The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[anevilgiraffe]

just saw my first White Dwarf cover in an absolute age and I suspect it will soon be rebranding as Warhammer Magazine...

[Ultravanillasmurf]

just saw my first White Dwarf cover in an absolute age and I suspect it will soon be rebranding as Warhammer Magazine...

I have only just noted the Web site name change.

[Mikai]

It's like that since at least half a year already. I have had a short talk with a GW-employee (or now Warhammer-employee) at their store and he said that they made the decission to use 'Warhammer' as a brand because 'Games Workshop' gave to much confusion to people. At his store he has had regulary visitors who wanted to buy computer games or such.

[HerbertTarkel]

I have only just noted the Web site name change.

Yeah, it’s been Warhammer for a long time.

The website re-build is, in my opinion, still awful. Impossible to find things, convoluted layout requiring far too many clicks to navigate, and generally awkward. A real step back, not what they wanted. Although, to be fair, I’ve seen a few websites with similar design, so there must be something to it that is “better”.

[Lost Egg]

It is terrible. I was trying to look at some Middle Earth kits the other day and found it really awkward to search through. It's easier to find items on Wayland Games to get the name and then search the WH website to get info & pics. Shocking really.

[Elbows]

It amuses me that the website re-do...is still terrible, yet better than it was...which in turn shows you how catastrophically awful the last version was.

[Mikai]

That was the second part which got explained to me by the guy at the store: If they make Middle-Earth stuff less present at their advertisement and web appearance and such, the licence costs are getting affected by this (less costs). That's appearantly also the reason why you see hardly any Middle-Earth stuff at the shops itself anymore. I asked him on how people should by their stuff if they can't find it and he just shrugged with his shoulders 

And yes, I dislike the new website also a lot. It's like they are taking part at a competition on how to make visiting the webstore as difficult as possible to not get too many sales.

[Belligerentparrot]

It really is in the "so-bad-it-is-funny" category isn't it? Mr Egg, I agree, the only way to find something is to know exactly what you're looking for.

PS: Thanks for the replies on the FOMO question folks, they make a lot of sense.

[Lost Egg]

A couple of months ago they gave out £10 vouchers to those with accounts.

Having not bought anything from GW / WH for a while I had a look...the website was so frustrating to use that I actually gave up. It was only after a visit to a WH store that I actually decided to grab some grass tufts off the website.

So, it's cheaper and easier to buy off other websites...crazy really.

[HerbertTarkel]

A couple of months ago they gave out £10 vouchers to those with accounts.

Having not bought anything from GW / WH for a while I had a look...the website was so frustrating to use that I actually gave up. It was only after a visit to a WH store that I actually decided to grab some grass tufts off the website.

So, it's cheaper and easier to buy off other websites...crazy really.

I used the coupon! First time in forever I’ve seen GW do that. I bought something that was web only.

Here in Canada, I use Kingdom Titans, which is a Quebec store. So they tend to sell out of the French stuff, but usually have the English pre-orders when other shops sell out 

[anevilgiraffe]

It's like that since at least half a year already. I have had a short talk with a GW-employee (or now Warhammer-employee) at their store and he said that they made the decission to use 'Warhammer' as a brand because 'Games Workshop' gave to much confusion to people. At his store he has had regulary visitors who wanted to buy computer games or such.

well seeing as there are Warhammer computer games, that won't change any...

[Elbows]

It is definitely a curious change...and one that actually makes little sense.

My roommate in college ran the local GW store in a mall.  Tons of foot traffic.  Now, did 50% of parents come into the store with kids asking if they sold board games or computer games?  Yep.  But that's foot traffic.  A bunch of those kids would get wide-eyes when they saw toy soldiers.  A good employee could explain what they sold, show off the glass-cased armies, and offer a demo game, etc.

Is a parent going to take their kid into a store randomly called Warhammer if the kid doesn't know what it is and point it out?  No.  So they're going to lose walk-in foot traffic, even if the customer isn't a Warhammer die-hard.  Weird marketing choice.

'Man, too many people are walking into our stores...'.  Said no marketing person, ever.

[Moonglum_]

Very odd indeed.

If you already know what Warhammer is then it doesn’t matter if it’s called Games Workshop or Warhammer.

If you don’t know what Warhammer is- arguably the type they are trying to draw to the store- you’re more likely to stumble into a Games Workshop than a Warhammer. Basically as the poster above said. Hard to wrap my head around this decision.

[Lost Egg]

GW / WH does seem to suffer from hubris so maybe they believe everyone knows who they are now...or maybe it's about divorcing themselves from the old (GW) and embrace the new (WH). Trouble is the new becomes the old soon enough...

[Codsticker]

I think public perception is part of what drove the re-branding. I have a had a few conversations with people outside The Hobby; a lot of them use warhammer to refer to the game, the company and/or the hobby. In fact, last year I was painting 18mm Crimean War minis and my daughter, who is 26, came over and asked if I was painting my warhammer.