Here are 7 ways Games Workshop can be great again in 2021 and win back everyone from the last five months that have the feel-badsies now.
While there may be a week’s worth of super engaging previews coming next week, let’s not forget how over the last 5 months Games Workshop has really shown their true business colors and crippled the hobby themselves with their actions since January.
Only time and their year-end statement this June will tell if their actions have impacted their bottom line, or if the heinous lack of value in their products hasn’t affected anything, and this is the new norm release-wise from them.
7 Dumb Ways Games Workshop Can Be Great Again
We know this is a wish list, but there is just so much GW could do to actually build value for their customers, to get them to actually trust them again. Not only new players but for all of us current hobbyists, there just needs to be more actual value with releases!
With the prices of everything always rising, there are a few ways GW could keep people engaged for longer and actually want to build more armies. However, it seems like as of late players started with one army, and then just try to keep up with what’s happening for just their one faction.
It shouldn’t be that way, it didn’t use to be that way, and in an age of 3d printing, it’s hard to justify GW business practices when it’s so easy to get a substitute for their product from so many other sources.
What We Would Like to See From GW Moving Forward
The main theme throughout is going to be value for the players. So if you hate getting more bang for your buck, but love paywalls and scalpers, then this isn’t the list for you! Seriously though, none of these would really hurt their bottom line and would just make players feel that much better about spending their hard-earned cash on minis.
At the end of the day, it’s all about value. If a release has value to YOU- then buy it. If it doesn’t, we all know by now it will be released in one of many similar formats from GW again. But at the same time most of the items stuck behind paywalls – miniatures wise can be purchased from 3rd party sellers who all seem to have great alternative offerings all the time.
Transparency on Releases
This has to make the list because of the recent debacle that Cursed City was. We’ve covered it more here, but originally they said, multiple times mind you, that this would come back as a regular release. So a ton of people weren’t too worried about getting in on the pre-order (even though is sold out in minutes), then days later, GW just said it’s gone for good.
So people who didn’t get the pre-order now have no choice but to go to the secondary market, and it’s already going for $400 there, (but has settled to under $300 currently). Just tell us what’s actually going to be limited and what’s not. This isn’t the only release it’s happened on, and we are just confused why they do this- as perhaps they were.
Clarify Product Descriptors
There are three different graphics that GW uses for sold-out kits, but they never seem to use the same ones. It gets especially confusing with all the new box sets that are limited. Because sometimes GW says they are coming back, and other times they aren’t, but then the graphics don’t really give much indication of what it is. If you go by the graphics above, that means Talos and Scourges are never coming back online. Why?
Because they have the exact same graphic as Piety & Pain, which was a limited release! If you are just reboxing, please don’t put the graphic that says no longer available. If you’ve been playing for a while now, you know the drill, but for a newer player, it’s very confusing. Or we could be totally wrong and they’re actually gone for good.
Stop Split Releasing Books
They need to actually build some value into the rules and books. They have basically split release every book for some time now. With things like PA, Broken Realms, and Charadon. Not to mention Space Marines, Sisters, and Lumineth. All of them (with the Sister’s book on the horizon) have had multiple full book releases within a year.
That means when you buy a book, you really have no idea if the rules will be viable come just a year later. It creates insane rule creep and is just kind of annoying to spend $50-$60 on a book every few months. Now, it could get really bad for AoS, because a new version looks to be coming soon, and if Lumineth gets another book near the beginning, that means they could have three books in under 2 years.
No More Rules Paywalls in Expansion Books
4 pages of rules for your army, that’s about what you get for $60… While there are missions and such in there, it’s not worth it. For tiny rules updates, you shouldn’t have to spend as much as a new unit costs. There needs to be some value in the codexes you buy. For both Dark Eldar and Death Guard, you had to spend $110 on just rules in under two months…
We’ve talked about it before, but if they just put these out for free, people would be more willing to actually spend more on the minis that got updates. Instead, you have to spend your hobby dollars on tiny updates. It’s just really frustrating to have a paywall of $60 every so often.
Figure Release Paywalls
When you’ve already waited months and months for minis, then you see something like this. Oh, for five dudes you have to spend $160. While you get other stuff in there, if you were a Marine player, you didn’t really want it all. They say the kits will be coming out by themselves, but that’s still months off. Meaning you have to just keep waiting longer and longer.
Your other option is to hit the secondary market, which means you’re paying way more than you should. This was panned so hard by the community, GW should have seen the backlash coming and released them on their own. For a character like the Palatine, it’s not a huge deal because the new book isn’t even out yet. But when you’ve hyped up minis for months, then hide them behind a paywall, it really sucks.
Paying for Points Updates
When you’ve already bought a codex or battletome, you’ve already paid for the points. Why should you have to pay for them again? Well, we really shouldn’t, because again, this just gives the books very little actual value.
It’s fine when something like the GT book came out because that actually has a ton of value in it. But just paying for nothing other than points values updates (that we already paid for once) gives you no value.
What would you want to see from GW as they get going again? What do you think of these 7 Ways Games Workshop Can Be Great Again?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, 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 models made of both pewter and resin.
