wellspring wrote:
midian wrote:
Markconz wrote:
They don't give a hoot about veteran players I think. Look at the way they just pulled ranges with out any sort of courtesy of telling people. They would aim for a new demographic of young and dumb.
Well, i´m not a GW fanboy, but i think that they are not totally stupid. Space Hulk was a outstanding success, Dreadfleet is still stocking at 50% discount sale in a lot of spanish shops. The first one is the same game as is early incarnations but with a huge quality move on, the later is a brand new game with ligth resemblance to Man o War.
For sure, old grognards are not the market target of GW. But, if they release a new Epic game in a limited version of only one box, i think that we can expect that they will not made the same mistake again.
I'm with Primarch on this one. Here's why.
First, let's dispose of the notion that they care what veteran gamers think. It's not that they hate us; we're just not their target market. Their target audience is 11-13 years old. They buy some rulebooks and collect an army. A year or two later, a codex that piques their fancy comes out. By now their first army has been nerfed by time, and so now they collect army #2.
Then a new edition comes out. They buy into that, updating models to keep their armies current and to buy up (maybe) one last army for their collection. By now they're 16-17, and wargames compete with girls and the looming threat of college for their time. They turn 18 and stop collecting. Maybe they still play, but as a revenue source they're largely done.
New editions/rules also help by keeping the ebay market for old figures under control. Who's going to buy Pariahs for their necron army?
GW is all about maintaining as close to a monopoly as they can. Some of that is offensive, like using retail stores to kill local game stores. Locals are game-agnostic and filled with grognards who play other systems; GW stores have blackshirts and a ban on third party anything. Most game stores are run very close to the edge; even a minor revenue hit from a competing GW store can kill them once and for all. GW has the deep pockets to keep a store running, and its distro arrangements help in this too.
Some moves are defensive. IMO the LoTR license was all about this. If some other company had grabbed the license, they might have parlayed it into a challenge to GW's dominance. Similarly, when Uncharted Seas became big, GW used Dreadfleet to soften the impact on their customers. Notice that it isn't compatible with Man O War. These one-offs are just that-- defensive moves. They're not intended to be huge long term money-makers.
Currently, if I were them, I'd be wondering who is the up-and-coming challenge. 10mm or 6mm might be a good move for them, to block Flames of War and Dystopian Wars and the ilk. 15mm is out of the question-- too close to 28mm.
I don't think they care one way or the other about specialist games. They're getting out of metal, and there was no way they were going to redo their whole SG back catalog as resin or plastic. Dumping the Hobbit game
was odd-- I suppose to clear the decks for movie-derived products? I'd have appreciated some notice, at least from forgeworld, but I suspect that that's more neglect and disinterest than malice.
If this game comes out in 6mm, then great. It means some new models and that's always fun. I'm not expecting any long-term changes to the E:A scene.
Hi!
You sir have an excellent grasp on how GW works!
Some of the newer folks don't know this, but before becoming a physician I was a hobby store owner.
That's right I was one of many whom had to deal with distributors, margins and all the rest. I got out when GW went "direct" (their euphemism to basically say I want a bigger cut, thanks for increasing the player base that I will now take from you).
I saw the writing on the wall immediately with the change in their trade terms and the start of their initial push into the US with actual GW stores. While there were many reasons to get out, this was just additional assurance I was making the right choice.
I still talk to store owners wherever I live today. We talk shop, I understand their pain. It is a veritable nightmare to deal with GW. The smarter stores have scaled back selling their stuff and pushed other lines (like privateer press stuff) to avoid being "shut down" when the inevitable GW store open in their area and those new releases mysteriously start coming "late" for everyone but their own stores...
Wellspring is correct in saying that everything GW does is a calculated decision in tightening their grip or reduce the possibility of some other company capitalizing on something they don't support.
The rumor of a re-release of epic, if true, is nothing but another manifestation of this. They are not blind to the many 6mm and 10mm producers popping up since they closed down their own lines. Also remember that the Chapterhouse decision has some very interesting repercussions as well, that a lot of the current producers can make their own lines and say "can be used with GW epic, etc". GW can no longer threat to sue and shut anyone down for making compatible products.
All this leads to a potential, totally reactionary epic release. Throw something out there in limited and restricted release fashion to redirect interest back to them. Release it in 10mm to make the secondary 6mm market worthless.
Make 10mm epic the new standard for games of this scale so as to force everyone else to adapt to that scale to make "compatible with GW 10mm epic stuff", then shut of the faucet again.
Rinse and repeat.
I once heard a saying about that if you remained in the same place long enough, you would see yourself pass you buy....
... I think I just waved to myself.
GW standard operating procedure is once more rolled out....
Primarch
) I would actually like it if they do epic in 10mm. It's my favorite scale. I don't think I'd buy a "Epic Apocalypse" game though in a new scale if it's a one-off with no expansions.
