[GW] Doom and Gloom

[Desert Lurker]

Record revenue. Record profits. Only 25% profit margin, says that inflation is not all accounted for in price increse.

But the breakneck pace of releases be too much? Will squats fall flat? Will 40K10 bomb?

I can’t even keep up with the FAQs on FAQs on errata, and point adjustment It really seems like codexes are are broken at printing on purpose, But that would require skill rather than incompetent.

It seems a odd time for GW. Warhmmer Plus has cut my consumption of 40 media way down. And I just can’t seem to build the mode;s I waited 20 years for,

Joe “Atlanta Lurker” Boster

[Erik Setzer]

It's so bizarre watching them at work. Like, they're making craploads of money... but it all just feels off, like there's no way this is sustainable.

Any new game/edition comes with a stupid expensive box. War Cry looked like an interesting skirmish scale game, then it had a $300 starter box. Excuse me, what the fuck? Then the warbands were $60 or so each. Warhammer Underworld started out better, but they quickly replaced a $60 starter box with a $100 box and made it clear the game's designed with planned obsolescence for everything involved within 2-3 years of release, so why would I buy anything for it, knowing it'd just be useless soon? That Age of Sigmar "starter" box, Dominion, printed way too many copies, leading to the price plummeting. I got a set for half off, then it dropped even further, and people just can't move it.

Speaking of Dominion... what are they doing to the Orcs? Bad enough they're changing so many names to trademark them, but I guess too many people did similar style models/art to Warhammer Orcs, so now they're trying to replace them with something new. Which isn't all that unique, so is just easier to mix in 3rd party. But it's killing the flavor of my favorite Warhammer army.

The constant FAQs and point updates are necessary because they just shove out new codices constantly, because it's not about a balanced game, just shove out new models. And replace models constantly, with bigger, more expensive versions. Is a kit "too cheap" (meaning close to reasonably priced)? Quick! Make a slight modification and release it with the price pumped up a lot as a "new" kit!

It's all about "premium models at a premium price" and that doesn't create a lasting hobby. They're relying too much on the miniatures gaming equivalent of whales and hoping they won't care about good games and just care about the "prestige" of being in an expensive hobby people have heard of. (But that gets me into a whole other rant on their insistence of calling Warhammer a "hobby" and not admitting it's part of the miniatures gaming hobby because then people might realize competitors exist, and Games Workshop's business model works best as a monopoly, even if it's not a true monopoly but rather in people's heads.)

When they do remember games, we get goofy crap like pulling the idea of "seasons" from video games. I wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to figure out how to do "battle passes" and "loot boxes" in Warhammer.

I'll get models from time to time when I see stuff dropping to a solid price online, but the stuff's just too expensive now, and there's so many more games. I got two "mega armies" for Kings of War for less than a GW "starter" box. I'm finding plenty of minis from other companies to paint, to say nothing of all the stuff popping up on places like Etsy. (And seriously, if Etsy can provide models that look as good or better than your models, you need to stop calling yourself "premium" like you're the hottest shit around. Especially as those "premium" models still have issues from their modern CAD sculpting methods.)

Maybe I've just gotten too old. Maybe I'm just "in the wrong hobby." But I feel like this current trend isn't sustainable and the bubble's gonna burst at some point. But that could be a good thing, because new ownership picking up the pieces might decide it's better to make Warhammer a broader appeal, not try to maintain record profits off the backs of whales who don't realize the miniatures hobby is a LOT bigger.

- Erik

[Il cattivo]

Sembra che Erik Setzer abbia detto :

pardon?

[Il cattivo]

Il 13/08/2022, Erik Setzer ha detto :

can you?

[#6]

Il cattivo ci ha detto :

what?

--
Doc J.

[IN CULO A TAF]

Il 12/08/2022, Desert Lurker ha detto :

what's the matter?

--
sempre in culo a taf

[Insane Ranter]

On Thursday, August 11, 2022 at 8:08:46 PM UTC-4, Desert Lurker wrote:

I've been tempted to use the way Bolt Action makes you choose what unit to activate but then use the GW shooting and such.

[Glassboy]

On Wednesday, 31 August 2022 at 11:09:59 am UTC+12, Insane Ranter wrote:

> I've been tempted to use the way Bolt Action makes you choose what unit to activate but then use the GW shooting and such.

That just triggers me. Rick Priestly wrote a new SciFi game that uses that activation mechanism. The core rules are now free and universe agnostic. https://antaresnexus.com/

[Insane Ranter]

Just seems like a good idea not sure why GW hasn't done it yet or something something.