New Fanatic Mag Announced - Others Discontinued |
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Jackhammer
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Post subject: New Fanatic Mag Announced - Others Discontinued  Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2003 6:18 pm |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2003 9:36 pm
Posts: 466
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New Q & A on the subject from the Fanatic Newsletter
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Q: When will Fanatic magazine go on sale?
A: It will be launched in the UK in May 2004. Issues one and two will be released slightly later than this in North America and Australia, but from issue three (out in September 2004) we will have got far enough ahead on our production schedule to be able to release the magazine in the same month
worldwide. Yes, that's right, from September next year readers outside the UK will no longer have to wait until after readers in the UK to get their magazine.
Q: But the letter sent to subscribers in North America says that the magazine won't be released until September!
A: We're really sorry about this typo. In fact issues one and two will be on sale in North America in July and August respectively. As mentioned above, from September readers in North America will be able to get hold of the emagazine at the same time as people everywhere else in the world.
Q: I bet that there'll be less articles for then there will be for .
A: We've gone to great pains to make sure that each game system gets even-handed coverage over the year. It's true that some issues of Fanatic magazine will have more on one system than another, but over the course of the year each system will get the same level of coverage and support. We
love all of these games equally, so why would we do anything else?!?
Q: What will be the final issue numbers of the current magazines?
A: The final issue of each will be:
* Blood Bowl Magazine 12
* Battlefleet Gothic Magazine 19
* Exterminatus Magazine 10
* Necromunda Magazine Volume 2 Issue 3
* Town Cryer Magazine 29
* Warmaster Magazine 21
Q: Can I still submit articles for publication?
A: Yes you certainly can. Our submissions guidelines will remain pretty much exactly as they are now. The only real difference is that you article will be published in colour, and read by more people! Oh, and we'll be tripling the amount we pay for articles too.
Q: Where can I find out more about Fanatic magazine, and how can I subscribe?
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Jackhammer
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Jackhammer
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Post subject: New Fanatic Mag Announced - Others Discontinued Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2003 6:23 pm |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2003 9:36 pm
Posts: 466
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| Quote (CyberShadow @ 24 2003 Oct.,16:37) | |
* When it says no WD fanfare, are you sure that's not just no article support to avoid stealing the new mag's thunder? They probably (hopefully) have an eye-catching announcement in the news section before Feb and trail the entire mag when it comes out with a few pages in WD.
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primarch
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Post subject: New Fanatic Mag Announced - Others Discontinued Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2003 11:10 pm |
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| Brood Brother |
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Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 12:46 am
Posts: 27069
Location: Edmond, Oklahoma USA
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Hi!
Riddle me this: In the Incoming article, Jervis stated that there would be no WD fanfare for the new Epic game. Also, Epic mag is effectively cancelled but the new Fanatic mag wont appear until three months after the release of Epic. So, who will know when the game is finally available, beyond the Vault?
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It seems many are now awakening to points I have alluded to for some time, perhaps day dreaming time is over? 
Its my mantra from all along. GW is NOT supporting this game. No one but Jervis cares about it. GW has a long memory for games that fail in the marketplace, they NEVER give a second chance. So I'm not surprised that it will get no heavy exposure through WD.
No epic magazine before relaese and during release, only after. No sales through independents, only through GW Mail order. All these things mean little to no exposure to new players. Only players in contact with epic will know its being redone.
In short, Epic A's release will be with a whimper, not a roar.
Also, if the rules are available for download relatively quickly, many people will simply not buy the new Fanatic mag and only download the rules for free. This will translate into less sales, and could cast a cloud over the new mag as well.
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While I like companies to give "free downloads" as good faith gestures, I think GW blundered at this desicion. The scenario CS describes WILL happen. Especially when linked to the facts of no availability through independent retailers and no discounts. The temptation to just download and print out will just be to great to rely on "honor systems" to curtail.
And finally, how do you persuade a completely new player to buy a magazine for a non-supported game when he only needs 1/7 of it?
I dont know, this new move has me a little worried.
Very hard to convince. We must remember that the members of this list are NOT the target audience for epic A to survive, we are too few and have too many things already, thus will invest less. Convincing people who have never played epic, or GW games for that matter with so little lack luster support is a losing proposition.
I know that perhaps most of the time I come off as a "old school grumpy epic player" with my usual anti-GW rants and little confidence in their ability to make epic great again.
BUT, the current trend doesn't suprise me one bit, its what I have mentioned untold times what would happen since the begining for the epic A project. I've only been repeating the same things since then.
Why so bad an outlook? Becasue GW DOES NOT BELIEVE epic can be a succesful game. The proof is all around us. The news filtering to us is less and less appealing. Just because Jervis beleives it doesn't mean he can make GW see things his way. GW will NOT sink valuable resources in a game that flopped once before, its that simple. Harsh words, I know, but true nonetheless.
Its good to be enthusiastic and optimistic, it does the heart good. But remember is ACTIONS, not words that are the true measure of GW's commitment to epic. All I see lately is a lot of backtracking....
Primarch
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CyberShadow
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Post subject: New Fanatic Mag Announced - Others Discontinued Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 1:12 pm |
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| Swarm Tyrant |
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Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 6:22 pm
Posts: 9350
Location: Singapore
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I have heard a rumour that the new mag will be monthly, and a subscription will be $60, about ?40. This makes it (surprise) ?4 each issue. The same as WD after the price increase.
I also asked Jervis directly about the gap in the schedule, and other things, on the Epic Vault boards. He replied to my post (my questions in his post):
+++ I worry that the Epic mag is cancelled, Epic will not make a huge splash (if any) in WD and the Fanatic mag will not be out until three months after the release. +++
There will be at least eight pages given over to Epic in UK White Dwarf for the months of February, March and April, and then Fanatic magazine will be out in May (and will have material for Epic in every issue). Support is likely to be much more patchy elsewhere, but in the UK and on the web it will be good right from the start.
+++ I worry that downloaded rules will not be counted as sales and so the stats will suffer. +++
This really doesn't worry me at all. We're not after high sales on Epic, and to be honest being able to say "XXXXX thousand rulebooks have been downloaded" tends to impress the sales teams as much as sales do, as they can see that the system is popular.
While on this subject, GW Francais is hugely pleased with the success of the downloadable BFG rulebook they have on their website. Thousands of copies have been downloaded, and there has been a *big* upswing in BFG miniature sales as a result. It's been a real success, and made some of the other GW sales businesses sit up and take notice of what GW Francais has done.
+++ I worry that Fanatic mag will not get the Epic readership or volume of printable articles, and so the Epic section will atrophy (I would cut back in this situation if I was editor!). +++
I don't think this will be an issue. I can produce enough material on my own to fill the Epic quota in Fanatic magazine at first, and we'll soon get other people who can write articles too. If we can do it for BFG, Warmaster, Mordheim etc we can do it for Epic too.
+++ Also, does this mean that Epic will be fully supported (by Fanatic) continuously, all armies will see release that this will not depend on sales? +++
Yes and no. The important thing isn't so much the level of sales as the *forecasted* level of sales. In the past all of the problems we've had with specialist games sales have ben because we forecatsed too high a level of sales, leaving us with excess inventory sitting in ourt warehouse. We've learnt from these lessons and with Epic we've forecaste at a realistic level of sales (round about Warmaster levels, basically). Now, if Epic proves leess popular than Warmaster and we end up with lots of stock sitting in our warehouse then we could be in trouble, but this is *very* unlikely. It certainly hasn't happened with any of the other specialist games, and I can't see why it should happen to Epic.
+++ Now, if you could email my girlfriend to let her know that I am not 'buying toys', but keeping the economy alive and supporting a worthwhile cause, I would very much appreciate it! +++
LOL - only if you can convince my wife that as a 'famous game designer' the money I spend on toy soldiers is actually in the aid of vital work-related research...
Best regards,
Jervis Johnson
Head Fanatic
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I feel a little better, but not 100% convinved.
_________________ https://www.cybershadow.ninja - A brief look into my twisted world, including wargames and beyond. https://www.net-armageddon.org - The official NetEA (Epic Armageddon) site and resource.
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According to G/W US. Plus thanks for the intell, C/S. Glad I have a W/D sub ... 