Everything is getting more expensive these days, but it is not because small businesses are greedy. It is because the buying power of the middle class is going down. The upper %1 are seeing an increase in buying power, so maybe GW is not so stupid after all? ;-)

I'm sure GW could actually subside on the upper 1% (of the hobbyists) alone, if they'd be immortal. But these very same people are rarely born rich; they enter the hobby with a fairly small amount of pocket money to spend, and GW has essentially set itself apart from these potential customers with its business decisions.

Yet when those kids "graduate" into adulthood and actually gain the cash they'd need to enter the GW world, why should they still do so? It's a missed chance; they will either have found another company that caters to their interest for less cash, or they may have found a different hobby entirely.

GW still holds a dominant position in the miniatures market (I think), but it no longer has a monopoly. By now, there are affordable alternatives, and it is GW's fault alone that those are having more and more success, because GW doesn't even try to challenge them. They're like "bah, you can have these pleb customers who only pay $2 for their minis, we still have the elite that pays us ten times as much" -- not realising that yesterday's "plebs" are the "elite" of tomorrow, and by then, GW's "elite" of today will have stopped gaming ... and buying.

It's really sad when you think about how it all started out, and how much potential was wasted on the way. I think it's the "big business" problem where idealistic small companies fueled by creative vision are, over time, turned into faceless corporations led by bean-counters with backgrounds in banking or amazon. It happened to a lot of studios.

I deeply hope that this increased inequality problem we have will be fixed, though that discussion is probably too off topic for this forum.

And too depressing. :/

It's like you have an airplane that is too heavy to fly, but the first thing the pilot throws out is the engine. Sure, now they'll glide a bit longer, but ultimately they've just prolonged the crash, and at the same time made it inevitable.

For example, who will actually be interested in those outsourced licenses in, say, ten years from now, if GW fails to recruit the next generation of potential gamers because they've overspecialised into catering only to the upper 1% who can afford to buy miniatures for $20 a piece just so they can paint them? Not to mention that those hobbyists are going to die out at some point, too.

It is not impossible that GW are heading for a crash. I can't predict the future. Gaming is a luxury product, which is one of the few categories for which a free market actually works.

Everything is getting more expensive these days, but it is not because small businesses are greedy. It is because the buying power of the middle class is going down. The upper %1 are seeing an increase in buying power, so maybe GW is not so stupid after all? ;-)

I deeply hope that this increased inequality problem we have will be fixed, though that discussion is probably too off topic for this forum.

I hope that systemic classism is resolved, in part due to its effect on my purchasing of toy soldiers.

Firstworldproblems.txt. ; )

It's like you have an airplane that is too heavy to fly, but the first thing the pilot throws out is the engine. Sure, now they'll glide a bit longer, but ultimately they've just prolonged the crash, and at the same time made it inevitable.

For example, who will actually be interested in those outsourced licenses in, say, ten years from now, if GW fails to recruit the next generation of potential gamers because they've overspecialised into catering only to the upper 1% who can afford to buy miniatures for $20 a piece just so they can paint them? Not to mention that those hobbyists are going to die out at some point, too.

It is not impossible that GW are heading for a crash. I can't predict the future. Gaming is a luxury product, which is one of the few categories for which a free market actually works.

Everything is getting more expensive these days, but it is not because small businesses are greedy. It is because the buying power of the middle class is going down. The upper %1 are seeing an increase in buying power, so maybe GW is not so stupid after all? ;-)

I deeply hope that this increased inequality problem we have will be fixed, though that discussion is probably too off topic for this forum.

I hope that systemic classism is resolved, in part due to its effect on my purchasing of toy soldiers.

Firstworldproblems.txt. ; )

Unrelated to GW and toy soldiers, but the notion of first world and third world problems may soon be a thing of the past, according to this guy:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06drxls

(link from article: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34312879)

A snippet for those who cant acquire a British IP:

There will always be a third world, in good part because it's in the first world's interest to keep them around for cheap labour (Apple, Nestlé), resource exploitation (blood diamonds anyone?), or buffer states (North Korea). Corporate and security interests supersede official political declarations here.

And whilst extreme poverty as defined by either the UN ("severe deprivation of basic human needs") or the World Bank (living on less than $1.25 per day) has indeed been on the decline, there will always be "simple" poverty, even in developed first world nations, but arguably more pronounced in the third world. What will change is that I believe several countries are in the long and arduous process of actually ascending out of this condition, but with the current world economy, I deem it very unlikely to be a possibility for all of them, regardless of the timeframe. With our markets, you will always have winners and losers.

Yes, I've become quite cynical about our situation. :/

On a sidenote, I think Mr. Rosling is also ignoring that life was "technically speaking" cheaper ~200 years ago, simply because there were less necessities you could spend your cash on even if you had it. A lot of people supplemented their daily needs with self-grown foods, education wasn't regarded as universally required as today, and there were less medical goods to prolong the lives of the sick or the elderly. Less pollution also meant fewer illnesses (except for those working in the manufactories during the Industrial Revolution), and the wars of today tend to leave more long-lasting consequences than back then, not to mention the utter lack of stability in certain regions.

So what if Farmer Mgambi earns a whopping $1,50 a day now? He still has to pay for his kids to go to school as well as his grandparents' prescriptions, and then there's the local militia that wants their "tax" to even let him travel to the market. And this is all assuming ISIS doesn't show up to steal his kids and burn down his crops.

The world still is not as nice as that video makes it sound like.

@lynata

If you're interested in reading about some of the issues faced by developing countries, id recommend "Kicking Away the Ladder." It's about how the economic recommendations of first word countries tend to be the opposite of those required for developing countries to progress.

Hmm, interested, yes .. but I have many interests, and little time.

It does sound as if it'd confirm my (non-professional) impressions, though! One just has to look towards Greece. I'd think anyone should understand that a national economy cannot function if your people don't have money to spend? So the recommendation to Greece's crisis is to make the people even poorer? Wtf. It's the same argument German politicians fielded against minimum wage, as if products would magically pay for themselves.

Short-sighted thinking only caring for the immediate future, but not long-term consequences. Perhaps the lack of responsibility is connected to the turnover rate. Or maybe just the "donations" to party coffers from various lobby groups. What really confuses me is that at least the corporations should have a vested interest in a population that can actually afford to consume their products, but I suppose our free market has resulted in some sort of universal siege, where companies are unwilling to invest into the populace because the people might not return everything to the company but actually choose to buy from a competitor. So the solution is to just milk them for all they've got (as much as PR permits, of course - you wouldn't want to voluntarily become the next Volkswagen Group).

So what if Farmer Mgambi earns a whopping $1,50 a day now? He still has to pay for his kids to go to school as well as his grandparents' prescriptions, and then there's the local militia that wants their "tax" to even let him travel to the market. And this is all assuming ISIS doesn't show up to steal his kids and burn down his crops.

-Don't forget that Monsanto bribed Mgambi's government to make use of their genetically engineered self-terminating seeds mandatory by law, so that an ever-increasing percentage of that $1.50 is being siphoned away...

$39.95 for one dude isn't gonna make it.

$99.95 for a mini-box won't either.

and its not like GW's rules are so good you'll walk by 3 other cheaper miniatures.

justto get theirs, no matter how pretty.

Yeah, I'm in an uncomfortable position: I love the 40Kverse, but I hate current GW . I've pretty much given up on the 40K tabletop game, shifting my 'toy soldiers' interest over to Warmachine (and Hordes ). If I get the itch to play Space Marines again, I'll just use an earlier edition (probably 4th). It would take something big to lure me back (maybe a new 'Mercenary Codex' made up of a variety of different xeno races, or a new Necromunda -style skirmish game with interesting new factions [possibly set on a 'steampunk'-style Feudal World...?]), and, based on what I've seen, I don't expect GW to do anything even remotely that interesting. So, what is there left for me, 40K-wise, outside of licensed stuff that GW isn't directly involved in?

I came late to the 40k party, but seeing the prices of all the things that GW produces and their reputation, I won't bother to even begin buying their miniature stuff. But yes, I do love the 40kverse as well, reading books and ofcourse this RPG. GW is shooting itself in the foot, long term.

[...] GW is shooting itself in the foot, long term.

Obligatory image:

[...]or a new Necromunda -style skirmish game with interesting new factions [possibly set on a 'steampunk'-style Feudal World...?]) [...]

Behold, Mordheim!

And I do mean the table top game, not the video game that's too video gamey.

I dropped out of 40k and into Fantasy. AoS got around and I play my Empire army with AoS. Frankly, I see to lack the embarrassment of playing with warscrolls, in the Empire's case they seem to have made them better!

Mordheim is the perfect fantasy mix of table top and RPG to me; 'pretty sure Necromunda is the same but making models are not as easy as with Mordheim.

I also got into Dropzone Commander. Resistance FTW! (but I still got the Shaltari starter to add diversity within the gaming club.)

I loved Mordheim when it came out, but by today's standard the rules are a trainwreck. It's not really worth playing today. There's a fan rules update called Coreheim that stays pretty true to the original rules, and a game called Frostgrave that I haven't played but I've heard is what you should play if you have fond memories of Mordheim,

The release of Mordheim and a few years afterward were my favorite era of GW . The company was clearly focused on pleasing their customer base; White Dwarf magazine (under the editorship of Paul 'Fat Bloke' Sawyer) had a fun 'conversational' tone and was loaded with 'value added' information about the Warhammer and 40K universes; their mailorder 'bitz' department was fantastic to order from (-and had their own magazine suggesting conversion projects!). Alas, we shall never see it's like again...

Hey folks—I've been ok with this thread existing to discuss things tangentially (at best) concerning Dark Heresy or 40k in general, but not for trash talking of companies (or people of course). There are plenty of other places on the net for this. Please refrain from this, or the thread will have to be shut down.

–Tim H

You didn't start this thread. You have no say in what's being discussed here.

Um, yes I do. I'm the forum moderator.

That's what you get Robin, for not posting a smiley to show sarcasm.

Um, yes I do. I'm the forum moderator.

Ok. My bad: I tought you guys all had FFG in your names.

In that case you're in the right. Your forum; your rules.

That's what you get Robin, for not posting a smiley to show sarcasm.

What is this "sarcasm" you speak of?

That's what you get Robin, for not posting a smiley to show sarcasm.

What is this "sarcasm" you speak of?

Eh nevermind. It's weird that you didn't realize Tim is a mod here, I just assumed it must have been sarcasm.

an if he's worried about the GW trashtalk in this thread, I wanna see what he thinks about the "Shark officially jumped" thread...

Also it's titled "Of topic garbage thread", where else are you'lld think it be perfect for trash talk.

That's what you get Robin, for not posting a smiley to show sarcasm.

What is this "sarcasm" you speak of?

Eh nevermind. It's weird that you didn't realize Tim is a mod here, I just assumed it must have been sarcasm.

No really, I never had to deal with any of the admins on this site. And most threads ive seen closed were done by -i forget his name- with that gandalf avatar. And his tile sais "member" i fugured if your amod it should say "mod" or "admin" or such.

I really tought he was just some guy complaining.

@Tim - the meanest thing I could find said about GW was that their prices are too high and that that is bad for their business in the long run. And that GW used to be cool back when X was a thing. The tone has mostly been of disappointment, rather than angry ranting. Overall pretty tame discussion, so I don't fully understand what prompted your warning.

Are these the things we're not allowed to discuss?

...

No really, I never had to deal with any of the admins on this site. And most threads ive seen closed were done by -i forget his name- with that gandalf avatar. And his tile sais "member" i fugured if your amod it should say "mod" or "admin" or such.

I really tought he was just some guy complaining.

FFGEvan