Sleboda said:
It's almost like the read the interwebz and have decided that as long as people keep asking for FAQs they are going to refuse to give them - just like a petulant little child.
NexS1 said:
There really is no excuse for such poor service in my opinion. Their models continue to get more and more expensive, and their literature becomes more elaborate and costly, but they offer nothing in return.
You guys must not have read the GW Annual Report:
"Games Workshop's strategy is to make the best fantasy miniatures in the world and sell them globally at a profit, and it intends doing so forever."
"Our market is a niche market made up of people who want to collect our miniatures. They tend to be male, middle-class, discerning teenagers and adults. We do no demographic research, we have no focus groups, we do not ask the market what it wants. These things are otiose in a niche"
They don't ask what we want. They tell us what we want. And we want miniatures.
Why do you keep talking about rules? You're all miniature collectors. Collecting miniatures doesn't require any rules!
Kirby actually lists out all the elements of their business model:
- Vertically integrated. They design, manuafacture and distribute their models.
- They sell to third party retailers under closely controller terms and conditions
- They publish 2 magazines
- Their stores attract a lot of attention (and are "cheap" to run. He mentions that 3 times)
- Their market is a niche market (as quoted above)
- They control the business centrally
In his 6 page letter he never mentions "rules" or "game design" once. As far as the business of Games Workshop is concerned, the Games might as well not exist. Their business is only miniatures, and their customers are people who buy miniatures.
It's unfortunate, but they do not draw a line between *good rules* and *selling miniatures*.
It's funny, because he says:
"Because no one seems able to grasp the essential simplicity of what we do there has always been the search for the Achilles heel, the one thing that Kirby and his cronies have overlooked. These are legion. I run through the list from time to time when someone says that computer games will be the death of us – they are so much more realistic now! – again. This year it is 3-D printing. Pretty soon everyone will be printing their own miniatures and where will we be then, eh?"
Which is an interesting straw man. Maybe I'm one of those people that doesn't "grasp the essential simplicity" of what they do. I agree that 3D printing isn't going to be what does them in. But I do think someone making and maintaining a competitive rule set and supporting the community of players with events and tournaments will see GW fall to obscurity.
Without their rules & fluff, GW just makes really expensive models.
Source: http://investor.games-workshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/2013-14-Press-statement-final-website.pdf
