The LAF Games Workshop Discussion Thread

[Momotaro]

I don't know if they in are trouble or not. Every year for the past several the revenue has been steady or declined slightly. They are certainly not growing, but maybe that's not a problem. Keep milking the same cow for the approx £120m per year. Is that in trouble?

I think what people are pointing out is that they're running faster and faster to stand still.  Sales continue to fall, even as prices rise and rate of new releases increases.

*shrug*  They make a lot of nice toys and I own... more than a few...  I'll certainly take a look at the Horus Heresy stuff.  Got a couple of boxes of AdMech and they really are beautiful models.  Just rather expensive for what they are.

Can you imagine what their competitors would do with their own in-house production facilities?  They would run riot with ideas... actually, I just want a range of "My Little Genestealer"...

[Momotaro]

Apparently Arlequin and I both want a range of cute lil' plastic monsters... 

[beefcake]

An then they'll change everything and we'll find out that the Emperor is actually Sigmar reborn. and WFB will be renamed Warhammer 0K

[Arlequín]

But "Warhammer Rules OK!" is kind of funny. 

Can you imagine what their competitors would do with their own in-house production facilities?  They would run riot with ideas... actually, I just want a range of "My Little Genestealer"...

Cue comments saying "what a great game Space Hulk/Mordheim/Necromunda/Rogue Trader were... what were they thinking when they dropped them?!"

 

[Storm Wolf]

An then they'll change everything and we'll find out that the Emperor is actually Sigmar reborn. and WFB will be renamed Warhammer 0K

Well the theory for years that the Warhammer world was just one of the millions of worlds in the Imperium, so maybe the legend of Sigmar was that of the Emperor or one of his Primarchs during the great crusade.

And the blowing up the world bit was the planet getting swallowed up by the eye of terror.

But its GW so they they will do what they bloody well want

[OSHIROmodels]

**** 'em

[Vermis]

It's true that they have accelerated releases to keep this level of revenue, but if they can maintain that rate, then all's well isn't it?

Can they, though? Faster release schedule equalling even fewer sales doesn't sound great on the face of it.

I also think GW's demise is more a case of wishful thinking by some... it paid a 6.something % dividend to shareholders, its shares are currently 560.5, a rise of 50 since April.

People with a fair bit of business acumen and experience - heck, people with a knowledge of basic maths - have been looking at the reports as they come out and shaking their heads. Including when GW piddles away most of their revenue on dividends, or even borrows money to pay them...

[YPU]

Well the theory for years that the Warhammer world was just one of the millions of worlds in the Imperium, so maybe the legend of Sigmar was that of the Emperor or one of his Primarchs during the great crusade.

And the blowing up the world bit was the planet getting swallowed up by the eye of terror.

But its GW so they they will do what they bloody well want

To be honest they have been moving away from that more then anything. There were models used in both games once. (zoats) Suggesting the tyranid vanguard had already landed. Slann were present in both games as a old wise race and the amazons even wielded plasma pistols.

[Major_Gilbear]

I'm kind of impressed by ranting about releasing and not releasing certain items within the same sentence.

Tough crowd.

I think it's a case of too little too late. Or, perhaps more accurately: way too much, way too fast, way too late. 

I do kinda like a reasonable amount of their stuff (skullz and spikes notwithstanding), but the speed at which it's being pushed out combined with the fantasy-level pricing makes this impossible to afford/buy; you don't even have time to save up for it!

For example, I would have definitely bought a metal Mechanicus Magos about ten years ago for the £8 or so that they were charging for typical major hero models at the time. But now, that model is finally released, and they want £22 for a single character on foot?! That's just desperate, and I can only assume that they're betting on pent-up anticipation for the model overcoming the inevitable sticker-shock. 

Well the theory for years that the Warhammer world was just one of the millions of worlds in the Imperium. [...] And the blowing up the world bit was the planet getting swallowed up by the eye of terror.

Yeah, I remember that theory doing the rounds back on Portent.net!

[The Voivod]

Well the theory for years that the Warhammer world was just one of the millions of worlds in the Imperium. [...] And the blowing up the world bit was the planet getting swallowed up by the eye of terror.

There was this summer campaign once (Albion?) that resulted in some armies getting some suspecious magical items.
They basically described stuff like an asupex, power weapon and powerfist as they would appear to low tech, magic wielding people.

[Major_Gilbear]

There was this summer campaign once (Albion?) that resulted in some armies getting some suspecious magical items.
They basically described stuff like an asupex, power weapon and powerfist as they would appear to low tech, magic wielding people.

Huh, that bit I didn't know!

[Ajsalium]

But was it because the Old World is part of the 40K galaxy, or because they were dropped by Chaos guys, who live outside of time in the Realm of Chaos?
Personally I've always thought that it was the possibility of using Chaos/Warp to travel through time as well as through space that explained those kind of phenomena. And the fact that it was the Chaos guys that could use technology reinforced that theory, in my opinion.
Not that any of this is proper historical discussion... we're talking about toy soldiers and make-believe!

[Arlequín]

Not that any of this is proper historical discussion... we're talking about toy soldiers and make-believe!

That comment probably falls as flat with GW aficionados as Galileo's "Hey guys, you won't believe this, but the Earth totally does go round the Sun" did with the Catholic Church.



I suspect it's one of the time vagaries of the Warp. I'm sure that any suggestion that WHFB and W40K were taking place concurrently in the same Universe would have been met by a furore caused by requests for rules to allow 40k forces to kick primitive butt.

 

[Vermis]

Sock puppet?

Also, nicked from Dakka:

"US Customs turned back all of the Games Workshop folks. Someone mentioned 'working a convention' and they didn't have work visas"

While the source is solid, I have no additional information or confirmations. I would imagine it was figured out, and the GW guys got there.

Things like this happen, its called.... life.

...

Here is the Update
via another source today
Someone at head office messed up the visa application, rather than travelling on a Business Visitor Visa they travelled to the US on a Holiday Visa. Not only were they denied entry, they were immediately deported back to the the UK and will not be able to travel to the US for a while. If they can get a team together in time there will be US staff at Gencon drafted in as emergency cover instead of the dedicated team that are meant to be touring the conventions.

http://natfka.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/some-dirt-from-gencon.html

[FramFramson]

Sock puppet?

Well, that post certainly smells of old socks...

Also, nicked from Dakka:

http://natfka.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/some-dirt-from-gencon.html

Too perfect.