PRICE RAISE!!!

[SethDrallitoc]

You know the worst thing about games workshops price increases? Having to hear everyone bitch and moan about them, every single year! This is the reason I can no longer go to Warseer and the reason that the Games Workshop's Facebook page is going to ruin.

They are a huge company that produces the bulk of their product in Engalnd. They employ thousands of people who staff stores, run warehouses, who design models, make art work and write books. People who give tours at Warhammer world, serve drinks at Bugmans Bar, organise Games Days across the globe.

Have you ever called customer service? Did you talk to someone in India? Hell no! Because those jobs have not been outsourced for cheaper labour.

Games workshop is a first world company.

Sure there are other companies who are making cheaper products. But how many of them have a hobby store in as many major cities as possible? How many of those companies will let you sit in a store for hours on end and paint (using the stores paint). How many of them organise huge events, and publish novels to go along with their game?

As an Englishman who has had his job shipped over seas - not once, but three times, I have to commend Games Workshop.

My only advice to them would be:

"Please... For the love of Sigmar talk to your customers and explain your actions".

Maybe then I can enjoy some peace and quite from all this pointless whining.

 

[eastern barbarian]

Seth, you make GW sounds like a biggest blessing UK could have. It is not, sorry to break it out. Besides, maybe their customers service is not in India, but they produce their stuff in China my friend so all this stuff about "English" company is not exactly right.

 

[Anubis]

Seth, you make GW sounds like a biggest blessing UK could have. It is not, sorry to break it out. Besides, maybe their customers service is not in India, but they produce their stuff in China my friend so all this stuff about "English" company is not exactly right.

There's not that much that's done in China - mainly paint production, model cases, book printing and such.
The vast majority of the work, and the entirety of the model line itself is done at the Lenton facilities and now the new Memphis production line.

Plus, those stores are a massive financial drain for the company due to all the costs they incur, yet they've become little more than free babysitting centers for over-privilaged, undisciplined and utterly disrespectful little prats! (I blame the parents here as they're everything but...)
The staff pay, while not great, keeps going up because governments keep uping the minimum wages thus forcing GW to raise their pay-rates, and all those staff also get a rather healthy benifits package to boot!
Yet the stores are a nessessry evil to keep the hobby going as they are first and formost recuiting centers for new hobbyists.

Yes GW is infamous for it's bad descisions and insane ways of thinking, but they're successful and they still pretty much own the tabletop gaming market...

 

[Danceman]

Seth, you make GW sounds like a biggest blessing UK could have. It is not, sorry to break it out.

Bloody hell that's condescending. And unfair, as I really don't think he did. It's a nice contrast to the oversaturation of "GW is satan"-posts that litter the internet. GW have, to their credit, kept much of their business at home.

--

+1 Anubis.

 

[eastern barbarian]

well, I just think that calling people's complaints "pointless whining" is also unfair. There are as a matter of fact a lot of very genuine and not pintless complaints among the "whining". Seriously, if so many people feel there is an issue, there obviously is something wrong.

As for healthy benefits etc. in GW I cannot possibly discuss it as I don't know any details. Anubis- perhaps some more information what sort of benefits apart from staff discount do they enjoy?

As for production in China- I really think there is more stuff made there but I would have to do some more research into it to go into details- perhaps you are right, but I don't think they keep production in UK becasue they want to be nice to local workers, but because they are really paranoid about keeping total control over production and perhaps having it done in China wouldn't allow them to do so. Nothing that company does is out of good heart so I feel it is quite misleading to try to present it in that way (at least thats the feeling I got from reading Seth's comment but If that was not intention then I apologise for misreading it).
And yes, they are successful but if they carry on the way tthe are now, their days of being successfull will come to an end and it might be sooner than we think. UK high streets are full of companies that were much bigger than GW and due to series of wrong decisions and bad management folded down.

As my mates put it in their podcast recently- our relationship with GW is like a wife and wife-beater- we really want to love them but everytime we just get slapped in the face for our efforts.

 

[TJK1991]

if what i hear is true and china is not involved with anything GW then it makes sense why things are a little over priced, but its gotten a little out of hand, and what seth said about stores organizing events and letting you use store paint, thats not really all that true, my store wouldnt allow customers to use store paint unless your a potiential customer and they let you use the store paint to paint a demo model, as for organizing events its just brought upon to make more sales, stores hold tournaments which is fantastic and all, but you need to buy a product over 50$ to sign up. the prices before were fine there was no need to change them i understand that finecast is suppose to be a new thing and it makes since to raise the prices a dollar or 2 but not 22$ more for a battlion box thats not even in finecast yet, believe it or not, we all eventually fall out and in of warhammer, the game is like a drug, but it makes it more difficult to go back to the game or even new players to start playing when a battlion box is almost 150$ after taxes, i also fear that that these new prices are going to kill the game, the general audience of warhammer is young teens - young adults, our budgets arnt very high, and parents would have a hard time considering it for their kids thinking it might be just a short phase why should they pay so much for something their kid might just drop in a couple weeks. i like what GW does there game is amazing and i like the stories, painting, building and playing, i just dont want them to lose there true roots where its suppose to be a game to get people together away from reality and have fun playing a game, its inspired people to use there imagination, bring back our kid inside of all of us, but the company is beginning to get blinded by greed and abusing there customers by testing there patients to see how much die hard fans of the game will pay before they leave the game.

 

[SethDrallitoc]

stores organizing events and letting you use store paint, thats not really all that true, my store wouldnt allow customers to use store paint unless your a potiential customer and they let you use the store paint to paint a demo model

Sorry. I was speaking from experience of the 5 games workshops that I have frequented, in different cities I have lived in across Europe and America. I have seen 1 or 2 that didn't have painting stations with a complete set of paints (Although NYC store has had to stop giving out Baddab black because people "drink it"). Perhaps I have just been lucky.

I Didn't say that China produced nothing. Paints, printing, things like tape measures, dice, not sure about the current brushes but probably.

I don't believe they do it for the good of England, it's just one of the reasons costs are so high.

Mantic can make you cheaper miniatures yes, but how many employees do they have to pay?

And I say that whining is pointless only because there is no one listening. No one listening seems to me a good sign that they don't know what to say. They have got themselves to a stage where they don't know what to do.

 

[Abbysal]

One of the reasons Finecast is expensive is because GW poured LOADS into making sure the resin formula was awesome. Companies (like those you have listed) are cheaper because they make do with what they have; GW strive to acquire better-quality material.

If it is Finecast it is seriously worth it. One model and you're hooked.

I don't mean to be rude Darv, I love reading your posts, but I have to ask. Are you a Games Workshop spokesman?

The price rises are rediculous, pure and simple, and a new material they are using is not the reason for the price rise and is certainly not an excuse. Plastic is the best material.:zombie:

There's not that much that's done in China - mainly paint production, model cases, book printing and such.

They make the Realms of Battle Game Board over here in China too. God knows why it's 150 quid eh?

 

[Lynks]

The price rises are rediculous, pure and simple, and a new material they are using is not the reason for the price rise and is certainly not an excuse. Plastic is the best material.:zombie:

Plastic is highly uneconomical for smaller things like the models that you get in blister packs. Plastic requires large product runs before it is of benefit. that is why GW was still using pwewter, because they didnt have any suitable replacement. which they now do. the price rise is to cover the signifiant investment to get this resin and the processes working, and we should expect not too many or much smaller price rises for some time now that everything is established.

GW has also said in one of it's annual reports (yes I am a boring person who actually reads that sort of thing) that it is slowly going to remove itself from China and some other places due to transportation largy inflating their production costs.

 

[Abbysal]

As I said the new material is not the reason for the price rises, it's just greed/business. Plastic may not be the most economical of materials but it is still IMHO the best material to work with. They should get everything made in China and do it all in plastic. Cheap as anything to get it made here and it's not that expencive to get stuff sent over especially out of Shanghai where they are based. My wife sells Plastic pens here and I know that it's not exactely the same but really it is, it is easy as shit to do. GW like making money, it is a business, their price rises over the years have been ridiculous and they will continue to be ridiculous.

Why are Forge world Chaos Dwarves 36 pounds for 10?

 

[eastern barbarian]

Sorry. I was speaking from experience of the 5 games workshops that I have frequented, in different cities I have lived in across Europe and America.

hm... GW store I went into was charging 5 quid each time you wanted to use their paints and you could paint as much as you wanted. Perhaps its different from store to store, I don't know.

Mantic can make you cheaper miniatures yes, but how many employees do they have to pay? [/quote]

They also make MUCH MUCH more money than Mantic mate- employees work for you, you pay then, then you flog product of their work and make millions on it, thats how business works. and besides smaller companies usually can't afford a lot of cheaper solutions, getting bulk purchases of materials etc. - not mentioning that Mantic has to outsource production of their plastic to Renedra and still manage to sell it for half of GW price!

[/quote] And I say that whining is pointless only because there is no one listening. No one listening seems to me a good sign that they don't know what to say. They have got themselves to a stage where they don't know what to do.[/quote] I am really not sure I understood this one mate.. who is "they" you are referring to?

 

[Rochie]

Just on the subject of how GW treat their staff, as mentioned earlier I was employed by them, and aside from one senior member of staff, the management and the reps that the company sent over treated us like something on the sole of their shoe. Yes, we had a staff discount (and a cracking one too), but due to the amount we were paid it wasn't as easy as you think to take advantage of, and from what I've heard from current staff, the discount's been cut down too, now unless things have changed drastically in the last couple of months, that's the only real benefit of working there. We were, for a while, paid below the legal minimum wage, and only threats of legal intervention eventually got us the wage we were due. Also, and I can only speak for where I'm from on this one, employees who work on a Sunday or a Bank/Public Holiday etc, are entitled to a time and a half rate. We didn't get it, and that one was brought to court by a number of my colleagues acting independantly (they had kids to feed, only fair that they get paid the money they'd earned) The court ruled in favour of the lads, and they got their rate. And then over the next month they got fired one by one by ridiculously arbitary reasons, just enough to stave off unfair dismissal claims. I'm trying to avoid being defamatory for the sake of it, I will not disclose specific incidents or names of people involved, as all of this is now in the past (back when Lord of the Rings was still just a book) and most importantly I am not jumping on the "hate bandwagon", but I felt I had to comment on a subject that I have first hand experience with, just to give another side to the story. Thank you for reading.

 

[eastern barbarian]

Well, let me just put it this way- big corporations are notorious for total disregard for any workers rights, I bet GW staff never even heard about the unions But yeah, thanks for that Rochie, interesting, even if hardly surprising, read.
I love the hobby, love the Warhammer world and it just really, really makes me angry to see it turned into soulless, money making machine with complete absence of hobbyists.
I know people will disagree and thats your right, whatever makes you happy guys. I am not embarking on anti-GW crusade but to me GW has next to nothing to do with hobbythat I fell in love with and has a LOT to do with all the things I despise in life in general.

 

[Rochie]

For a barbarian, you make an excellent and reasoned argument!

 

[Sir_Jackonan_De_Orage]

here here i agree totally i shop from a hobby stockist and because of the price rises hardly any of their stuff is being sold and might have to discontinue having GW stuff .

 

[Azula]

Well I for one am getting out. Sadly, I have some unfinished business to attend to before I go. This is

1 Mannfred on Pony
5 Wraiths and Banshee (Reaper Miniatures)
20 Ghouls

Oh and about £2,200s worth of Dark Eldar *gasp* (inc 4 Revenants and 1 Phantom Titan converted)

I know I sound like a smoker when I say this, but I promise this is it then I'll quit

On a side note though a lot of people tend to treat leaving GW like a relationship break up, with the price hike being betrayal. Truth be told you can leave GW and be perfectly amicable. I don't wish them to fail, but I've hit an age now where I want to put money on more important things, like a new car, a holiday, a house.

 

[TMS]

On a side note though a lot of people tend to treat leaving GW like a relationship break up, with the price hike being betrayal. Truth be told you can leave GW and be perfectly amicable. I don't wish them to fail, but I've hit an age now where I want to put money on more important things...

Agreed. I feel that my investment in Games Workshop products have been giving me diminishing returns for my money over the last years, until at one point where I just didn't care for it anymore. I have a full army already, and the price for starting up any other project is prohibitive enough to not make me want to do it. So there it ends, with GW continuing to do their thing and me continuing to empty my wallet - just elsewhere.

That said, I really don't like the way Games Workshop is running their business. They're obviously able to keep the whole thing spinning but it just feels rotten to me. I'm kinda excited to see where it'll all end, though.

 

[Vespian]

Since I started GW tabletop gaming I bought Imperial Guard and Tyranid armies for 40k. I've purchased HE, Lizardmen, Brets, and Empire armies. All using exclusively GW models. When I started VC I moved to Kings of War models and Reaper model characters. I'm getting the Black Coach from GW as well as some Crypt Guard but that's it. Their prices are just ridiculous. I initially felt bad about buying non-GW as I won't be welcomed in as many tournaments but frankly I don't care. This is a hobby/game. If I get enjoy it for 1/2 to 1/3 the price I'm going to do it that way.

I still love the game and I appreciate what GW provides, but if I have to play $100.00 for a box of calvary. That's just beyond retarded. It is about the game, not the pieces.

 

[Bishop]

All of my stuff is 99.9% GW. I shudder at the thought of what this stuff would cost using today's pricing scheme!!

Even just the vehicles I have for some armies is enough to make some people a little quesy

 

[Cuzzy]

I think it is time for us to except the fact that this is indeed an expensive hobby. I am more of a painter so I don't really need a whole army, I just buy what I like. I'll probably buy less but I don't hate GW for it, they are just a business that want to do what's best for their stock owners.

 

[logan054]

Well, let me just put it this way- big corporations are notorious for total disregard for any workers rights

In my experience you are damned lucky if you can find a company that doesn't treat its staff the same way as GW, it's sadly very common because at the end of it you can be easily replaced.

The price rise is an annual event by GW usually happening in June, so nothing to worry about. Well, except the usual crying about how freaking expensive the things have gotten, which I have to agree on since it's really starting to cost me so much I can't afford much any longer.

It is a mere unfortunate situation that the price raise happened at the same time as the finecost release, which is really not a smart move by GW since people tend to think that they're robbing them because of switching to a cheaper material and still raise the prices. But the price raise happens nonetheless every year.

I think what has made it so much worse this year is all the other stuff that been going on with the price increase, I know I certainly feel like a company that is making move to save money certainly shouldn't be charging me a premium for it, you factor in all the miscast stories, the clamping down on rumours and basically reducing all the hype you can see why people get annoyed. It annoys me because every year I look at the prices and think WTF! I think these are actually some of the highest price rises I have seen for some time (being up to 25%), I see a lot of models I want to buy and paint but £15 for a character in terminator armour... my wood, someone at GW HQ has been sniffing the glue.

Very well put mate, to the issue of me changing rather than the company, I think my main beef is there's absolutely nothing given back to the consumer anymore, "back in the day", they had things like the Skullz incentive, where every 10 pounds spent was rewarded with a sticker. Collect X amount of stickers and redeem them for exclusive models/posters whatever. It was nothing special, but it felt like they were turning around and saying "look, cheers for your support, have this". Most large shops/companies offer incentives where money spent adds up to store credit, why can't GW do the same?

I actually miss the days of when I got into the hobby around 2nd ed 40k, I remember all the things like the skulls, calling the mail order trolls for a deal and generally feeling like they actually valued me as a customer, main problem I see with GW is they have forgotten why they managed to expand, it wasn't because they constantly rose the price, it was because they had a more friendly feel to them.

 

[eastern barbarian]

well, of course they do whats the best for stock owners, but then perhaps they should stop pretending they actually give a crap about hobbyists? Oh wait sorry, that would be bad for stock owners as well i guess
Thing is what is good for stock owners in long term doesn't have to be good for the company itself.
By raising prices they can create short term illusion of better sales (due to increased profits) but in long term it can be really, really bad for them. But by then all cash cow is milked dry, fat cats sell their shares and don't care that GW goes bankrupt or its in serious trouble because by then they moved on.

 

[Dogmar]

Very well put Logan, I totally share your position although I have not been into the hobby for as long as you have.

 

[logan054]

well, of course they do whats the best for stock owners, but then perhaps they should stop pretending they actually give a crap about hobbyists? Oh wait sorry, that would be bad for stock owners as well i guess
Thing is what is good for stock owners in long term doesn't have to be good for the company itself.
By raising prices they can create short term illusion of better sales (due to increased profits) but in long term it can be really, really bad for them. But by then all cash cow is milked dry, fat cats sell their shares and don't care that GW goes bankrupt or its in serious trouble because by then they moved on.

Yeah I see a lot of people talking about this online, I would have thought the shareholders would be interested in looking at the units sold rather than just the profit. Mind you you would have thought after the fat they cut from the company the shareholders might start to ask why the profits are not going up.

I like many people think the worst mistake GW made was going public, they have just become far to profit driven which I think has made the balance issues within the game 10 times worse (hi codex GK).

Very well put Logan, I totally share your position although I have not been into the hobby for as long as you have.

Well I think it could have been better written trust me its a good thing you haven't been in the hobby as long, you can't remember just how much cheaper it used to be. I don't know if you play 40k but I still miss 2nd ed, for me it was the best edition of 40k which I think beats 5th ed hands down. I have always said that 5th ed codex, 2nd ed rules and 5th ed vehicle rules would make for the best edition of 40k.

 

[Dogmar]

Very well put Logan, I totally share your position although I have not been into the hobby for as long as you have.

Well I think it could have been better written trust me its a good thing you haven't been in the hobby as long, you can't remember just how much cheaper it used to be. I don't know if you play 40k but I still miss 2nd ed, for me it was the best edition of 40k which I think beats 5th ed hands down. I have always said that 5th ed codex, 2nd ed rules and 5th ed vehicle rules would make for the best edition of 40k.

Oh well, since English is my 2nd language I can't really tell if it could have been better written. It was a good read that is.

I do play 40k, in fact I have recently started and it is sooo expensive. about 110EUR for a 500pts army and I got discount on my order!
I agree on the topic that GW is too much profit driven now as a company that works for shareholders. The stock principle is easy: make profit like crazy and then jump off the train at the right time and move on to the next. Eventually this could ruin the whole company but I hate being apocalyptic about everything - it will go on one way or another but I'm sure things will change in a way. I cannot tell what the rules / fluff / support was like "back then" but even for me being relatively young in the hobby (started with 6th ed WHFB) I feel the change of attitude in GWs HQ. I loved when there were lots of fluffy articles on building terrain, painting your minis and fluff on the website and the store was practically a different site of it's own. The models were way cheaper then and I think there were less OTT units than there are now. The game was complex and fun and required lots of skill and experience - I liked that. Right now it seems that everything is going the easy way. Hard hitting no brainer choices, simplified rules, some books with TERRIBLE fluff (I'm looking at you, Ward!), and the whole website / company policy turned into a giant "BUY ME!" sign. I think they could make profit with cheaper models and a more "friendly" in general attitude - if they were happy with the amount of profit they made and I am sure that is possible. But unfortunately it is not that way and this is reflected by their products. 8th ed WHFB nerfed cavalry and requires lots of monsters and big infantry units. Something most players didn't have or at least did not have enough -> more sells.

Oh well, rant over. I don't like the sit back and see attitude, but there's really not much else to do.