.
Plus all the codexs requiring a lot of rule adjustments that you only got via white dwarf so if you didn't have a sub you'd be clueless, the net made a lot of that easier to deal with but still.
Because this video was made and posted in 2011, when the starter set was Assault on Black Reach.
And, still, nothing has changed.
The more things change, the more things stay the same...
So sad they never took your information, you post here, and put it to use. sorry you guys closed your store, however I still love your videos, keep them coming!
I also love how Matt is standing in front of a bunch of warmachine/hordes products for this video. So awesome.
Annnnnnd we are back here.....
I've recently got back into painting my warhammer. I used to play it alot, and hell i still REALLY get into the backstory, the books, the extended universe, etcetera. But when i went on Gamesworkshop UK the other day and realised that a space marine battleforce had gone from £50, when i first started, to £80, i was amazed.
biggest problem with GW: extremely overpriced
what is the point in wasting thousands of dollars for a few plastic miniatures that fluxuate EXTREMELY in value depending on their INGAME VALUE, when i can simply get a 3d printer for a few hundert bucks or even make one myself.
i stopped playing WH/WH40k because could no longer take responsibility in wasting that much money for some plastik shit, even tho they are really high detailed.
Send me some pictures of those 3d printed models you made
3D printing isn't all the way there yet, consumer versions simply can't recreate the detail you get from molds. If you want a cheap way of playing 40k without supporting GWs business model, buy the chinese knock-offs.
pearcake Yep buy recasts and don't listen to those who preach their lost sales fallacy garbage about how you are stealing/morally wrong/etc.
What makes it worse is comparing to other plastic models. They are just as or more detailed, they just aren't 40k. I can get 3 or 4 HG gunpla for a set of 5 40K squaddies, AT LEAST. Forget some of the other models. Price-wise, bigger 40k models are priced like a master grade, which have individually articulated knuckles and LED lights and shit.
Started playing Bolt Action. basic troops are 3x cheaper. Vehicles are 5x cheaper. About the same size. (Comparing to Imperial Guard) I will probably still play Warhammer. I enjoy painting my thousand sons, I like the guys at my local store, but by playing Warhammer, we are definitely paying a Warhammer tax.
I like warhammer 40k because of the story of the races and the detail of the miniatures, the price just means that I must exercise waiting.
i first got in 40k when i was about 10/11 (i had to get my parents & grandparents to buy my things because there was an age restriction) and i got into the game because of my local store (was no internet then) and i collected all the way until i was 15/16 and i lost interest because the hobby was far to expensive then and was only getting more expensive. I'm now 27 and started collecting WFB which shortly afterwards was abolished for AoS (big mistake imho, they should have WFB & AoS as 2 different games as that would create more revenue but what do i know i don't run a big company) and tbh i buy most of my stuff second hand of eBay because it is affordable and arrives quicker than if i was buying it from GW (every order i have got from GW's webstore has been late or wrong which is not helping my opinion of them at all). GW need to sit down and have a good long hard look at there business practices and sort it out. once again this is all my personal experience and opinion
Story of my experience right there. Started 40k played for 2 yrs. Heard total war warhammer came out and i'm still playing that. Wanted to get back into miniatures only to hear that GW killed Fantasy Battles. Feels bad man =(
I'm about twice your age and have seen this shit happen over and over. Look at atari and the videogame crash of the 80s. EA Sports simply abuses a loyal fanbase now. The difference between EA and these other examples is that EA has the money to buy up and own other IPs. Sony too. Same shit. Establish a fanbase for a product, charge a premium price, revise and re-release constantly, and gouge the diehards when growth slows. GW's major problem is that 40k is their only cash cow in a niche market. The reason it remains niche is their own practices. Videogames can do similar things very efficiently now without the setup and expensive bits and regular updates. A company CAN get on the dlc train but people are wise to that. It's another unsustainable model. So those companies still milk the die hards, pay to play is rampant, etc.
Same old shit, and large companies never learn. They create environments that result in the "cash out while you can" end game for them.
You are so right about the dangers of being superceded by efficient competitors. 3D print companies are poised to start producing highly detailed products on a scary scale. Hence the appointment of a new marketing savvy CEO at GW. Look how many events they are scheduled to be at across US and Europe this year. That is a clear strategy to become more directly engaged with their customers and to inspire more investment. Personally, I LOVE the Forgeworld fine casts and the resin minis are generally very good to excellent. The designers and sculptors at GW are the best in the industry without doubt. But the pricing structure is in danger of getting carried away with itself which can impact on retailers.
Wow, you would make an excellent public speaker
Local GW prices are about double what you pay in the UK. I can have them shipped from the UK for half of that markup. Protection from currency fluctuation is a completely vapid excuse, it is and always has been about charging as much as they think they can get away with
Oh guys... this is so sad and disheartening to see. We are still in the same exact situation today. This company is shit, but I love 40k so much. I have so much money, time and love invested into that hobby and I cant hope to sell it for a fracture of the price.
I agree a lot with what you said on the price of starter sets. I'm really new to all this table top war gaming stuff and I had exactly the same experience going in to a games workshop store getting really excited over how cool everything looked and then hearing that it was going to cost over £100 to get started. For a 17 year old with no job (me) this is rather a lot, especially when you take into account that I had no idea what army or even game I wanted to play.
ironic this video comes back now.
UA-cam brought me here. Remember watching this when it first came out. Would love to see Matt do a 10 year update on this! @MWG Studios
I think the biggest threat to GW now is 3D Printing, as they become cheaper to afford, gamers can go and print their own 40k models.
3D printing fail, GW can use 3D printing on industrial level, it won't affect them. They also can buy materials at discount prices.
***** That's assuming that GW are intelligent enough to adapt to the changing market. Only time will tell...
i'd give it a few more years until the average "private" 3d printers improve... have you seen a 3d printed space marine??
i.ytimg.com/vi/PHZB_2evE1Q/hqdefault.jpg
You've never printed anything, right?
As is, even if the quality, even with home built printers can be far better than the above example of Daryl Fariza , the time it takes is something you've got to take into account!
You're fare better off either sculpting, printing, modding an existing model, or purely recasting, either in pewter or resin, both time, and even costs wise (if you don't have the means to recycle plastics and make your own filament (wich comes with it's own set of problems to solve)
Go on, try, have at it, it has it's uses, but months of printing to have a 2000pts army on the table isn't the solution you're likely to be after!
Home 3d printing can't do it yet, but industrial versions, cad machines, those all can very easily. Injection molding is still cheaper to do industrially, but not for long.
Phenomenal video, amazingly executed my hat is certainly off to you Matt. So many spot on points. It's a shame it's taken me this long to find the video after watching you guys for so long. I would however like to see an updated video on what kind of response if any that games workshop replied with and also maybe it's time for a new video seeing as the rise in prices is still happening and many retailers are meeting their demise.
I dropped GW like a bad habit about five years ago. Been playing WarMachine ever since, with little forays in to Dystopian and Malafeux.
Privateer Press has treated me better as a customer than GW ever did.
I agree with much, if not all of what was said. I'm really glad he mentioned the currency issues especially. I've been bringing that up with my friends and the local GW and other shops lately, and I'm happy to see that he brought the issue up here.
8:47 Cadian merchant?
I remember when GW used to make discount deals if you bought in bulk. They still do it with the megaforces for holidays release. The new Hobbit deal should do this too. I would have to pay $745 to get each new release and the deal offers the same price; it isn't much of a deal.
Unfortunately, a lot of GW clients, not all but a lot, will never drop GW and that's a damn shame. I am personally in the process of leaving GW altogether for Mantic. Their attitude toward the customer is far better and the product line has come amazingly far. I'm tired of giving my hard earned money to company that could give two rips what the customer thinks.
Scott Beil I just switched to buying models off ebay for 25-40% of the store prices. theres always an auction that goes really low.
Thankyou for putting together this video. I will be honest. since the gw price increases ive been looking at warmachine and firestorm armada. it would be nice if GW as a corporate company had the same ammount of loyalty as my local stores staff.
I know this is an old video , but in 1996 I was in negotiation with GW and I have to say the had the single worst worst business reps , already in 96 it felt more like doing business trying to open a franchise with MC Donalds , they wanted to control just about every aspect of my business , needles to say I decided to not go with their terms and conditions ( I was 20 at the time ) and I have to say I don't have a single regret ( also we would have been the first GW importers in the middle east , I have not look into it in any way , but I am not sure they have any ( to lazy to do a 1 minute search ) , and the best part is it completely got everyone I know completely off GW games , I can Matthiew's dismay , but I doubt GW actually changed anything . what I really really hope is that 3'd printing will be accessible and cheap and then you will be able to buy your 100$ miniatures for 10$ , or print them yourself , and that will finally make them have to change their business strategies , ( maybe they will go back to metal ). either way I suggest buying on ebay , used miniatures , way way cheaper .
Interesting
I could listen to this for hours.
I dropped 40k in the 1999 - the pain was just beginning.
Well, 3d printing is going to demolish GWs business model. There will be a lot of fans with a lot of time to scan models. If GW is smart they will embrace 3d printing
Fantastic video, you were extremely diplomatic and constructive in your analysis and recommendations!
did GW ever respond?
yeah, 2 years later, by effectively shutting MWG down
IronSquid501 didn't work though
Hail MWG
To get a response...you have to pay them :-)
Funny I find myself back here and nothing has changed from their bullshit I bought a war band of chaos daemons and marines, and now I find myself with more privateer press and cool mini or not stuff, so I guess history does rhyme.
When GW crashes and burns, I hope a respectable company will buy the rights to their IPs. I mean I love the 40k lore and so on and so forth, but it has so much potential to be more popular. It's just that these price hikes discourage people wanting to get into the hobby
Well they've had insanely profitable years since then. Maybe next year lol
I'm glad you like it i've been using vallejo for a long time and I'm very satisfied with their quality. If you paing GW ministures if you search in the net there's a list thats says which vallejor are the same as the GW paints so if you are using a GW paining manual it will be ok =)
Still relevant as ever.
This guy is dropping pure logic lol I love stuff like this
Im was a loyal GW player until recently, i wanted to add just a few models in a unit and it surely costed about 150 bucks, i was shocked because i had bought my army a few years ago and wasnt as expensive back then, plus orks is really outdated. Every time i try to convince my friends to start playing 40k with me, i get the response "i would love to play, but its far to expensive" everything else is getting cheaper, why is GW constantly raising prices?? Its plastic for crying out loud!
yeah same here...i don't get it
Oo it should not be so expansive to build these cheap plastik figures oO
i startet the game recently and payed nothing because i bought and reselled them oon ebay =) (have 2000 Points Armee now)
i would support GW but not with these prices
a standart squad wich costs about 10Euro/Dollar or whatsoever that would be a FAIR price
but 30 bucks for some spacemarines XD
nope to expansive ;)
you sir have spoken perfectly what all my friends and I have been thinking. We play 40k and are avid fans but with the new prices and embargo on aus we find it difficult if not impossible to continue at our current pace of buying new new models ( rounghly 3-4 sets a week). We love 40k but cant keep up with the costs and it is killing our enthusiasm so if GW hears your opinion I hope they hear ours too because they represent more then just a small group of 40k fans
Did you get a reply?
Still important 10 yrs later
Absolutely agree with his comments on pricing...use to buy gw alot as did a couple of friends of mine but now we look at the prices & its too expensive for our tastes...started to put me off the hobby.
I don't even play any GW games but this was interesting to watch.
I have been playing RPG'S and War-games ever since 1982, back then citadel was still in league with ral partha. I have the original rune quest broo. throughout the 1980's GW was great. Its motto was if we don't have it, you probably don't need it, all the classic cast's came from the 80's. GW was adult art boutique and if you were a little kid like I was at the time, it blew you away that you could relate to adults in a way that happened nowhere else, then I grew up the 1990's came around and GW did not like us anymore. 40k rogue trader was to dark for children and they were not going to cater for adults and mature young people any more. they got taken over by the midland bank and what they replaced WHFB AND 40KRT with was appalling. They must of been in league with the devil to of cornered the market with the crap they where pimping out at that point and the price of the products where quadruped. They turned their back on RPG'S and took over the world. GW will not change they treat everyone else like crud as far as they are concerned you should be taken to the gas chamber for dealing in anything other than GW products. well at least that is how it was. GW don't sell as many mini's any more, most people buy second hand from ebay. GW makes its money from royalty rights. Everything they do now will be to protect royalty rights. If they let people use there pic's then that will undermine how much the space marine image is worth to a p.c. game company GW always said it was a progressive company they don't give a damn about the hobby only there own survival. You may not agree but GW don't care and that is why most other competitor have fallen by the way side.This is also only my humble opinion.
@This Sword for Hire Yea bloody hell, 6 years ago now. It was true six years ago and it is even more true now. GW have proven they can and will change for the worse. Hopefully They will take them selves out of the Game industry and go and stand next to Dog Shit Disney. To big to fail, To shallow for a sail.
Very good and constructive open letter. I agree on every point. In fact I stopped buying GW products years ago also because of the same reasons.
You make a number of excellent points, and I agree with absolutely everything you've said, however, I also appreciate that this video is four year old, and no real changes have been made.
It's kind of heart breaking to say it, but I think Games Workshop needs to die. I loved warhammer, 40k, and lord of the rings, but it's simply too expensive. I can't sum up all the points as well as you have done here, and I would only be pointing out things that hundreds have probably done before me.
I hope someone high up in GW saw this video, because you're right, they NEED to change.
Great vid, as an Aussie who is currently paying extremely high prices its great to see some International concerns as well. The Warmachine scene is huge is Australia now because of the issues you have highlighted. Some gaming clubs that were exclusively GW are now not playing GW games at all. To be honest it will be difficult to go back.
We're paying literally double here In Australia.
And the fucking rest
Adam Blyth No, we are paying double what the rest of the world is paying in Australia. For example, one squad of Imperial Guardsman, I believe they are about $30 in America. Almost $50 in AU.
Agree with the points raised, even if as a UK customer I don't have as many problems. Prices will always be complained about, but the 3 finescast models I bought have been miscasts and the 1 forgeworld model I have also suffered horribly from resin miscast. I now buy models from ebay for a fraction of the retail price and have few problems. Just an example of how the GW Quality:Cost ratio has put another long term customer off their newer products.
I love how privateer press has kicked their ass.
Will Luc Senese
GW has many shit models as well. Many of PP's models look great, your point?
How? GeeDubs is largest modelling company in the world, not just model games. Furthermore in my area I know none who play those games, I live in west Swindon, England, but everyone plays 40k/fantasy and every new year they have about 20 people come into their store to play a massive apoc game
wow google why did you show me this video today in 2021?
I love 40k for the lore... Love Dawn of War, love the Only War RPG, love WH40k Conquest card game, love "What if the Emperor had a Text-To-Speech Device"
but I could never buy the plastic crack. What I spent on the above, combined, is how much it would cost me to get a single necron commander with a matching annhilation barge. That's not an army, that's a unit with a mount.
they set prices regarding how powerfull a unit is. if they lower the cost of big figures they have to lower everything. you buy points not units.
@@PyromancerRift shut up you fool
Clown World still. It INCREDIBLY overpriced.
RIP, TTS
I agree on your point with the price hikes, but I am okay with paying the price for the things because the very friendly service the detail of miniatures, and it is very fun to do as a past time.
Amazing how, 2 1/2 years later, this is still relevant, and still a problem... in fact it's worse.
I think it got a lot worse. 3-4 years ago the local GW store used to be a busy place almost any time of the day. but the last few times I came by, the (lonely) store owner was by himself every single time...
Also even what used to be die hard 40K fans now ridicule GW for their prices and their policies of changing the game(s) in ways that you constantly have to increase the number of models to play etc.
People are trying different miniatures (and rules) more often now and quite a few leave GW behind for good.
I think that's a good thing however. Either GW responds and returns to its roots, or they will slowly vanish from the market. It might take years, but it will happen and if they don't change, then I'm not really sorry for them.
I can kinda see what you're getting at, and I do agree. The one man store model they've been doing in the US has really killed their physical customer base. My old store used to be bustling with people looking to play. Yeah, they essentially mooched off of the tables, but got more people curious and showed potential players that there was a community. Now it's dead there.
At this point, I just want them to treat their customers and clients with respect, and drop the excessive greed at the cost of customer loyalty. After that, we can worry about imbalanced rules and whatnot... lol
2017, still a bit of an issue... THEY DONT LEARN
Looking to the guy in 2021, did they fix it yet?
@@brendenkelly5951 oh they havent lol Combat patrols at like £85 now compared to the start collecting which were £60
Great job on the video by the way.... You really know what your talking about.... I really hope things change for the sake of game store owners and the players that used to be so dedicated to the hobby
it feels like they want to be strangled out of the business by committing some sort of price harakiri on themselves...
Hey I'm just a newbie/beginner and I'm starting out as a chaos space marine army. And I'd like to says thxs for teaching me the tricks and strategies!
I agreed with every point in the video except two. The big one is that think there is a deliberate malevolence from GW towards its fans, as they bleed us for all they can get. The second is that Ford proved itself to have the better business practices over GM because Ford didn't take the government bailout.
The thing about their greed is that it can only go as far as we allow. The best way to get them to stop gouging us for everything is to simply boycott until they comply. Don't buy the 8th edition whenever it comes out and stick to playing 7th. Buy models secondhand from eBay. Buy secondhand codexes or borrow one from a friend/fellow game shop customer. Buy non-GW painting and modeling equipment. You'll either force GW to compete with third party pricing or find the lower prices without them.
Ford and GM has existed a long time, and over the years have had very different and variating strategies.
Ford stayed in business on their own merit, while GM put itself into bankruptcy, and was bailed out by the government using our tax dollars. Whatever short term strategies they used, Ford's worked, and "Government Motors" didn't.
Lennard Church How long have GM been around? Did they have the exact same policy all that time?
ikkedansk
I think GW is in a war of attrition against itself. It keeps raising prices so much that it is killing it's own fanbase. I've found that just to afford to play their game I have to buy everything second-hand as opposed to new. I know people who go one step further and buy knockoff models from a company in China rather than even buy used GW models.
GW is putting itself into decline.
As a GW customer for 8 years now, I must agree on all your points. Esp on the starter sets. Though, as you said, they are very much worth their money, it's hard to convince someone completely new into buying one of those. What GW is going for with those, I think, is trying to get two new people to share the box and thus get two new clients instead of just one. (and maybe they'll go back then and buy it again to increase their armies)
I stopped playing 40k because of the crap they are doing. I started playing back in the Rogue Trader days back in the early 90s. I supported GW for a long time. Now the company is nothing but money grubbing assholes. I'm sad to say it, but they need to take a huge hit and learn a lesson.
... Ya know... if they will... it may be now that they've banned all fan-films (even if they are unmonetized).
Now that you need videos to do while in quarantine, I would like to see Matthew do a reaction video and give his thoughts about his statements.
sad that they closed two years after this
Just our store. We survived! :)
I know the feeling. GW Poole is closed all the time, open for a couple hours in the afternoon and Thursdays game nights have changed to, only if you have a particular army for a particular "theme". Only a few years ago I could tip up with my army, chill out and paint and battle if some one came in who was looking for a fight. Often I would buy something before leaving, whether more paints or a single miniature.
once bryan ansell was not running GW it started down hill. i find thier attitude disgusting . when i was a 15year old kid in the 80s i spent all my pocket money and my £10 paperboy wage on FB and RT stuff. £10 for 30 marines an £1.50 for each WD issue (which had army lists,lore, new rules and variations even a comic strip or two..now its a glossy overpriced advert with nothing in it cept pretty pictures an interviews about how cool the newest model is which costs £30 for 3 plastic figs!!!.. My boy who is now 15 likes wh40k just like i did. when i took him to a local games club (not a GW store) the owner was telling me that most kids who come in, use the clubs armies because none of them except a few lucky ones can afford the models or books.he makes most of his money not from selling GW stuff but from selling snacks and pizza the kids buy while they are in the club. anyway my lad uses my old 40k an FB armies in his club and aint told he cant use old figs like the GW store tried to...rant over..soz
Hi, just wanted to provide an example to illustrate your point. I am an Australian who went to a Games Workshop store in London and saw that the Assault on Black Reach set was 61.50. In Australia, the same set is sold for $165 Australian dollars. Now, the Australian dollar is pretty good at the moment, so the difference is exaggerated, but at current exchange rates, the set in London was selling for the equivalent of $91 Australian. That is a difference of $74... food for thought.
This is just sad.
10 years later and most of this still exist on how they think sadly. they are that super old fashioned/archaic thinking and stubborn to understand the internet vs wotc they were like that up until about 2015 once the dnd product got more known to general public thanks to critical roll and later the show stranger things.
Gamesworkshop logic to make more money is just increase the price ;-;
Totally agree about the price difference. I'm in Australia, and there is a product I'd like to purchase that is $43. In the US, the product is priced at $29, that's a ridiculously big difference- even with the exchange rate where it is, the US price is the equivalence of $31 Australian dollars... something needs to change
to remove all the battleforces boxes as they did is also a bad P.R
I would like to say that your remarks on the demographic and how most are online is spot on. my friends and I, all do research before we buy and it turns out to buy forge world models including gw kits on forgeworld and have them shipped to Australia (where we live) can be cheaper by up to say 40% in some cases INCLUDING postage, at the current exchange rate
Gw is fucked up, their prices are fucked up... But what's even more fucked up is the amount of time I spend on eBay buying them :0
Hi Matt, thank you for sharing. I agree with you from a consumer stand point. At the same time, Games Workshop have been able to post very strong share price results for their investors, so the exact business model you are criticizing is working for them in terms of profit growth. In their letter to investors, they explained that they intentionally try to remain a small size company. I am sure the strong video game licenses are a contributing factor as well.
Please buy a tripod for the camera!
Excellent open letter!
One way to lower the starting cost is to make Killteam a whole product, but using 40k miniatures. It would have it's own starter set with a rulebook. But the smaller scale would allow you to play for less money.
Did you tie your camera to a kite? Get a tripod or tell the cameraguy to fucking hold still.
not helpfull dude but funny yeah :D
For buying brushes buy it in a painting shop (i don't know if it's right painting shop) but for the price of 1 brush in a specialized shop you should be able to get 2 or 3 bushes for the other shops and they are the same quality
Great video. Too bad GW is so dumb they won't follow your excellent advice.
They didn't and privateer press capitalized on it.
Finally, I feel for you as a retailer. One of my roles at one point was helping/dealing with independents. The main reason that GW has their own stores is to increase the number of players (ie. recruitment centers) and despite the arguments by many...most independent stores are absolutely horrible. I've seen food on shelves, owners who wouldn't even look up to greet you, etc. That said, I feel for those, like you, that give a damn and are left being treated like the crap stores.