A reasonably well thought out response to GW’s recent actions however……
……you appear to have bought into the Games Workshop myth that they created the hobby!
They didn’t, Games Workshop only started manufacturing figures for Roleplaying in or around 1980 and didn’t release their first Mass Combat game (Warhammer) until 1983. Anyone who has a history of wargaming outside of the GW ’empire’ knows that Wargaming was around for at least a century before that and that ‘modern’ wargaming was probably born in the 1960’s. One of the biggest and most innovative companies of the 1970’s was called Minifigs (or Miniature Figurines). Their vast product range in the 1970’s included the excellent ‘Valley of the Four Winds’ fantasy line and filled a large A4 size catalogue. Games Workshop has actually killed off a lot of traditional wargames clubs and channelled potential gamers into the GW way. It does seem that Games Workshop markets itself in much the way as a Religious cult does…’there is no way other than GW…….GW is the first and only way etc…’. Maybe before accusing others GW should rememvber that it’s success in the 1980’s and 1990’s was a direct result of it ‘freeloading’ off of the work and success put in by earlier traders and organisers of shows such as Armageddon in Reading UK which started long before ‘Games Day’ was even thought of and filled an entire ‘concert’ type venue in the town centre. So GW learn some humility!]
Also we all know that plastic-resin is a cheaper material than white metal/pewter GW’s price hikes for the resin ‘remodellings’ of old metal figures saw price inreases of around 20-25% over the previous metal incarnations as opposed to up to around 5% increases across the rest of the ranges! When companies such as Mantic Miniatures can halve the cost of their figures by switching from metal to plastic-resin production (A box of five metal Revenant Knights for £25 from Mantic has now been or shortly is to be replaced by a box of ten plastic-resin Revenant Knights for…£25!)
I am not sure if plastic-resin is a reuseable product certainly normal resin is not, but a non-reuseable product actually promotes the relaxing of standards of quality control due to the fact that a rejected figure is a total loss and cannot be remelted like metal can be.
Games Workshop are running a dangerous sales and marketting policy which is based around them being the only premium product available. They pass on the costs for their mistakes to the gamers buying their product and address falling sales by raising prices. Eventually this strategy falls off a cliff unless you really do have a premium product which is unrivalled. For example in Europe sales of Audi cars (seen as a premium brand) have been hit by quality cheaper cars made by firms such as Volkswagen and Skoda. However unlike GW these firms are all part of the same group so the loss is not so important. When GW comes up against other brands offering similar quailty at lower prices it is much more serious for them. They then have to rely on brand loyalty and as you have said in the video GW are doing some very bad PR exercises, almost guaranteed to destroy consumer loyalty to the brand.
In a statement last year GW said that they are a manufacturer not a retailer…if this is the case they should be supporting their independent traders rather than restricting their trading methods and restricting the catalogue of figures available to them.
Is there a way back for GW?
Probably yes but only if they stop letting the money men run the company and start making decisions and statements which are seen to support their client base, both gamers and independents.
Stop the bullsh*t, GW are not the hobby, they didn’t invent it and they didn’t invent the idea of making resin figures and models as they currently seem to be claiming. The hobby is driven by the people who play the games although new and exiting product will always work like a cattle prod to guide us towards a new line or game. GW are no longer the most exiting manufacturer out there, Privateer and Mantic must surely be seen as those at the moment.
Also GW need to stop the habit of raising prices every year, it is a way of maintaining profit in the face of falling sales but it will reach a tipping point where no one will be able to afford to buy an army any more!