Games Day Past, Present & Future

I was at every US Games Day held in Maryland starting with the first US Games Day ever back in 1993.

So I can tell you that Games Day events of the past few years are quite a different thing than they were several years ago. A recent article on Pins Of War stirred old memories and longing for what Games Day used to be and ideas I’ve had about how the event began to change starting around 2009 also sprang to the forefront as a result.

Games Day used to be my favorite day. I looked forward to it all year and for many years each Games Day event was more exciting than the last. I couldn’t wait to get there on the day and was always a bit sad to leave knowing I’d have to wait a full year to attend once again. The first US Games Day event in 1993 was small with about 700 attendees and John Blanche as the studio guest. It was incredible for the time and Games Day only got to be more exciting and more fun nearly every year thereafter. That is until about 2009.

My ticket from the first US Games Day, a small event that was so much fun!

Games Workshop noticeably and significantly slashed the budget for Games Day starting with the 2009 event and has been ripping the guts out of the event ever since. I’ve been saying for a few years now that it’s become just a place that you pay admission to buy their merchandise. Previews of any kind are limited to just Forge World and Black Library, no previews or seminars from the parent company and main product GW line as they used do. Evidence of cuts to resources for the event are evident everywhere one looks. Photos from Games Days around the world used to show massive displays, fabulous scenic game tables, amazing costumes, huge banners and thousands of people having fun. Over the past few years just about all one sees in photos from Games Days are people queued up to buy merchandise.

Since 2010 the only US/North American Games Day has been held first in Chicago and now Memphis and attendance has been way down from when they held it in Maryland, so their solution this year for Games Day US 2013 in Memphis was to sell only 1,000 tickets and raise the price to $50. In spite of the ticket price this small limited amount of tickets did sell out as they hoped. They raised the price of the Games Day model to $30 and produced it in low numbers compared to years past.

THQ’s Space Marine video game promotion.

Years ago Games Day was so amazing it was like entering the actual fantasy realms of Warhammer. The entry area to the hall was festooned with banners made by employees at GW stores all over the country. When you walked into the hall some years one walked between a row of Space Marine statues lined up. There were dozens of fabulous scenic game tables each one more spectacular than the next and attendees could play in games run by GW employees on those tables. There was a tournament at one end of the hall and open gaming in other areas. GW studio guests gave seminars on upcoming Games Workshop products and there were plenty of cool GW product previews. There was a costume contest and other fan activities for young and old. It was so exciting just to be there and be part of the whole thing with other devoted fans. There were so many activities it was impossible to attend them all.

For the first few years the only US Games Day was in Maryland, but as Games Day and the Games Workshop hobby grew in North America over the years they added more events around the US and Canada. These events grew huge and spectacular.

Dark Angels Vs. Tyranids, GD 2010. I painted the drop pods for this display.

These days Games Day seems to be just a paid queue to buy product and except for the Games Day model and T-shirt one can buy all the product elsewhere without paying admission to do so. They didn’t even preview the Games Day model or T-shirt this year, something they always used to do because that was a draw for people to attend. By limiting attendance severely they don’t want or need to do that any longer.

Games Day is a pale shadow of its former self. It used to be a celebration of everything GW. It was one big party for the customers and fans of their products and GW employees seemed excited to be there as well. Now it’s just a store with paid admission. GW’s current “nothing is free to customers” and everything we do must show a certain profit margin mentality means that Games Day planning has lost its way and the whole purpose of the event has been altered to where it has become a totally different thing than it was just a few years ago. From hobby celebration and promotion to crowded store with paid admission in just a few short years.

A spectacular Imperial fortress display.

I haven’t been to Games Day since it moved out of Maryland, so my 18 years of consecutive attendance came to an end after 2010. The last two events I attended were definitely starting to show signs of strain and were not at all like Games Days before those. Games Day 2010 was much better than 2009 as GW canceled all other North American Games Days that year and did put a bit more money into the event than the previous year, but there was still not all that much to do compared to years earlier. There were a few cool displays and little else. Much of the work on the display tables was done by local customers, myself included, some of whom were ex-GW employees, because GW had laid off so much staff the one person in charge of the work couldn’t possibly have done it all by himself.

I don’t see much point in attending at all any longer, especially since I’d have to travel out of state several hundred miles to go there. It’s just not worth the expense when there’s nothing new there to see or do like there used to be at past Games Day events. It’s such a shame to see what’s become of what used to be one of the most fun things I once looked forward to every year.

Nazgul circle the sky in this Lord Of The Rings display.

No matter how great Games Day US used to be the one in the UK was always the best based on pictures and reports coming out of it. This year UK Games Day didn’t have any gaming at all! A Games Day literally with no games of any kind being played: no demos, no open games, nothing. Once they’ve gutted UK Games Day to nothing you know the event is seriously lacking. Sadly it’s not really much fun at all any longer anywhere, not even in GW’s home country. And therein lies the problem, the lack of fun.

I have been in the Games Workshop hobby for nearly 25 years now. I still love their products and working on Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 models is still for me the most fun hobby I’ve ever had. I appreciate how GW has grown over the years and the level of the new plastic products and books they produce is amazing. I just wish they’d remember that what ultimately sells their products is FUN. People buy models, paint, books and everything else they get from GW because it provides them with fun. I hope they wake up from their current profit-driven coma and remember that when planning future Games Day events.