GW response to Finecast

[eldargal]

From Warseer:

Funnily enough, at the White Dwarf subscriber seminar, Wade Pryce (Head of Studio press, the guy who makes sure we know nothing in advance), was pretty openly apologetic about the rollout of Finecast, admitting that they'd had a lot of quality control issues early on, and while it was better now, that if you got any Finecast model that you weren't 100% happy with, GW will not just will replace it, but actually want you to, so they can keep track of where they are going wrong and constantly refine it.

Encouraging to know GW aren't burying their head in thesand over the Finecast problems, as so many claim they are.

[Deadlift]

Although yes there obviously has been many problems with finecast, I have to say that the response I had with my miscast models has been nothing but positive. Models replaced no questions asked and shipped same day. The models without problems have been an absolute pleasure to work with and convert.

[eldargal]

I've not had so much as a surface bubble myself, but the miscast rate for Finecast in my gaming group is around 10% which is much higher than metal, so they are having problems. This is obviously anecdotal I'm not trying to make a point beyond my club having more miscasts before. But as you say the customer service has been outstanding, every one of those miscasts was replaced immediately.

[Archon Charybdis]

I was incredibly frustrated with my first finecast purchase. I bought a package of DE Wracks, and I was told by the internet to expect slight malformations, or some small surface bubbling that could easily fill in, while being enough for me to complain and get a second pack for free. Much to my dismay, despite a large amount of flashing, they were in perfect shape and I had to actually go pay for a second set. Thanks for nothing GW

Though seriously, it's nice to see them at least address it, and as long as they keep up the good customer service.

[wittdooley]

I've not had so much as a surface bubble myself, but the miscast rate for Finecast in my gaming group is around 10% which is much higher than metal, so they are having problems. This is obviously anecdotal I'm not trying to make a point beyond my club having more miscasts before. But as you say the customer service has been outstanding, every one of those miscasts was replaced immediately.

I think the 10% miscast rate (and we're taking about real, actual miscasts), Is pretty appropriate. I've purchase maybe 15 finecast models, and I think i've had 3 problems. One was a fill issue (the mold simply didn't get filled all the way, there was literally a straight line ending the model) another other consisted of some bubbling on detail on an Empire Schwarzhelm model that I couldn't fix. I just picked up Goglfag and he's got some problems with the maw. Bubble all over it that are going to be a pain to fix.

Other than that, they've been great.

[isotope99]

My finecast experience:

Huron: All fine
DE medusa: All fine
DE lahmian: the venom drop didn't work, but mostly fine
DE Incubi: 4 out of 5 OK, 1 pretty poor (using as a ruined statue objective)

Not perfect, not awful

[harveydent]

finecast is ridiculously expensive. if they really wanted to sell it they would have dropped their 'blister' prices when they released it instead of raising them *again* for no reason other than that it's a new product.

if they can make blister products from plastic, just like the Storm of Magic characters (why are THOSE so expensive?), then they can make all the rest of their stuff out of plastic as well.

if they don't quickly realize that their products are too expensive, and are driving retail shop profits down, they're going to really hurt themselves.

[wittdooley]

finecast is ridiculously expensive. if they really wanted to sell it they would have dropped their 'blister' prices when they released it instead of raising them *again* for no reason other than that it's a new product.

if they can make blister products from plastic, just like the Storm of Magic characters (why are THOSE so expensive?), then they can make all the rest of their stuff out of plastic as well.

if they don't quickly realize that their products are too expensive, and are driving retail shop profits down, they're going to really hurt themselves.

So, your only argument is "they're too expensive?"

First, "expensive" expensive is a relative term. Paul Allen could buy up all the Finecast he wanted and melt it down simply to spite wargamers. I find that Finecast models are right in line with their market comparable counterparts.

My second point is built into the first. Clearly the market has decided that the pricepoint of Finecast isn't too high. Believe it or not, GW employees people with advanced degrees whose sole purpose is to make these determinations based on statistical analysis and market research.

Third, and I'm adding this after reading your post again, but you clearly don't understand how the retail shop profits work if you think the "high" (your words) MSRP of Finecast is adversely affecting them. The retail shops pay 55% of MSRP as their cost. GW allows retail shops to give UP TO a 20% discount on their product before they readdress selling to the retail store. So effectively, and "high" costed Finecast model a retail shop sells at full MSRP only increases their profits, despite the higher buy in cost. A box that was $40, purchased at $22, yields an $18 profit. That box, if increased to $50 in Finecast, is purchased at $27.50 and yields a $22.50 profit, a nearly $5 increase. Finecast prices aren't hurting retail stores.

[Gir]

finecast is ridiculously expensive. if they really wanted to sell it they would have dropped their 'blister' prices when they released it instead of raising them *again* for no reason other than that it's a new product.

if they can make blister products from plastic, just like the Storm of Magic characters (why are THOSE so expensive?), then they can make all the rest of their stuff out of plastic as well.

if they don't quickly realize that their products are too expensive, and are driving retail shop profits down, they're going to really hurt themselves.

A common misconception is that if you half the price, you need to double sales to make the same profit. In actual fact, you have to almost triple sales.

For example:

$40 box that costs $10 to make gets $30 profit.
$20 box that costs $10 to make gets $10 profit.
2x$20 box that costs $20 to make ($10 each) gets $20 profit.
3x$20 box that costs $30 to make gets $30 profit.

[Uncle Nutsy]

with moulds that cost about 200,000-220,000 to make.