Is GW's constant "limited release" marketing starting to bite back?

[chaingunParticipant 1939xp 0]

These short term releases are certainly coming with an inflated price tag that’s for sure. I personally think that people in the near future are certainly going to think twice before making GW purchases.

let’s be honest here, most gamers play more than one game system, and probably those games are from a mixture of companies. This is healthy for our hobby as it gives us choice at the same time making companies strive to make their products better. Let’s face it that’s how businesses work and all of this trying to make a profit.

GWs vast release schedules is taking an ever increasing share of the market, after all on average we only have a certain amount of money we spend on our hobby each month and if your into GWs constant Saturday releases then that is going to take your money away from purchasing products from other great companies. Perhaps that’s their plan, for the people who only play / buy GW they will always continue to do so, so their target audience is those who like me dabble in their games and other companies products. They are trying to make sure I spend my hobby money solely on their products. For someone who has been in this hobby for well over 35 years I have seen GW do this many times. This is not healthy competition, this will eventually lead to companies having to either sell or completely disappear altogether, this is something I would not want to see.

I could wax lyrical about this for hours, but to answer the original question, I hope so.

[ced1106Participant 6224xp 1]

Maybe someone still at GW remembers Dreadfleet. 😀

And anyone remember Magic the Gathering’s Fallen Empires? Retailers thought WotC would short them, they didn’t, and WotC had fun paying warehouse costs. https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Fallen_Empires

Even a pre-order at the retailer level, btw, is *after* a run is printed. That’s why Gloomhaven had shortages a few years (?) ago.

It’s amazing that anyone can get this right, imo. “Limited Edition” means limited risk. You lose potential sales — and customer goodwill — but you’re not stuck with excess inventory. In the USA, not only does excess inventory mean additional warehouse costs, but inventory tax at the end of the year.

Also, you’re posting as if this were a recent thing. (: Us boardgamers went through this with Space Hulk, every edition.

[martlevMember 332xp 0]

Until they end up with a product like this clogging up their warehouse and not selling out in 5 minutes they will continue to do this. I bet if you look on eBay you will find plenty being sold already at a highly inflated cost. As long as the money still flows they will stull produce items like this, and snipers will continue to grab then.

[stubbybrushParticipant 925xp 0]

£225.00 at 20:40 on 20/11/19

 

[limburger 21775xp 0]

@chaingun I think these ‘limited’ edition starter army boxes are exactly what someone new to an army/system wants.

It’s not that different from what Corvus Belli does with Infinity’s starter sets and big faction boxes (like the USAriadna set) .

To be honest I like what they’re doing.
I hope there’s a proper Ork or Eldar army box or something that isn’t yet another set of space marines.

 

(*) The Eldar need new models as badly as the Sisters do

[noyjatatParticipant 16155xp 0]

Isn’t this latest SoB release going to be available early next year as well?

[chaingunParticipant 1939xp 0]

@limburger yes they are and not just for people new to the army or hobby mate.

GW is creating an internet hysteria with these short term low stock level items. Let’s face it, if they stopped giving the big YouTube channels free early access copies of these items to help spread the hysteria, then maybe some people who has missed out may stand a chance at picking up a copy.

[tobymagillMember 1414xp 1]

@noyjatat – yes the SOB realease is due early next year, and that will be with multipart sisters rather than the limited poses avaliable in this box.

TBH I really don’t understand the issue over this. GW have flat out stated that the full release is coming in a few weeks, with arguably better models. The only thing people are possibly missing out on is the ability to paint these up before Christmas, this doesn’t seem like a big deal to me.

[phaidknott 7027xp 1]

It does worry me a bit how people see all this as “normal” marketing. After all the fuss over the B&N “exclusives”, the aspect of GW creating their own exclusives (in a manner as they have limited availability) doesn’t seem to register as much with us.

We jump to the manufacturers whim, buy when they “allow” us to. Can you imagine another sector of a hobby industry working in a similar manner (plastic model kits for example)?

Again why all this intrusion by a marketing department into MY hobby? I have dosh to spend, but I’m not allowed to spend it (again I wasn’t even after these SoB boxes as I don’t play 40K, but I have been impacted with other GW games by this limited release business that made me just walk away from the game). It’s VERY similar to buying from a KS scheme (FOMO), miss the pre-order and you’ve missed the boat. But why this artificial urgency (after all a hobby is supposed to be relaxing)?

In this case the minis will be available later (but will the rules on the cards? or will they sell other versions instead as  GW have taken up with the whole Magic the Gathering/Got to collect them all aspect of rules on cards. Again the urgency to buy now with FOMO is pushed upon us). All companies do this a bit, but of late it’s expanded across the whole of GWs lines, impacting every game, and in effect making any game you buy into a “partial” purchase of what’s available to you NOW (as previous content has been pushed out as “limited” by the marketing dept). It’s all bloody overly complicated, which in itself is indicative of a marketing scheme gone awry. Here’s my money, sell me the “thing” (lets not have it become a collectathon with crazy prices due to the artificial limitations placed upon a product when there’s no real reason to do so)

[twodeesickParticipant 2893xp 2]

Can only speak from my own perspective but I’ve was a loyal customer since the early 90s.

I read alot of people defending their marketing methods saying that they’re a buisness and its their job to make money. Whilst this is true, back in the day it was owned and run by guys who made the game and did their best to encourage a mutual enjoyment of it. Not just for themselves but for their customers.

 

Theres a distinct disconnection today.

 

Many other companies. Smaller companies. Also are out to make a profit… so that they can survive but I find it so much more endearing that they are games by gamers for gamers and that passion shines through in the quality of the games and the ease of access to resources.

I personally cannot stomach GW anymore and I’ve felt like that for some time.

The shelves of expensive obsolete books were a precursor and I’m glad to say I cut ties well before the more recent limited run habits but they have definitely put me off any kind of return to playing GW games.

 

Bottom line, I dont GW because I’m not an idiot. Sorry if that causes any offence to fans but when I look at them as a whole, I assume that they must think I’m stupid. The “one click bundles” say it all. I’m capable of adding 5 items to a basket, I’m not stupid. Now if this was a bundle with a small discount to bulk purchase then it all makes sense but they arent.

 

So I think to summarise, I did GW but I dont anymore because I’m not stupid and enjoy quality game rules that I dont believe they provide.

 

 

 

 

[limburger 21775xp 1]

@phaidknott every industry follows that pattern … or is going to.
It works, because it targets our weak points and it helps them to minimize dead products in their warehouses.

As for marketing departments entering our hobby ? White Dwarf has been GW’s primary advertorial disguised as a hobby magazine since day 1.  They may not have been as overt as they were during the dark years, but it has always been used to test/promote/hype new products.

Battlefront, Corvus Belli and Warlord aren’t any different with their newsletters promoting their latest products.
And you can bet they’re analyzing every click and sale they make after every single one of them.

@twodeesick those tiny companies are either dead or are run by the same type of beancounters that GW has.
Passion gets you started, but it rarely survives growth.

I’m not defending their methods, but I can understand how it makes sense from a business perspective.
GW can’t afford to drop the ball and let a competitor eat into their share.
And you can be sure that if any of their competitors were in a similar position they’d be doing the same.

I’d love to see GW reduce the amount of armies they support to something that allows them to stock every single unit at retail.
However that is not going to happen, because angry fanboys aside (remember the Squats!) the current model works for their primary goal of selling minis.

The first thing to do is to understand why they’re doing things like this.
It makes it easier to ignore the hype and be rational about your reasons for purchasing.

Also remember : it’s ok if you don’t like things. You may not be part of their target demographic.
GW is selling a mass market product with all the pros and cons that entails.
Pro : easy to buy, lots of people familliar with the product
Con: not the best quality in aspects that matter and lots of hype

I can’t deny that they do sell the best plastic kits within the industry (especially when the artistic design is on par with their technical capabilities).
It’s a shame that their rules don’t have that high level of design and execution.

[craigwrdouglas 2306xp 0]

They aren’t getting everything wrong, they are getting a lot right, but they have got this one a lot wrong.

it sold out on pre-order before I even woke up and to be honest, for me and I just feel that they have wasted my time.

I can’t see myself going into a GW store this side of Christmas now – I’ll focus on other hobbies.

I appreciate comments re stock levels but they should have manufactured enough of this so everyone who wanted one could get one especially given how long this has been drawn out for.

[limburger 21775xp 1]

@craigwrdouglas the moment GW (or anyone else) can accurately predict the amount of product they need in stock is the moment we’ve developed algorythms that can reliably predict the future.(period)

It’s also the retailers themselves who need to gamble with their own money if they want to pre-order X units of GW’s latest boxed set.

I suspect what they really underestimated wasn’t just the appeal of these minis as an army, but the demand for actual female space marines. Usually people claim to want more female friendly products, but they never ever buy them when it gets released as 90% of the target audience just likes to make a lot of noise about how sexist stuff is within this industry/hobby.

[beardragon14 7474xp 0]

I am not sure how it went down in the rest of the world but in Australia/NZ/Japan GW badly overestimated the popularity of the “Blood of the Phoenix ” box with most GW stores and the official web store being left with excess copies of the box.  Judging how many boxes are needed is an imprecise science, particularly if you want to have a follow  a “normal release ” some months later.

Personally I put the failure of “Blood of the Phoenix” to sell down to the stupidity of having elves in a boxed set (oh okay space elves if you like …. they  are still bloody elves)…. now space dwarfs, THEY would sell .

[craigwrdouglas 2306xp 2]

@limburger – I appreciate your comments, but I don’t accept that they couldn’t have done a better job with getting numbers right or even allow people to pre-order from a second batch.

The future is unknown, but it can’t be used as an excuse for everything – most retailers take their cue from gw wrt stock levels, which takes into account manufactured quantity.

The bottom line is that they persuaded lots of customers to buy something that they don’t have to sell and aren’t willing to make any more.

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