GW Business Analysis Video (MUST SEE)

[DWest]

My thought is this: Games Workshop is currently being stupid and short-sighted. GW is in trouble. Warhammer 40k is not in trouble; the IP is too large, and too popular to be left to rot, and so I'm holding on to my armies until somebody (whether GW or an outsider) comes and fixes things, and in the meantime I'm willing to spend my hobby dollar on releases that look worthwhile.

There's also the slight caveat that at the rate I manage to get things painted, it's entirely possible that the rules side of things will be fixed before I actually have 2000 points of stuff that matches.

[kellyj]

GW claims to produce collectible models.
The only problem with this claim is the models they produce are inferior in quality and scope to anything that an actual model company makes.
Just compare the trusty old Rhino to any APC made by Revel, AMT/ERTL (easily the entry level in the model market where your 8 year old boy usually starts his hobby at). GWs thick plastic, poor fit, simple details usually pre-etched into the main body, and very few parts. Then you look at an AMT/ERTL kit. Thinner plastic giving a better fit and finish, detailed parts that the modeler gets to add IF and where he actually wants (perhaps making a replica of an actual vehicle he operated), and having dozens (sometime hundreds) of parts.
Now compare the price. 37 USD +tax for the Rhino vs 9-20 USD depending on which APC kit your looking at getting.
If you had the models in an actual hobby store side by side AND the game of 40K itself did not exist...which one would you be spending your hard earned dollar on? And lets not even go into the quality and price of the required Hobby accessories (paints, brushes, glue, tools, etc).
GAMES workshop is a game company. The GAME is the only reason the models were ever produced in the first place. Models would sell poorly...until the newest Codex gave them a power boost. Then that once loathed and never bought model became THE unit that everyone had to have. Entire editions changed the GAME flavor. From the super soldier Terminator spam to Rhino Rush in a single printing. Hundreds of dollars (and hobby hours) of plastic would be shelved while hundreds of new dollars were spent on the latest hotness because the GAME changed. Entire armies were shelved while hundreds of dollars would be spent on a new army because the Codex changed (anyone remember how Grey Knights went from being that weird and rarely seen, but always beautifully painted army, whose owner we both admired for his skill but pitied for his last place finishes to being a quick 3 color tabletop ready beating face everywhere that you couldn't go to an event and NOT face at least twice?
Not because the models changed (though they did, made of cheaper plastic by doubled in price) but because the GAME rules made them THE top army for a period of time.
And so here we are. GAMES workshop not only ignoring, but even refuting what the very first word of their company name is. Claiming to be a collectable hobby company, yet making substandard models when compared to the actual collectable market. And all through this treating a very large and loyal customer base with disdain and greed. More and more people are leaving the GAME while fewer are picking it up. GW is in a death spiral and they refuse to recognize it.
Maybe if they did sell out to Hasbro it can be saved, assuming Hasbro got a few old-time 40K players on staff to reset the Grim Dark back to 3rd or 4th (but certainly not beyond 5th) Edition. More likely Hasbro will see the declining customer base and decide (correctly) they want to continue as a toy company and not a GAME/model company.

[miteyheroes]

Having now watched the 3rd video, they basically say that the change is from seeking new players to selling collectible models to existing customers?

Which is hilarious, I remember that for ages people complained that GW only focussed on new players, not existing ones...

[DWest]

GW claims to produce collectible models.
The only problem with this claim is the models they produce are inferior in quality and scope to anything that an actual model company makes.
Just compare the trusty old Rhino to any APC made by Revel, AMT/ERTL (easily the entry level in the model market where your 8 year old boy usually starts his hobby at).

Actually, having built Revell, AMT, and GW kits, I have remained exclusively with GW, because their quality and fit are an order of magnitude better than the others. I would go so far as to say my worst GW build (a Chaos Landraider that sat for years in shop, near the heater vents) was still easier to finish than the best offering from Revell, Monogram, or AMT.

Now Tamiya for example makes a better kit, but they go too far in the opposite direction imo; lots and lots of extremely fine parts that make me feel like a bomb technician with all the fancy lights and clips and tools needed to hold the model fast so I can place this lever the thickness of a cat's whisker where it needs to go.

[Mr Mystery]

Actually, having built Revell, AMT, and GW kits, I have remained exclusively with GW, because their quality and fit are an order of magnitude better than the others. I would go so far as to say my worst GW build (a Chaos Landraider that sat for years in shop, near the heater vents) was still easier to finish than the best offering from Revell, Monogram, or AMT.

Now Tamiya for example makes a better kit, but they go too far in the opposite direction imo; lots and lots of extremely fine parts that make me feel like a bomb technician with all the fancy lights and clips and tools needed to hold the model fast so I can place this lever the thickness of a cat's whisker where it needs to go.

That's an interesting point.

We also have to consider that GW kits are designed to not only look nice, but be easily assembled, and sturdy enough to stand up to regular transport. Proper proper collectors models are designed to look nice, be ridiculously detailed, and then just somewhere looking spangly.

Totally different design ethos involved.

[Ed Quicksall]

I have already stopped buying GW models.