You will be shocked at how much the markup is now on Games Workshop Warhammer product pricing for customers!
We could all save a lot more hobby dollars and get more value out of the hobby if Games Workshop actually let us pay the right price…
Pricing in local currency, meanwhile, means you can easily work out how much anything costs without mucking about with a currency converter – as well as not having to worry about conversion fees for banks abroad.
We’ve talked about arbitrage before and how it essentially killed Horus Heresy once before through price hikes on Forge World in August of 2018. However, with the currencies between the United States and the UK drawing closer, we could be paying a lot less for our Warhammer hobby than any of us imagined.
Games Workshop could provide more value like all the other hobby companies that don’t arbitrage (mark up) conversion rates for their products’ prices and are just happy making profit points on processing transactions in local currencies.
Right now, hobby value can be hard to find at times, especially because US stores aren’t even allowed to discount the same as other countries, as GW has a knife to US retailers’ throats through their minimum advertised pricing policy or MAPP.
How Much the Mark Up is On Games Workshop Products Pricing Now
Games Workshop charges you for the right to pay for their pricing in your local currency, and sometimes, that privilege costs a lot! We understand they have costs and need to make a profit, but that math really doesn’t seem to add up for the pricing of almost anything anymore.
If you want to focus on Horus Heresy, we talked about that before, but today, we’re going to focus on Warhammer 40k because this is just egregious.
Let’s start with the most recent army box. It retailed in the USA for $200 and in the UK for £120
£120 to USD in 2022: $135.82
Current Total Arbitrage Profit: $64.18
£120 to USD 5-year average conversion rate: $159.60
5-Year Arbitrage Average Profit: $40
As you can see, this is quite crazy… If you were allowed to purchase this item by converting our US Dollars to Great Britan Pounds, you would save a whopping $64.18! This is nearly a 50% price increase ($135 increasing by $64) in arbitrage currently, and again we understand they have to make a profit, but this is just wild.
Even at the 5-year currency exchange average, it would still be a 25% increase. At this point, it would be cheaper to ship the item yourself from the UK for this price. Oh, but GW forbids UK retailers from selling to anyone outside of the UK, same with the US, Europe, etc…
However, a random person could still just buy product off the shelf in the UK and then sell it to someone in the USA at a whopping 50% markup.
Let’s look at the pricing of a typical codex book.
The Daemons codex sells for $55 in the USA and £32.50.
£32.50 to USD in 2022: $36.80
Total Arbitrage Profit: $18.20
£32.50 to USD 5-year average covresion: $43.23
5-Year Arbitrage Average profit: $12.57
Again, we’re at about a 50% increase in price. As you can see, the “convenience” of paying in your own currency surely has its price!
Here’s another sales staple, a combat patrol box:
Combat Patrols run for $150 in the USA and £90.
£90 to USD: $101.83
Total arbitrage: $48.17
£90 to USD 5-year average: $119.70
5-Year Arbitrage Average: $30.30
Oh, look, almost a 50% price increase above what the actual price should be… And about 30% over the last five years.
How about the basic Primaris Space Marines squad? Currently, it sells for $60 in the USA and £36 in the UK.
£36 to USD: $40.73
Total arbitrage: $19.27
£36 to USD 5-year average: $47.88
5-Year Arbitrage Average: $12.12
Well, you get it at this point. In 2022, the amount Games Workshop now charges in currency arbitrage rates is more than slightly ridiculous. Not only that, but this is also propping up their financial numbers exorbitantly (none of which we read about in their latest end-of-year report) because the US market is over 50% of their sales volume.
Sure the GBP is very weak versus the USD currently, but GW is very much using that to its advantage in order to maintain its current quarter sales above all else business strategy. Ultimately, consumers are stuck with higher prices to pay for GWs bloated overhead costs to maintain the infrastructure it refuses to streamline to make the company lean and agile in a turbulent post-Covid marketplace.
Games Workshop was great once, and we’re here for when they will be great again.
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What do you think about the mark up and currency arbitrage prices and rates from Games Workshop?
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About the Author: Rob Baer
