An Open Letter to GW

[-Tom-]

Overall opinion: Too long. Short, simple and to the point is much more likely to garner attention. Someone with the power to make the changes you are talking about won't wade through that wall of text. Which means you need to clarify and reduce it in order to give the person who might actually read your message the "elevator pitch" they need to run with.

I agree with the consensus that it is a well thought out, reasoned letter.

I agree and disagree with this quote too in part... I think that there is a difficult middle ground to hit between spelling out the problems that you think need addressing, without going on to offer constructive suggestions, and having too long a letter that they decide not to read it all. I think the answer though may not lie in cutting out content, but instead in the order of presenting it. Perhaps write the letter as more of an 'abstract', covering the basics of what you think are the issues, just the very basics of changes you are suggesting, and with regard to 'profits' comments made by others, briefly how you feel that this will help their bottom line. Beyond that, collate more in depth ideas into an appendix that comes after the letter. Reel them in with the letter, pique their interest and then have a further resource that is there with the remaining information that by the end of the letter they should WANT to read.

[olberon]

you know you got a point here ! i reallylike the general idea of it and really hope GW pick this one up, seems to fit theur current business model with some minor adjustments!

[Ghostofman]

These are neat forward thinking ideas, but it's all stuff that GW just plain can't do for many different reasons. Core of which: GW would need to seriously review, evaluate, and redesign it's business model. GW's proven time and again that it's just not in a position to do anything that risky, they don't have the money, they don't have the people, they don't have the skill, the motivation, or the time. It's not that they don't want to, it's just that they can't. So instead they do what they can to keep the money flowing. Codex: Sharp Sticks, White Dwarf (ads you can pay for), smaller products with higher prices. Like it or hate it it's keeping them afloat, and all they can do that doesn't involve a good chance the entire company burning up like a drop pod with a broken nav system. At least the way things are there's a chance the company will be around long enough for something to change that will allow them to recover.

It's kinda funny really.

The Imperium is presented at this near hopeless blob in need of a messiah to save them, permanently focused on ideas and events long past, assaulted on all sides, still somehow managing to hang in there as a galactic power.

GW... a near hopeless blob in need of a messiah to save them, permanently focused on ideas and events long past, fighting competition on all sides, and yet somehow hanging in there as a gaming world power.

[Jose A. Fabian]

SNIP

I'm really for what you are proposing. What I'm mainly behind is making the army rules free, but have the fluff be in a separate book with a price. This lets GW separate their IP as such and keep it without compromising sales, plus the fluff is really why many of us buy the codex, as the rules people can find somehow and SHOULD know before going out and investing a penny in an army. $40 dollars or whatever codices cost now is way too much for a "research cost". Make it max $5 for the army rules, but free would be better, then charge whatever you want for munitorum ed quality fluff books. These can come out with new editions when the campaigns advance. There's enough stories going on in the 41st millenium to expand campaigns without advancing the plot.

[deinol]

While I think a living rulebook would be cool, I'm skeptical that it would happen. To be honest, for all that the rulebook has a hefty price tag, the reality is the rules are the cheapest part of this hobby. Even with a free living corebook, there is no way they'd stop selling codexes.

As for more narrative "rules" and missions being released, how many people clamoring for more narrative stuff have even played the narrative missions they've been putting out in all the supplement codexes? I picked up Altar of War precisely because I love playing more narrative missions. They've been putting out a ton of that kind of content. But most people just complain that the supplements "only" have a few pages of rules, ignoring the missions, planetstrike, and cities of death content included.

My only real complaint is where are my Imperial Guard altar of war missions?

[Jose A. Fabian]

That's the thing though, it becomes a vicious cycle. Their business model is keeping them afloat, but it's also keeping them from earning more by expanding their market share. The following sentence is descriptive: new wargaming companies mostly get their market share by pulling it from GW customers.
Am I saying this shouldn't happen? No.
What I'm saying is that the market can support people liking and playing 2 or more systems at a time. If I play Infinity or whatever, that doesn't preclude me from playing 40k. The only thing that would keep me from playing 40k in that case is if it becomes a worse alternative, and that falls within the responsibility of the company GW. IMHO, a better alternative would be to create a policy that permits one to say "GW customers tend to play 40k as well as other tabletop wargames."

Before anyone argues that GW has to pay development costs for miniatures and that drives the prices way high, think about this- all of their competitors have to pay for development costs too. The fact that GW is bigger and has an established infrastructure, plus through economies of scale should give them a leg up on producing higher volumes without running as much risk, and permit them to dominate the market through lower costs and higher quality.

[Thaldin]

What about an annual small license fee? I would gladly pay $10 a year for a consistently updated set of rules. The annual fee would entitle you to updates and fixes and when you are done playing 40k, stop paying. Hell people pay $10 to $20 a month for computer games *coughs and hides his credit card bill*, why not $10 of a living document set of rules.

[Defenestratus]

What about an annual small license fee? I would gladly pay $10 a year for a consistently updated set of rules. The annual fee would entitle you to updates and fixes and when you are done playing 40k, stop paying. Hell people pay $10 to $20 a month for computer games *coughs and hides his credit card bill*, why not $10 of a living document set of rules.

I was thinking the same thing. Its easily achievable through both the Google Play Store subscriptions and the crApp store.

You buy a rules subscription... hell, it would definitely boost WD sales.

[Sainhann]

Umm. Would not work. Why not? Because they make profit on the current model. They dont want to pay someone to update rules every 3-4 months and give it to us for free, when it is proven they can change every 2 years and we will pay them.

Whilst they remain profitable there will be no major change.

People will in response suggest GW could make more profit. That involves a risk - that they change out of the known status quo, and into the unknown. Why take the risk when they are profitable...

But are they profitable? When a company remains profitable by increasing their prices every year by 5-10% or doubling the prices of certian models I.E. Dire Avengers that says they just might have a problem.

Oh as to the rules updating they are doing that all the time with the FAQ's.

Oh and I will not buy 7th Edition because I only see it as a money grab, was 6th Edition so hosed up that they needed to bring out 7th Edition?

If the rules were well written in the first place they would not need to put out FAQ's but they will be putting out FAQ's nearly every month until they release 8th Edition which could be in two years and maybe sooner.

GW did not come out on top in the Chapterhouse lawsuit and have been losing customers to other games that don't cost an arm & a leg to even get one army.

Very few players today can afford to have 4-5 armies, which is what I have for both 40K and WFB.

As to the fluff I say that GW dropped most of that over ten years ago.

There are no longer several Ork clans just Orks, gone are the Goffs, Bad Moons, Evil Suns, Death Lootas, Blood Axes & Snakebites.

There is really only one type of Imperial Guard, which is Cadians.

Plus I don't even want to mention what GW did to the Squats and Genestealer Cults armies.

Today Squats are gone as are the Genestealer Cults.

They are only interested in selling their overpriced miniatures and have destroyed once was a great gaming magazine - White Dwarf, which is nothing but a customer supported advertisement filled with lots of petty pictures of the new models and hardly anything else.

[daboarder]

But are they profitable? When a company remains profitable by increasing their prices every year by 5-10% or doubling the prices of certian models I.E. Dire Avengers that says they just might have a problem.

Oh as to the rules updating they are doing that all the time with the FAQ's.

Oh and I will not buy 7th Edition because I only see it as a money grab, was 6th Edition so hosed up that they needed to bring out 7th Edition?

If the rules were well written in the first place they would not need to put out FAQ's but they will be putting out FAQ's nearly every month until they release 8th Edition which could be in two years and maybe sooner.

GW did not come out on top in the Chapterhouse lawsuit and have been losing customers to other games that don't cost an arm & a leg to even get one army.

Very few players today can afford to have 4-5 armies, which is what I have for both 40K and WFB.

As to the fluff I say that GW dropped most of that over ten years ago.

There are no longer several Ork clans just Orks, gone are the Goffs, Bad Moons, Evil Suns, Death Lootas, Blood Axes & Snakebites.

There is really only one type of Imperial Guard, which is Cadians.

Plus I don't even want to mention what GW did to the Squats and Genestealer Cults armies.

Today Squats are gone as are the Genestealer Cults.

They are only interested in selling their overpriced miniatures and have destroyed once was a great gaming magazine - White Dwarf, which is nothing but a customer supported advertisement filled with lots of petty pictures of the new models and hardly anything else.

Before ssomeone jumps in,

GW is still profitable. BUT its not growing, and thats a problem