GW discovers price inelasticity: stock drops 24%

[Jaedar]

It seems Games Workshop is having some troubles...

http://observationdeck.io9.com/the-empire-of-games-workshop-is-burning-1504415669

Now, this is obviously not as good as it sounds, since they're still making a lot of money, but there is yet hope they will croak and someone competent will be put in charge.

 

[Storyfag]

So there *is* justice in this world.

 

[Excidium]

inb4 Hasbro acquires GW

 

[tuluse]

inb4 Hasbro acquires GW

Would you even be able to tell the difference?

 

[Irenaeus]

 

[Azrael the cat]

It seems Games Workshop is having some troubles...

http://observationdeck.io9.com/the-empire-of-games-workshop-is-burning-1504415669

Now, this is obviously not as good as it sounds, since they're still making a lot of money, but there is yet hope they will croak and someone competent will be put in charge.

Never happens that way. When a company's value crashes like that, it usually rules out any possibility of someone competent wanting to involve themselves. What inevitably happens is that the company (or its assets) get bought up by a larger entity that has little knowledge of the relevant market, but is hoping to make a profit by buying cheap, shutting the loss-making components and liquidating their assets, and then aggressively monetising the remaining profitable lines for some short-term cash before they're also liquidated.

Even the 'it will free up the market for a competent new company' rarely works unless there's other existing profitable players who can move in - if the only (or by far the largest) company in a market crashes, it becomes nearly impossible for new talented players to convince banks (or any other investor) to fund them.

However, this being the codex, I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes my shadenfrude as much as I like my gaming, and seeing consistently bad companies who don't learn from their mistakes finaly go ass-up is entertainment in itself

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Even the 'it will free up the market for a competent new company' rarely works unless there's other existing profitable players who can move in - if the only (or by far the largest) company in a market crashes, it becomes nearly impossible for new talented players to convince banks (or any other investor) to fund them.

Well, the article did mention some of them. Privateer Press is the obvious successor, but then you also have the guys who make Infinity, Dream Pod and their Heavy Gear, the guys who make Flames of War, and the super-cheap high quality models made by Mantic Games (EDIT: nvm Mantic seems to have increased their prices exponentially, used to be you could get 20 zombies for less than ten bucks).

GW's demise would only be a good thing, since all of those are superior games and products (ie, Privateer Press' average model quality and especially their paint line quality, not to mention rules quality and update model, shits on GW from a great height with deadly accuracy).

 

[Grunker]

inb4 Hasbro acquires GW

Would you even be able to tell the difference?

Absolutely. Say what you will about Hasbro, they're a professional company. GW are fucking retards.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Never happens that way. When a company's value crashes like that, it usually rules out any possibility of someone competent wanting to involve themselves. What inevitably happens is that the company (or its assets) get bought up by a larger entity that has little knowledge of the relevant market, but is hoping to make a profit by buying cheap, shutting the loss-making components and liquidating their assets, and then aggressively monetising the remaining profitable lines for some short-term cash before they're also liquidated.

Even the 'it will free up the market for a competent new company' rarely works unless there's other existing profitable players who can move in - if the only (or by far the largest) company in a market crashes, it becomes nearly impossible for new talented players to convince banks (or any other investor) to fund them.

However, this being the codex, I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes my shadenfrude as much as I like my gaming, and seeing consistently bad companies who don't learn from their mistakes finaly go ass-up is entertainment in itself

GW has many profitable competitors who can move into hobby stores when the space will be freed up by GW's demise (in before all former miniature wargame stores become MTG-only).

 

[Pope Amole II]

Eh, fuck them sideways. Over the course of last... What, 8 years? I mean, from the moment the old "new" DA codex came up, initiating the decline, they've been doing nothing but shitting all over W40k. Slowly, gradually but very effectively, with prices of models going up and up every year and quality of their game (game, not models, mind you, though even models had their "bright" moments with failcast) steadily crawling down the drain. At this point, it's already so shitty and disjointed that even getting bought by EA (or whatever its tabletop analogue is) won't make the situation much worse.

 

[Kane]

It seems Games Workshop is having some troubles...

http://observationdeck.io9.com/the-empire-of-games-workshop-is-burning-1504415669

Now, this is obviously not as good as it sounds, since they're still making a lot of money, but there is yet hope they will croak and someone competent will be put in charge.

 

[WetWorks]

I thought about commenting, but then i remembered i didn't care for any of GWs franchises anymore (except perhaps blood bowl). Fuck 'em.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Meh, GW has been down the shitter for years now.
It's no surprise people don't buy their stuff anymore. I stopped with the 4th edition.

 

[groke]

Eh, fuck them sideways. Over the course of last... What, 8 years? I mean, from the moment the old "new" DA codex came up, initiating the decline, they've been doing nothing but shitting all over W40k.

GW started bleeding sales shortly after the release of 3rd edition 40k in 1998; they had a hell of a pick-up from the Lord of the Rings craze, but sales have dropped on everything else unabated. It's a mystery that Fantasy (or anything that isn't wearing power armour) is still even being produced.

(in before all former miniature wargame stores become MTG-only).

Good one!

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Eh, fuck them sideways. Over the course of last... What, 8 years? I mean, from the moment the old "new" DA codex came up, initiating the decline, they've been doing nothing but shitting all over W40k. Slowly, gradually but very effectively, with prices of models going up and up every year and quality of their game (game, not models, mind you, though even models had their "bright" moments with failcast) steadily crawling down the drain. At this point, it's already so shitty and disjointed that even getting bought by EA (or whatever its tabletop analogue is) won't make the situation much worse.

Nah 40k has been shit since forever. The point where GW could go fuck itself was the 8th edition of Warhammer Fantasy, which was an irredeemable turd rules-wise AND an unforgivable cashgrab-through-army-invalidation.

 

[Ebonsword]

...the guys who make Flames of War...

You mean Battlefront? They just became the distributors for Dust Tactics last year, too, so it seems like they're in an expansionary phase.

I can't say that I'm too pleased with their management of Dust Tactics so far, though.

 

[Spectacle]

GWs demise wouldn't "free up space for competent competitors", it would just shrink the hobby. GWs immense size gives them the reach to recruit gamers who would never otherwise hear about miniatures gaming.

 

[groke]

GW only begets GW, and it has the blood of a thousand FLGS on it's taloned hands. I mean honestly:

EAs demise wouldn't "free up space for competent competitors", it would just shrink the hobby. EAs immense size gives them the reach to recruit gamers who would never otherwise be interested in gaming.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

(in before all former miniature wargame stores become MTG-only).

Good one!

I mean the ones that are currently colonised by Games Workshop.

GWs demise wouldn't "free up space for competent competitors", it would just shrink the hobby. GWs immense size gives them the reach to recruit gamers who would never otherwise hear about miniatures gaming.

What "reach"? GW reaches out mainly by colonising hobby stores. It actually drove competing hobby stores to bankruptcy using temporary sales and then raising prices after the other store goes bankrupt.

No GW = normal hobby stores with affordable miniatures from different miniature wargames = more gamers due to lesser costs.
Sadly, it will probably never happen because of MTG.

 

[groke]

(in before all former miniature wargame stores become MTG-only).

Good one!

I mean the ones that are currently colonised by Games Workshop.

Fair enough, I must admit that living in the Southern Hemisphere has given me a warped perspective on the situation; this strange creature, the GW-oriented independent, went extinct long ago here.

 

[Spectacle]

GW only begets GW, and it has the blood of a thousand FLGS on it's taloned hands. I mean honestly:

EAs demise wouldn't "free up space for competent competitors", it would just shrink the hobby. EAs immense size gives them the reach to recruit gamers who would never otherwise be interested in gaming.

Silly comparison. EA is just one of many major players in a huge market, but GW is basically a market in itself in parallel to the rest of the mini gaming market.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

(in before all former miniature wargame stores become MTG-only).

Good one!

I mean the ones that are currently colonised by Games Workshop.

Fair enough, I must admit that living in the Southern Hemisphere has given me a warped perspective on the situation; this strange creature, the GW-oriented independent, went extinct long ago here.

In my city, there is Bard and Flamberg. Bard is GW-orientated from the beginning. Flamberg used to be Warmachine/Hordes/Infinity/Flames of War/MTG but then it suddenly became MTG-only.

 

[Ulminati]

(in before all former miniature wargame stores become MTG-only).

Good one!

I mean the ones that are currently colonised by Games Workshop.

Fair enough, I must admit that living in the Southern Hemisphere has given me a warped perspective on the situation; this strange creature, the GW-oriented independent, went extinct long ago here.

My FLGS (Faraos Cigarer) has a mix of GW, Privateer Press and that WW2 game (Flames of War?). Every single time they host a games night however, the store is flooded by MTG/W40K/WHFB. Good thing we have Bastard Cafe for people who aren't into overpriced plastic.

(Btw Grunker, Bastard Cafe is in Huset KBH this saturday from 1PM and onwards. You missed out on an epic 9-man Game of Thrones run last time).

 

[Rahdulan]

Shame you can't turn your stocks into resin models and jack the prices up even further, eh?

 

[Ulminati]

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