We just got off the phone with GW and the price increases are in fact real.
Well, what a kick in the nuts. This is an absurd price hike and I am more than a little shocked that GW thinks their player base will stand for this. I am sure people will continue to play GW games (not only because I love them but for the sake of our business) but I foresee a great deal of people saying F it, and giving other game systems a go.
I really, really don’t understand the mentality behind these types of decisions. It’s suicide in slow motion. GW is going to wake to a very harsh reality.
What are your guys’ thoughts on the topic? Will you continue to play GW games or try out some new games?
Been looking at both infinity and dropzone commander. Given the money sunk into GW think it will be a while before I switch anything though…
Also I really like the convertibility of GW plastics and think I would become frustrated with the more static poses/more difficult to convert that you see from other companies.
You make a good point. People are heavily invested in GW games and will be reluctant to switch. I don’t think anything dramatic will happen right away, but this is not a very smart move on GW’s part.
How much of a price hike are we talking about here…
As much as 25% increase on some models. $75 Land Raider, $82 Storm Raven, $41 for a box of Fire Dragons, etc.
It really isn’t that outlandish though. They do it every year and every year everyone says they will quit and move to another system and that this is slow suicide. A month passes and everyone forgets. Then the next year comes around. No big surprise.
No not really look at PP with WM/H on how much it has grown the last year or so and how other game systems are now growing in the wake of GW price rises over the years.
Yeah, I understand price increases to keep pace with inflation, that is fair and understandable. But what GW is doing here is unreasonable.
Not really. Every year the price hikes are between 3-5%, this is as much as quintuple that. I think you are right that a lot of folks won’t quit, but a lot will.
I HOPE they don’t for the sake of our business, haha, but this is a tough cookie to swallow.
Don’t get me wrong I’ll still buy stuff from GW such as 6th ed, updating some old armies with new units, and new updated codexs for the armies I own, but as far as starting new ones like I was hoping to this year that will be a negative.
I think a lot of people will be in the same boat.
I have been collecting 40K since ’92 and have several armies, I do not see me straying away from the game. When I buy new units it is mainly to fill in the empty slot but not a necessity.
I have looked at Dust warfare rules and liked them along with the price. With a some discounts i got the rulebook and 300+ point armies for both Axis and Allies for a little more than $300. So it makes for a good second game.
Exactly. I see a lot of people picking up second games and giving them a go, taking dollars away from GW’s bottom line. There are so many games out there that have a lower price point.
I think they are increasing the prices so that they will sell at 20 off% for what they want them to sell at MSRP. If I just bought a kit a month like a more traditional hobbyist I would just pay whatever. Since this is a game I end up at least wanting to buy more than that. I just can’t afford to pay full price at the FLGS. I don’t know how anyone collects more than one army and pays MSRP.
Right. It is too expensive for most people. Like I have said, this isn’t going to kill the hobby tomorrow, but I think it will be one more straw on the camel’s back that will drive people away.
It just seems like a short-sighted play to me that will hurt GW long term.
I have been playing off and on since 1st edition, and myself have several armies. I really do think this is a slow death for GW… maybe slower than most believe, but true none the less. I was looking at starting yet another army… just waiting to see what 6th was going to be like, but with the new price increase I think I will stick with what I have. As I feel a lot of others will do, or start to do. The other thing is the initial start up cost. If I was just getting started the price would really make me think twice. Slowly cutting off the influx of new players and driving off the vets is a sure fire way to fail. I can understand valid price increases and it IS a business, but GW markup is already something like 40% (typical is 15% to 25%). I really enjoy the minis and the fluff, but what I don’t appreciate is the fact that they have as high a markup as they do, rising stocks as fast as they are, and a price increase… increasing as fast as they are. It just seems like they are saying that they are going to give it to us hard, and expect us to come back for more. Mention an oil company raising prices at the pump while bragging about record sales, and see if they get any sympathy.
Good comparison with the oil companies. It’s crazy that GW thinks they can do this without damaging themselves. As competition heats up, they will find themselves in a position to be easily overtaken by an aggressive company.
Personnaly, I have a fixed budget for 40k and in the current times of economic crisis (at least here in Europe), I’m certainly not going to increase said budget. If it means I buy less, well I’ll buy less…
More generally, I agree that this move seems utterly counterproductive… But if they do it, they must have a rationale behind it. Someone made that call and probably had good reasons for it (at least in his mind).
I agree that this seems like it’s going to hurt GW in the long run. But then, with bigger armies required and increasing prices, they can keep people building up their armies much longer. Although the price of entry is getting incredibly steep, which is where I think the heart of the issue lies.
I agree with you. The cost of entry is becoming very, very high. While some games have similarly priced miniatures,they require a lot less of them to play. For example, Heavy Gear has realtively expensive miniatures, but you only need 5-15 to play. Total cost of entry with rules and everything is around $130! Warmachine is not much higher. Plus the games have better rules.
40K has people invested, a large presence and a lot of history, but how far can that carry them?
This SUCKS. 🙁 If their goal is to get new players into the community because they buy more, then either they’ve changed their policy or are too short-sighted to realize that the cost of 40k drives away MANY people; for example, I van list several friends who think it sounds great, but refuse to look into detail because the price is way above their budget. Overall, bad move, GW.
On that note, Black Diamond Games posted an article on Facebook that relates this turn of events to the performance of an employee, which I found quite accurate based on the history of GW…
Yeah, I read Black Diamond’s article. I think quite a few people will be doing the same thing. Who this really hurts though, is GW retail. How in blazes are they going to meet their quotas when they have to try and sell these prices?
With other games having buy-in prices at a fraction of GW and awareness of them increasing rapidly, it is simply a matter of time before GWs sees market share dwindling away.
Unless GW sees the light light and lowers their prices… Like THAT’S going to happen any time soon. 😛
Well, there go all thoughts of building a second army.
Because of this, once I finish my Tyranids I will go full-on into Dropzone Commander. There goes another potential army sale for GW. Their competition grows. They just lost business. But it’s not just me, because humans are so numerous that there is hardly such a thing as a person who thinks entirely uniquely (I of course am the no exception; rather I am the antitheses of an exception, being an identical twin). More people are thinking just like I.
Speaking of Dropzone Commander, DzC shows that GW models’ value are far below their prices, and yes, GW is technologically behind. The DzC models are exemplars of this.
I think you are one of many people who feels the same way. I am excited to try Drop Zone Commander, too! I will still play 40K, just aggravating to see this type of behavior.
Really glad I’ve been branching out into other games, and this unreasonable price hike really solidifies that as a good decision. I’ve been enjoying Warmachine, thinking about Infinity, and way interested in Dropzone Commander.
Warmahordes is a blast, and I am loving Heavy Gear, too. I am very excited to try Drop Zone Commander as well. That game looks great, I just hope the rules are solid.
A Monolith is now more than a tank of gas. I think GW has trolls working out the inflation rate. Think about it, with these prices thats like a months worth of good quality beer, for a model! This game might be good rehab to get people off drugs, they wont have any money left for it lol.
Hahaha, right? Beer before monolith!
Sadly looking at how things are here in Australia people will probably just swallow it and move on. Heck it costs me $96 for a Trygon. Any word if there will be price rises internationally?
I was told that they will in fact be international. Sucks for Oz big time.
This is upsetting news. I wouldn’t mind so much if GW gave back to the community with tournaments and more prize support. However, as it is now I think calling it suicide in slow motion is an accurate way to describe it.
Forget about us for a second, how about those game stores who thrive off GW products. In such an economy, its important for these businesses to stay around for the stimulus our economy desperately needs.
Also, with the push for these price hikes
As for me, I’m in the boat of “I’ll keep playing, but don’t see myself starting a new army anytime soon.” Unless i start winning some tournaments :p good thing i’ve invested in other games as well.
That’s a good point. If GW ran a bunch of events, then that would be one thing, but they don’t so hey. The money is being used to finance a big push into expanding their retail chains though, which is a questionably good idea.
This is upsetting news. I wouldn’t mind so much if GW gave back to the community with tournaments and more prize support. However, as it is now I think calling it suicide in slow motion is an accurate way to describe it.
Forget about us for a second, how about those game stores who thrive off GW products. In such an economy, its important for these businesses to stay around for the stimulus our economy desperately needs.
Also with the push for these price hikes, maybe it should signify a movement for the smaller games such as Kill Zone and Kill Teams.
As for me, I’m in the boat of “I’ll keep playing, but don’t see myself starting a new army anytime soon.” Unless i start winning some tournaments :p good thing i’ve invested in other games as well.
I can’t believe they’re doing this again. This time it’s so over the top and GW has to look at it like “we got our hooks into them with our plastic crack and now we can just raise the prices because they’re invested now”. I never thought it’d be possible to put 40k armies in my investment portfolio because my blood angels army is worth more now even open boxed and assembled than NIB when I bought it. Cant wait for DzC.
Yeah, it is a bit of a slap in the face. What are they thinking this is going to do other than piss off their customers?
Ive seen gamers come and go, the price hike is just gonna deter new players from collecting and playing, the old players will still put up with GW’s crap, cause lets face it, 40K is gamer crack..
Ive never wanted to leave GW’s following but with all the new games coming out and the good product support its getting kinda hard not to give something else a try..
I hope to see GW take it right up the …
Lets Jack up the price right before we throw a new ed. at them and really f..them up. Thanks for the outstanding considerations GW…
I agree. I think it will piss people off a lot and drive customers away, and reduce the amount of purchases veterans make. It’s just a bad move.
I consider myself and my father a veteran of GW’s 40K range… With well over 6,000 CAD invested in 6 armies over the course of 10 years. (myself having Space Marines, and Dark Eldar, with a flourishing of Tau and Necrons, my father having a MASSIVE 5,000+ point guard army, and his own marines), and i can officially say i dropped out at the right time. I sold my marines to a buddy of mine for half of what “I” paid for them which is like 1/4 of what they are charging for NiB now….. he actually commented that if I hadnt, that he wouldnt have gotten into the game at all.
Fail move GW…. go back to Economics 101
You said it. I think we will be seeing a lot of this type of thing, unfortunately. People have had as much as they are willing to take.
Reecius what was up with the 80’s look at Adepticon.. wtf dude…that was wayyy out there..lol
Hahaha, just trying to spice things up a bit!