Being an ex-GWHQer from here in the states, i can tell you that there is little attention given to SG's but the staff at HQ (at least here in the US) love them.  Somehow there is always somethign going on.  That said however, the company's perception seemed to be one of "why support something that is a such a small % of sales".  

Now, right before I was laid off (ie terminated), I was approached about reworking the Mail Order department into a quasi promo department that supports SG's like the Trade Sales team and the Retail chain support the big three games.  This would include them, as a department, not as GW, coming up with events, new material when/where possible, coordinating clubs with indie stores and cons, etc.  Basically spending a bit of their time and resources to "relaunch" SG and get a grass roots support system in place.  Once it moved we could have then "proved" to HQ that there was still a niche market for SG.  Im sure you get where we were going with this.  

Now I dont know who is in charge of this now or if they even continued it, but I hope they did.  Being at GW USHQ I can tell you that all eyes from all the sales channels where on us here as we were in pretty good growth.  The other country's sales teams were starting to copy our ideas.  If this SG/Mail Order thing goes over well expect other countries to offer it as well about a year after it goes well here.

That sounds promising. The optimist in me will keep his fingers crossed.  

I can't help but think that SG is in a vicious cycle. GW doesn't support them because they represent such a small % of sales, but SG can't grow because of the lack of support. It's kind of like a self-fulfilling prophesy.

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"I don't believe in destiny or the guiding hand of fate." N. Peart

Yup.

I think they also fail to recognize that 1) SG provides tremendous potential crossover marketing, and 2) capturing market share is vital for long-term growth even if the additional share is less profitable.

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Neal

I've never understood why they didn't "integrate" all the various 40k Galaxy game systems... being able to start with a Battlefleet Gothic game, drop to the planet for some Epic, then a focal skirmish in 40k, or even a kill-team with Necromunda or Inquisitor...

The cross-over potential seems blindingly obvious to me.

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

Obvious to you and me, but this won´t fly with financial analysts, while "cutting costs", "concentrating on our core business" as well as "reinforcing success and increasing profitability of our main venues" does.

It´s all about quarterly reports and making the right noises, sorry.

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Visit www.epic-battles.de the ultimate german epic site&forum!

It's all about space on the shelves and stock in stock rooms. Blisters take up massive amounts of space and until recently stock control within GW was almost none existent! There have been a lot of improvements but each store wouldn't move enough epic to be worth keeping it in the store.

So, how much does it cost to make a [good] set of rules? I've always been under the impression that the miniatures were where all the money was sunk (molds cost more than printed books, and books aren't as important these days), and the rules were just a means to selling the minis. Maybe that assumption is off base.

But, if that assumption is correct, why doesn't GW do more to support the 28mm games in the SG line-up? I mean, Necromunda, Mordheim, Space Hulk, and even Blood bowl could be easily cross-promoted and serve as gateway drugs, er, games to introduce people into the hobby without scaring them off with Apocalypse size games with apocalyptic price tags. All of those games either already use minis from the main games, or could be easily modified to do so, so there would only be the cost of producing and maintaining the rules. [Edit: Not even additional self space would be needed.]

Seems like a no-brainer to me, but not just that. The smaller games draw people in. It happened to me, it probably happened to you. Without that influx, the hobby company can't last.

Of course, that doesn't help Epic or BFG, but that another issue.

Sorry, I don't totally buy that argument. If GW stores were able to stock blisters for WH, 40k, Space Marine, Blood Bowl, Man 'o War, etc. in the past, why can't they do it now?

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"I don't believe in destiny or the guiding hand of fate." N. Peart

Back in the early 90's how many races for each game were there? Marines, Orks, Eldar for 40K. Not many vehicles so no big boxes, no terrain on sale in store, no Lord of the Rings.

They have grown all the lines massively since the good old days!

Good point.

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"I don't believe in destiny or the guiding hand of fate." N. Peart

I always thought the rotating "feature SG game" marketing plan was a good solution to the shelf space issue.  Put one out for a month or two, then rotate.  Keeping a small core for each SG game in stock doesn't take much storage space.  Stores stock up for the feature, sell down while it's on the shelf, then move on to the next game.  Stores can run all sorts of campaigns, leagues and tie-ins along with the SG schedule.

It was just never implemented.

Of course, imho, a better one would be kicking the LotR line to the curb as its sales and profitability steadily drop.

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Neal

I think they're contractually obligated to ride that horse until it has *no* legs left.

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"EPIC: Total War" Lead Developer

Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

   

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"I don't believe in destiny or the guiding hand of fate." N. Peart

After two of the legs are gone, your really not riding anymore; more like just sitting.

Maybe they can use that in their legal defense.