Games Workshop has prided themselves at being responsive to the community lately. But have they been responsive to the right things? Take a closer look.
Before we jump in, we have to say that Games Workshop is leading the way at bringing absolutely stunning models to the table. Their production of new models is fast and the creativity of the company is unprecedented.
However, there are still some things that the community has been asking for for a while with no response in sight, arguably because it won’t translate directly into sales.
Titanicus Upgrades
Like we said before, Games Workshop has been very vocal about listening to the needs of the community. However, of the two times, they have responded to us recently, it’s been in the mindset of increasing sales.
Yes I know someone immediately wants to comment, “business only responds to things that generate sales har har har”. However, why not make a fix that perhaps could both make the Warhammer hobby it better, and generate sales as well? That would really be something for Games Workshop to talk about then, wouldn’t it?
For example, when the Warlord Titan with the Power Claw and Plasma Annihilator was revealed for Titanicus, people were outraged that they were going to have to buy a completely new Warlord for $110. GW then came out and said that an upgrade sprue would be on the way (which as of this writing we still have no idea what the actual price will be).
Editor’s Note: the price has been revealed as $42 a number that we would like to point out seemingly resonantes with nerd culture, and is 34% the cost of a new kit itself.
GW could have seen a potential loss of sales as players didn’t feel like buying another Titan they already owned. Perhaps you could say Games Workshop reaped what profit they could from existing players, in the from the upgrade sprue, and new players will potentially but some of each Titan for their maniples.
But what about if, down the road, a new player wants to field their new Plasma titan with the Volcano cannons? There is no way to retrofit it with a Volcano cannon upgrade sprue as of right now.
Haarken’s Double FAQ
Haarken is the new named Raptor model for Chaos that is currently claiming Vigilus. When he was revealed, he had a rule that let all friendly Raptor units within 6″ of him reroll all failed hits. However, an FAQ dropped so that he would only be letting friendly Black Legion units within 6″ reroll hits.
GW might have seen that they limited themselves by only having this character buff Black Legion and instead, re-FAQ’d him 24 hours later to buff all Raptors once again. That way, he’s more appealing to a whole new audience of players, and thusly every Chaos player can justify buying him for his $35 single model price tag.
But what about the issues that don’t have a direct sales benefit tied to them? Let’s take a look at some suggestions players as well as us here at Spikey Bits have suggested over the same time period.
Bloating is Still an Issue That Needs to be Fixed
For a while now, we’ve been saying that 40k as a whole has become bloated. We’ll be the first to admit that 8th edition is much better than 7th and is way more streamlined. However, with all of the supplements out, it’s getting increasingly difficult to remember absolutely everything for the army and the amount of rules supplements required for play may be at or approaching an all-time high.
Let’s say someone wants to mix Crimson Fists with a Battalion of Imperial Guard.
In order to stay up-to-date on the most current rules, they’ll need:
- Codex: Adeptus Astartes
- Codex: Imperial Guard
- White Dwarf Issue (with Crimson Fists rules)
- Chapter Approved 2018(for points changes)
- Vigilus Book (for Formations)
- A copy of the FAQs involving both factions.
That’s six totally different material pieces with all but one costing some kind of money. While the rules may make it easy for a player to jump into the game, the supplements and resources are a maze to navigate for someone going in blind. 40k has almost become a college level class to play correctly.
Having a centralized spot to build and catalog armies and their rules (like an army builder program), and not having to pay for points changes (the bulk of chapter approved) would be a nice bonus as well.
Forge World’s Perceived Decline
We’ve been voicing (along with the rest of the community) how Forge World could be so much better than it is currently, and we’ve even suggested some changes. However, once again they may not spell out instant PROFIT for Games Workshop.
There was once a magical time when buying Forge World meant something. You could get a unit that not only looked cool but would benefit your army somehow. Nowadays it seems like FW units have been nerfed into redundancy, with no real reason to buy them on the tabletop, and no new rules in 1-1/2 years to speak off (besides a few BETA pdf downloads for new releases and things like Custodes).
Factor in the overnight stealth price increase on all their products of 20% or more back in August, and it really is hard to argue as to why sales on Forge World are down in their mid-year financials over half a million pounds.
Analog Magazines In a Digital Age
White Dwarf apparently has also been suffering in sales due to the digital age of everything.
After seemingly slashing the WD staff from this issue to last, GW decided to entice people to jump back into the magazine with faction rules. But was putting rules in the White Dwarf was the way to go? Creating new rules for the Crimson Fists (and future factions for 40k and AoS) could only add to the bloat of the games.
However, there’s still Exciting Ways To Make You Buy White Dwarf Again that would help with the bloating, and potentially get sales back on track.
Price Hikes
GW also announced they were raising prices on Start Collecting Sets, and their paints, while simultaneously discontinuing all their starter box bundles besides Wrath & Rapture. Now it appears that getting into the Warhammer hobby in 2019 is going to be even more difficult than ever.
At the end of the day, the tabletop hobby is stronger than ever overall. However on the Warhammer hobby side of that, we’re still dealing with the rules bloat and frenetic updates of Warhammer 40k 8th, reboxed releases with less and less savings for loyal hobbyists, and of course higher Forge World pricing and seemingly redundant rules.
Should GW be more responsive to these larger issues and not just ones they can fix just to sell us more things the fastest? What would you like to see them change that can make starting, or continuing the Warhammer hobby easier and more inviting in 2019?
Let us know what you think in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits In 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
Bio: Virginia restless, miniature painter & cat dad. He blames LEGOs for all this, as there was something about those little-colored blocks that started it all. Spikey Bits started with Rob trying to stay motivated to hobby on his backlog of projects and share his knowledge with others during the early blogging era.
Scale model hobbyist in the 80s, miniature wargamer, and trading card player ever since. He’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy since 5th Edition, but Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and minatures made of both pewter and resin.
