Games Workshop just gave their competition a huge advantage that they can actually exploit right now via their customer list.
To recap, Games Workshop is doing Organized Play events again (which is awesome), and they put out a huge list of all the stores that will be involved.
This almost feels like an episode of the Office, the one where Michael and Dwight disguise themselves as potential customers to try to steal the client list of competitor Prince Paper. It ends up they are just given the entire list of Prince Paper’s clients to call to see how their service is.
Then, a few episodes later, you find out Prince Paper went out of business as they stole all their clients!
While Games Workshop probably won’t go out of business anytime soon, they did release a giant customer list for their most engaged stores and clubs to the world! The list is even complete with each store’s country, region, address, and, most importantly, phone number!
If you were a smart company out there, you could download this list and fill in the gaps on your client database on the dime of Games Workshop.
Games Workshop Customer List
If you want to see the full list of stores participating worldwide, you can check that out here.
Be aware, however, that there are a few issues with the list itself. First off, nothing is in alphabetical order, there are no links to the stores themselves, and in a way, this is almost like doxing these stores.
While it’s broken down by country, nothing is broken down by State or Province, so if you want to find a store nearby, you just need to read the whole thing.
Overall this is a kinda huge misstep, as Games Workshop could have easily just hyperlinked the store names in this PDF to their store finder or the stores’ actual websites. Instead, they have phone numbers and addresses all in a nice downloadable package for any of their competition to sort correctly and use!
From a player’s perspective, how often would you call the nearest store instead of just checking their site or going in if you had not been there before?
Did Games Workshop Just Give Their Competition a Huge Advantage?
We’ve said before that we really like the idea of Organized Play, but with how the list is set up and what info is on there, it feels more than anything like a free client list for other companies to cold call to see if they would want to carry their games or products.
A company could easily turn this into a spreadsheet and have thousands of potential clients.
Whereas if you’re looking at a store near you, you would have to go through thousands of randomized companies to find something near you… Very strange.
Generally, companies are very, very tight with their client list. Plus, this is one of the biggest client lists you could probably ever get for free in tabletop gaming.
Overall it seems like just another interesting look or potential odd move by Games Workshop!
Did you find it strange how the list is set up? Or did Games Workshop provide the customer list for thousands of their best online stores for free?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
