The war on local game stores continues as major manufacturers raise costs, make ordering harder, allocate products and directly compete.
We love local game stores, they are more than just a place to play or buy minis. Local stores can be so much more than that, they really keep the hobbies we love going. They can be like a lounge and space where we gamers can do what we love (aka a bar for nerds). Unfortunately, it’s not just Games Workshop that has been making their lives harder with allocations, price increases, and delays- it’s pretty much every one of the larger games manufacturers.
This isn’t to just bash games companies, we want to raise awareness to help keep local stores thriving. With how hard COVID was on stores, the last thing they need is game companies also enacting negative policies.
The War on Gaming Stores Continues (not just from GW Either)
Since we’ve covered allocations and such pretty extensively from GW, we won’t be talking about much, but allocations and sell-outs are/were the norm for most of the last 6 to 8 months. If you want to see more of what the most recent allocations look like, you can check that out here.
Now to be fair they just promised every hobbyist that wants to order a copy of Kill Team will be able to, as well as have the queue on their site to help everyone get what they need.
But some Warhammer hobbyists’ opinions of GW may be worse than ever depending on who you ask. It’s a very touchy situation for sure, and hopefully, something that Games Workshop can work a bit harder on to win back those hearts and minds.
Asmodee Making Things Harder
In the span of just a few months, Asmodee lowered their margins by 5%, costing stores more, while keeping retail prices the same, which effectively dropped most stores below a 1:1 cost differential.
Then, on top of that, they actually got rid of transaction fees on their end and put it all on the stores. This can easily be up to an extra 2.5% per order, meaning in the last few months, they have eaten into store profits by basically 7.5 points cumulatively.
Asmodee will still take credit cards for payment if stores paid the new fee, or they are free to do a bank transfer or send in an E-check- all of which can have fees (and delays) for the stores.
While that may not seem crazy, cutting 7.5%-ish out of your profit immediately for a store is a tough proposition in an already difficult time.
Not to mention they also banned their retailers from selling products on Amazon while posting their products on there at sometimes deeper discounts than they allow stores to advertise.
Speaking of selling online…
Wizards Selling Sealed Product on Amazon
If you look at the prices for sealed Magic products on Amazon, in a lot of cases they are very close to the actual costs for the very same product(s) that stores buy to sell. Meaning there’s almost no point for stores to dedicate times space and effort to Magic the gathering if their players buy online.
While people who love their local store may still buy packs there, it’s hard to deny saving money. Worse, if a store were to match the prices from Amazon, it just wouldn’t be worth the effort at all.
Another challenging situation by a perceivably greedy company that looks to only be focused on current quarter profits above all else.
Big Box Stores Cutting Prices
Again, this comes down to the fact local stores can’t match the prices. Big box stores are selling D&D books for basically 50% off, which is more or less the discount stores receive, meaning their profit margin would be zero.
Just for example, the Player’s Handbook sells for $50 normally, whereas at a big box store and Amazon they sell them for $25-30. If we owned a store, it almost wouldn’t even be worth it to carry the books. From a player’s perspective, we also can’t blame them for saving that much cash.
It’s the fact they allow them to sell so low (sometimes this is Wizards themselves self-competing against stores) that is really hard for local stores to deal with.
These are just two major examples of what is going on behind the scene at your local game store. So as the war on gaming stores continues, always vote with your hobby dollars, but perhaps keep in mind the plight of local stores as much as possible!
Do you think manufacturers are at war with local gaming stores? Have you seen this happening to your local store?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
