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.
- What the Community Thinks About the New 40k Rules Updates
- Is Warhammer+ Plus Worth It: Everything You Need To Know
- Games Workshop NDA Leak More Damaging Than Their IP Policy
- YouTubers Have Started Attacking Warhammer TV
- News of the GW ‘Fan Revolt’ has Hit Wall Street
- 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
- How Much Money Games Workshop Marks Up Their Products Now
- Warhammer Plus Is Why Games Workshop Stock is Dropping
What do you think about the mark up and currency arbitrage prices and rates from Games Workshop?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, or our new Discord server, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
Get ad-free access to our hobby videos, a monthly drop of miniatures, and support some of the best creators out there for as little as $6 a month on Patreon!
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.
