The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[VoidValue]

No surprises really. AoS was a train wreck, prices are absolutely insane, what's left?

It's just a shock, really. People are always preaching doom for GW but this year is a real disaster for them.

Also the chairman's preamble is Kirby being disgustingly self-serving.

Is that quarterly or yearly? 

Annual so yearly.

[Nord]

Revenue and profit have stayed the same, give or take a percentage point. Earnings per share has risen. Is that disastrous?

In a year in which they have relaunched one of their main products, that seems pretty decent to me. If I was a shareholder I would be reasonably happy with that. As a gamer, GW lost my interest and respect years ago, though in the past few months they have made great efforts to reconnect with their customer base on social media which I appreciate as a step in the right direction.

If the rumoured free mini with the relaunched WD pans out, I think I will be even happier.

[VoidValue]

Revenue and profit have stayed the same, give or take a percentage point. Earnings per share has risen. Is that disastrous?

They've only maintained overall profit due to licensing of the IP (I mean, how many Fantasy / 40k games came out last year? Five? Six? Seven?) whilst the miniature profits have took a disastrous slamming (down from £15mil to £11mil).

Licensing the IP is in no way sustainable. People tend to get bored of playing in the same setting over and over again. A lot of 40k is untapped but it won't be in a year or two.

[Nord]

Better buy their figures quick then, before they go under.

[jon_1066]

They've only maintained overall profit due to licensing of the IP (I mean, how many Fantasy / 40k games came out last year? Five? Six? Seven?) whilst the miniature profits have took a disastrous slamming (down from £15mil to £11mil).

...

So the part of the business that is growing is licensing IP on a world that they have destroyed?  Now that's joined up thinking!

[YPU]

So the part of the business that is growing is licensing IP on a world that they have destroyed?  Now that's joined up thinking!

Oh yea I was considering that. I wonder how much warhammer sales Total war would have generated if only there still was a game set in that universe. 

[beefcake]

Oh yea I was considering that. I wonder how much warhammer sales Total war would have generated if only there still was a game set in that universe. 

That.

[Brummie]

This is what I never understood about the decision to scrap WFB entirely (although as mentioned they've kept some figures on to act as a gateway or because the funds to produce totally new ranges just isn't there).

They could have easily left the Old World in place and then had the whole Sigmarine war in the heavens as a new dimension to the whole setting and just concentrated on that for awhile, similar to the 30k/40k business.

I just cannot comprehend why they couldn't have done that, or why they did it and then had about 3 big games produced based in that setting(Total War, Vermintide and Mordheim), with the return of a 4th (that odd MMORPG from way back), which is just awesome advertisement...

[Tactalvanic]

Just because its currently dead, does not mean it cannot live again!

Specialist games section, limited edition, WFB, with free rules, no point limits and small starter battle boxes etc etc.

When you least expect it, allong with C&Ds to all the people working on their own next rules versions...

Expect it to happen when they launch  The Total War - AOS  game tie-in/IP sales.

But whoo there was a lot of  reading in that annual report. It could have been almost 90% shorter without all the extra ambling preambling etc.

[nic-e]

"We learnt some valuable lessons during the year on how to deliver product system changes on this scale and as we released more of the range in the second half of the year, we finished the year with sales of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar at a higher rate than Warhammer has enjoyed for several years"

Sounds like AoS isn't really to blame no matter how much people want it to be.

"Costs have increased in the year, mainly as a result of our store opening programme and the full year effect of the depreciation of the investment in our visitor centre which opened in April 2015."

They re did warhammer world quite drastically which would have been VERY expensive.

"Gross margin was maintained in the period (2016: 68.3%; 2015: 68.9%). "

I swear everyone seems desperate for games workshop to fail so they can lament it's downfall a year later and give themselves something to search for on ebay.

[VoidValue]

Conspiracy theory here: Kirby's fuck ups were all to drive GW share prices down so he could buy them and make profits off the constant dividends that he's created a culture of giving out to shareholders.

So the part of the business that is growing is licensing IP on a world that they have destroyed?  Now that's joined up thinking!

Oh yea I was considering that. I wonder how much warhammer sales Total war would have generated if only there still was a game set in that universe. 

Wow guys this business acumen is shocking me. You mean that people seeing their armies on a computer might make them want to go out and buy armies in real life? Just like what happened with Dawn of War (which contributed to / created the strength of 40k as compared to Fantasy)?

Jesus this is groundbreaking stuff. Someone tell Kirby.

<snip>

This is also the company that said, "We don't produce wargames" so I take everything that is ever said by them with a grain (pile) of salt.

I mean, year after year Games Workshop has lost in their operating revenue. In 2013 they made £20mil and now they're down to £10mil.

These company reports never actually give enough numbers to disassemble what they're saying. They almost always read as Kirby covering his arse but this one especially.

What does sales of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar being more than Warhammer (NOT Warhammer Fantasy???) actually mean? They made more money when the End Times were going on so are they not including that in the figures?

[nic-e]

Conspiracy theory here: Kirby's fuck ups were all to drive GW share prices down so he could buy them and make profits off the constant dividends that he's created a culture of giving out to shareholders.

Wow guys this business acumen is shocking me. You mean that people seeing their armies on a computer might make them want to go out and buy armies in real life? Just like what happened with Dawn of War (which contributed to / created the strength of 40k as compared to Fantasy)?

Jesus this is groundbreaking stuff. Someone tell Kirby.

This is also the company that said, "We don't produce wargames" so I take everything that is ever said by them with a grain (pile) of salt.

I mean, year after year Games Workshop has lost in their operating revenue. In 2013 they made £20mil and now they're down to £10mil.

These company reports never actually give enough numbers to disassemble what they're saying. They almost always read as Kirby covering his arse but this one especially.

What does sales of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar being more than Warhammer (NOT Warhammer Fantasy???) actually mean? They made more money when the End Times were going on so are they not including that in the figures?

thy have to include it in the figures, so it is included, it just means fantasy was not selling, as we know.

Also kirby is no longer CEO ,it's Kevin Rountree. he's been in charge of the reopening of specialist games, the relaunch of lotr, the return to social media, the freezing of price rises on non new products and the return of monthly white dwarf coming this september.

these are all good decisions that will no doubt do great for GW,but at the moment they are spending money developing these before launch hence why costs have gone up.

[Tactalvanic]

Time.

 Peoples still expecting the Kirby model to be in full effect and the slow slow slide to oblivion continuing until, finally many gamer generations later, no one knows what Gamesworkshop was, but they all know what OOP Warhammer somethings are.

 Seriously though, if indeed the margin is down more because of a drive to change and invest, even move away from the Kirby business model, that's a chance for the currently living hobbyists to actually see positive stuff relating to GW in their lifetimes?

Wouldn't that be nice?

[Elbows]

There have been some good highlights in the past year...normally tempered by more madness shortly thereafter.  I can see hope.  Will I ever engage in 40K again in the modern era?  I doubt it.  Warhammer Quest hopes were dashed for me, but I have faith in a few more specialist ones, and the valuable board-game model for good minis could continue.

[Major_Gilbear]

I wonder how much of the panic-buying of WHFB kits was lumped under "AoS Sales"?

I say this as when they put some kits up for last chance before scrapping them, they sold out *so fast* that they actually did another run and brought them back into stock briefly along with an announcement to tell us so.

Now to me that doesn't sound like that was off the back of AoS's success, but I'm sure somebody will be along shortly to tell me I'm wrong... 

As for the rest. Well, who actually knows? I don't think that re-investing so much back into the company is a bad thing personally, and we've all noted on this very forum that they have seemed keener recently to try some new (i.e., old) ideas in order to re-engage with their customers. As long as they keep trying, and make progress doing so, then I frankly hope they see some success from it.

Then again, I do wonder how much thought goes into some projects if the rumours of the resin-models-with-plastic-buildings game resurrection that is Epic are to be believed. As a FW dreadnought with arms is over £50, and that looks to be around the size of the smaller Titans (Warhound/Reaver), it means that a buy-in will likely be around £200+ per player for three models each, a pair of rulebooks, and some terrain. For that £400-500 you've jointly spent, you get to play Adeptus Titanicus Battletech with all the glorious manoeuvring, tactics, and strategy that three models each permits! Either way, I'm hoping the game will be good and scales to 6mm easily (rather then the new 8mm these will be), as I already have a load of Titans and scenery and would therefore just need the rulebook.