Firstly the ground rules;
- This isn't a "What if GW closed tomorrow!" thread
- Nor is it "XX company sucks" or "YY company are so much better"
- I'm also well aware GW didn't invent the hobby, and it existed before them
- I may alos not know all the facts. If I make a mistake, feel free to correct me in a polite manner
Now onto the meat of the issue
On another thread (that shall remain nameless) I raised the idea of where the hobby as a whole would be if it wasn't for GW.
Now with this I mean not just if GW hadn't existed but no other company had risen to its position in its place
Where would the hobby be? Most people play 40K or Fantasy, particularly outside the US where Warmahordes are no where near as common.
Even people who don't and now play Warmachine or Flames or the more exotic systems like Dust and Infinity can probably say that a GW system might have introduced them to table top gaming (a gateway game if you will)
So if GW hadn't opened up the world to TTG (table top gaming) in such a way would these smaller companies exist?
And then if they did what of the massed websites out there who do buisness selling after model parts? Would CHS exist if not for GW? Would Mantic? Whats the bitz and conversions scene like on PP and other systems?
Also consider the seperation of "Wargaming" and "The Hobby". The Hobby is modeliing, painting, whereas the Tabletop gaming is the actual playing of games, the publishing of rules.
GW have acheived a brand recognition that only one other model company can really claim to the mass market, and they (Airfix) recently had to be bought out of administration)
On the other thread there was also a counter argument provided by Necron 2.0, which i've copied below to provide the counterpoint to this discussion.
So have at it! What would the world of TTG look like if GW had never existed?