News of the Games Workshop “fan revolt” has hit Wall Street as the Reddit let boycott has led to a stock price tumble.
The investing world is abuzz with news about why the Games Workshop stock price has taken a dip as it has been one of the best performers on the market.
News of GW ‘Fan Revolt’ has Hit Wall Street
As you can see above in a small sampling of financial news sites, investors may be getting some jitters in regards to Games Workshop’s performance.
The UK Times had this to say in their article, which summaries the majority of the issue, but falls alittle short without a deeper look at GW’s product mix.
Britain’s largest manufacturer of miniature wargames and fantasy figurines has become embroiled in a running battle with some of its fans that has sent its share price tumbling.
Games Workshop has angered a section of its customers after clamping down on unauthorised websites dedicated to its Warhammer franchise, according to analysts at Jefferies, the US bank.
From this chart on Yahoo Finance, you can see the recent dip in their stocks. It’s also worth pointing out the backend as you can see the tremendous growth since 2019 alone.
This Is Money UK, dug a bit deeper in their reporting, saying the following:
This change has led to popular fan content creators ceasing their involvement (under pressure from Games Workshop), a lot of negative community feedback, a raft of downvotes to Warhammer video content, and, with other factors also rolled in (price increases, employee pay), calls to boycott the business.’
The impetus for the crackdown appeared to be Warhammer+, Games Workshop’s subscription service that provides access to exclusive Warhammer TV shows as well as figurines and apps unavailable elsewhere.
…while the current noise seemed to be from a ‘vocal minority’, they trimmed their target price for the group to 12,250p from 13,200p, saying they would be ‘keeping a close eye’ on the situation.
However, none of the articles we read seemed to touch on the other issues such, as FOMO, paywalls, etc, that hobbyists are experiencing at the register. These factors may also be a contributor to consumer confidence in Games Workshop overall.
Why Is This Happening Now & Games Workshop Boycott
As we stated before in our recent editorial Boycotts of brands really dont affect them financially, but they will bring greater awareness to the issues at hand. Boycotts can also potentially disrupt a company’s stock price (if it is traded publically) forcing them to address the issues for better or worse.
So in a way, the Reddit let boycott of Games Workshop is working… sort of.
Our view when it comes to Games Worskhop is that their recent pivot to offer less value to customers via early access paywalls, coupled with their Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) sales strategies could be disastrous if left unchecked.
Add in the rise of 3D printing, supply chain stressors, and all the Warhammer Plus missteps, and now Games Workshop may have no choice but to take a hard look at how they conduct business overall.
That’s not to say that Games Workshop is a terrible company- quite the opposite actually. GW has an unparalleled fanbase that consumes both its products and content ravenously. They also have some of the best miniatures in the world as no one even comes close at their design, manufacturing, and scale.
The problem is they seem to have “gotten high off their own supply” since the launch of 8th edition 40k with less and less value in a vast majority of offerings. In 2021 it seems consumers have taken a hard look at each new Warhammer product launch, as many have fallen short sales-wise this year.
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Starting with Pariah Nexus, Dominion, Kill Team Octarius, the Black Templars Army box, and now Kill Team Chalnath all have been a huge flop* from the stores we have polled.
But that’s not to say that hobbyists didn’t buy (or are waiting to buy) those products late. Remember these are released again in smaller separate and “reboxed” configurations months after their initial bundle and starter box forms.
Also, an issue is Warhammer Plus which has been a huge adoption problem for Games Workshop. Hobbyists may also have a lack of trust in the platform. This could stem from delays in availably of key offerings and the “Beta status” of the AoS and 40k Army builders. GW has even taken to re-writing the narrative with what exactly is included animation-wise, and what quantity or frequency they would be released.
Their recent passive-aggressive changes to their posted Intellectual Property policy seemed to be what sparked the open “fan revolt”, as one financial site called it, that still hammers GW’s new YouTube videos with downvotes.
So What’s Next:
Something that we need to say over and over again is that Games Workshop is a great company overall with an amazing IP, products, people, and resources at its disposal.
If things are going to change (in hobbyists’ eyes) then they may need addressing directly from GW. We imagine the CEO will have to address the current investor “uncertainty” shortly in their mid-year statement, and perhaps even the Games Workshop Boycott will garner a mention.
For GW to change, they would need to show hobbyists that they are more than just an open wallet. It is our belief that hobbies (any hobby in general) are expensive. That being said there is still a way to provide more value to consumers that Games Workshop has just gotten away from as their profits soared.
We also would like to think hobbyists would appreciate Games Workshop being more upfront with their product offerings, with less double-talk, or pass-aggressive actions that just look bad in general to the fan base.
Perhaps the biggest issue from our perspective is that any change they make now, may not see the light of day for 18-24 months as that seems to be the current development cycle of their products.
So it may be safe to say that to appease everyone, from hobbyists to investors, and perhaps even their stock price Games Workshop has their work cut out for them overall.
Games Workshop was great once, and we’re here for when they will be great again.
However, it may only happen when they actually start providing real value, and stop relying on incessant FOMO and Paywalls to milk hobbyists for every last dollar.
Here are more articles on the issues that Games Workshop is facing now as their stock has dipped and investors have taken notice:
- Everything You Need To Know About Warhammer Plus
- Games Workshop NDA Leak More Damaging Than Their IP Policy
- YouTubers Have Started Attacking Warhammer TV
- Boycotts Don’t Work, Do This Instead to Games Workshop
- Lookout YouTube, GW Just Updated Their IP Guidelines
- Where GW Fan Creativity Ends & IP Infringement Starts
Do you think Games Workshop should change? Do changes in the Games Workshop stock price matter to you as a hobbyist?
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*note the Beastsnagga Army box and Hexfire battlebox were sold out via pre-orders at all stores we polled because of low allocations by GW.
About the Author: Rob Baer
