First Indomitus now Dominion, some thoughts on Games Workshop, FOMO, and how it may pertain to your wallet and your local games store.
Remember the Queue from last year when GW re-opened their webstore after locking down the first time? Well, it is back, and it looks designed to give the maximum number of hobbyists the chance to get the limited edition items they want, while simultaneously thwarting scalpers.
And it appears it worked, OR perhaps GW did what a lot of people suspect they did and took back the allocations they promised to stores earlier in the week and sold them on their own webstore to make the extra 55% markup. (or both)?
Here’s why that may be the case. I logged on to their (very slow) website over 2 hours after Dominion went live, and even after limiting copies at two per order, guess what?
They still had plenty to order…
So it’s possible a lot of people voted with their hobby dollars and bought from their local stores. Or perhaps GW actually produced way more copies than anyone suspected, and there actually was no “shipping delay” like GW trade sales told their accounts here in the states.
Either of which could leave GW with a larger than normal supply leftover in their US store even two hours after release…
Let’s take a look at their allocation announcement and our thoughts on all of this below:
Games Workshop Screws Everyone again with their FOMO
These aren’t exact numbers, but GW is cutting every store’s (in the USA at least) order in half. They said that a shipment got delayed, meaning they can only give every store 50% stock right away. Then in a “couple” of weeks, they will receive the second half of the shipment.
GW’s Statment Provided by retailers to Spikey Bits:
- You will be receiving 15 copies of the Dominion box for the July 3rd launch
- The remaining launch copies (to bring your total up to what you pre-ordered for launch) will arrive no later than August 7th
- Any copies in excess of the launch pre-order (more than thirty) will arrive by the end of the year
This really sucks for stores, because if they planned on 30, now they get 15. This is very similar to what happened with Indomitus, where something unknown happened, and at the last second, supplies were cut.
Right up front, this doesn’t sound like the worse thing in the world. But, in our opinion, this is a way for GW to build false hype and perceived scarcity.
Meaning you could make the case that GW wants people to go onto the webstore and buy it there. If people start thinking they have better chances of getting something directly from the webstore, than from their local store, this will start pushing more and more customers away from local stores- which creates higher profits for Games Workshop.
Even though stores are getting the second half in a little while, for those that don’t want to wait, this greatly reduces their revenues in an already difficult time.
Did GW just realize that it had fewer Dominion box sets sitting in their warehouse all of sudden? Probably not? That seems like it would be just ludicrous from a business perspective.
Are stocks still stuck in port? Anything is possible sure, but why start the whole pre-order process machine, all these weeks of preview coverage if you didn’t have the product in the warehouse ready to ship (most likely slightly early due to the volumes were talking) to stores?
It’s just crazy to even think they just realized they didn’t have the stock in hand.
Again, in our opinion, it feels like they called the stores up, gauged interest, and then decided they could make more money by just cutting the supplies for the stores and will make more profit on the direct orders.
GW could be using FOMO (or the Feat of Missing Out) as a tactic, so with stores getting less, people feel like they have no choice but to buy it on the webstore. Especially with a 10 minute queue, it will feel like you have no choice but to sit around and wait on the webstore.
Update Sunday 12:44 PM EST:
It was rumored that GW had 30,000 Indomitus in July of 2020 to sell in their webstore. Now we know that was probably true, and it’s possible that Games Workshop actually thought they could sell as many of an AoS starter as a 40k one by creating all this false hype around the launch.
Now it appears it’s possible that they are stuck with a lot of stock that is still up for sale here in the US nearly one full day after pre-orders went live
Also IIRC I’ve never seen them put out a last chance to buy email within 24 hours either for a “limited product” (email June 20th 10:02 AM EST)
Vote With Your Hobby Dollars
If your store made it through the tough times of COVID, please support them! We’re all busy people, so the chances of you fully building and painting everything in a week or two is probably low, if we’re being honest with ourselves.
Show your support and keep local stores going, with them getting another big restock, you should be able to score the box on the restock. Meaning you’ll still get your minis and your store can hopefully continue on in these difficult times.
Or of course, if you have no local store, or dislike them, or maybe just like order from GW for the reliability and freebies, then by all means by order direct from GW.
Are you going to pre-order the new AoS Dominion box- perhaps split one with a friend?
Ways to Buy Warhammer Kits When GW is Sold Out
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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.
