Interesting and possibly alarming stuff for those who purchase online:
http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/33314/asmodee-fantasy-flight-days-wonder-consolidate
FFG/Asmodee/Days of Wonder consolidation
This sounds like it will do more to bolster local Comic and Gaming shops, which may help better support tournament and casual gaming opportunities. I don't have a shop in my town and our local group relies on purchasing online for most releases. I typically buy something when I go to a tournament, but I will be interested to see how it affects the sites I purchase from.
It may put a bite on the online businesses that break expansions and sell cards an ships separately.
I think this is a push to maintain the brick and mortar business model, and I'm torn.
Disruption is a wonderfully terrifying thing, or a terrifyingly wonderful thing.
If MM/Amazon aren't getting me substantial discounts I will definitely slow the number of purchases made. I toss a couple purchases at my FLGS with every wave, but there's no way I'd have a Raider if I had to pay MSRP or even a slight discount.
I buy only from retail to support my local business, some would call it blind support, but they have granted me many hours of fun and I would rather support them than have a discount from a faceless corporation who may provide me with the items to game, but not the place in which to game.
I purchase some fraction of ships from as many sources as I can. Encouraging store sales is a very welcome step though.
I buy my Armada/X-wing stuff from MM (usually by preordering as soon as MM has it up) but I generally buy my GW stuff at my FLGS, so it works out. If there is a set of the T-70 and TIE/fo, I may grab them, when I go to the FLGS today though.
Oof- I hope (but doubt) I'll still be able to get some expansions for a great price online (MM, CSI) while still purchasing a few boxes from my FLGS as well.
The scrooge in me isn't happy but I can afford to pay retail. In my industry we cut off online vendors in a big way and while a lot of people on the internet made a big fuss it has been extremely good for our brick and mortar dealer base nationwide.
Those of you with great FLGS' will see the value of this. The rest of you will... whine.
I don't have an FLGS. I don't even have an LGS. I play at a gaming club and at my house. How can I even get the product now?
Those of you with great FLGS' will see the value of this. The rest of you (without FLGS) will... suffer.
Fixed that for ya.
The article said there were exceptions for companies with "exceptional scale" that sounds like to me the big online sellers will still be selling FFG's product. I hope so, because I've played more games of X-wing at Miniature Market than anywhere else.
I do hope MM continues to be able to offer X-Wing at the great prices we have all become accustomed to. I also hope the change I distributors helps make it easier for my FLGS to get new ships in a more timely fashion. I know that the exclusive coverage in their area has caused issues in the past. Time will tell how much this will impact my poor wallet.
If the good web discounts disappear I'll buy less & less often and wait for holiday sales. Or the next Star Wars movie release sales like a 1 or 2 FLGS here are doing as part of their holiday sales. Gone will be my days of 100 points of generic every-ship.
If the pricing online heads towards MSRP I'll just slow my purchases. I have a few FLGS, but I rarely play there or buy there. This isn't going to make me purchase from them more often either, it just means I will buy a lot less stuff or look for it second hand.
It's not that I can't afford it, it's that I think $15 for a small cheap plastic ship and some cardboard is too much.
Some relevant comments from one of the best LGS in the world:
It's not that I can't afford it, it's that I think $15 for a small cheap plastic ship and some cardboard is too much.
This seems really weird to me. One pays upwards of $10 for lunch at say qdoba which lasts for a few hours of fullness whereas $15 gets a ship made for hours and hours of fun and value. Different people are different I guess.
1. Never going to be mad at a kick to Alliance/Diamond's balls.
2. It is pretty clear who the exceptions will be.
Ugh. That doesn't sound good.
For those complaining that they do not have a Local Gaming Store, this move makes it significantly more likely that you might one day.
Some relevant comments from one of the best LGS in the world:
Yeah, there was a kid at one my stores who asked the store guy about wholesale. He just laughed and said he wouldn't tell him, because it would just make me angry. My accounting courses has really taught me the value of the markup stores put on stuff. I like to support my local stores, even though not all my purchases are there.
For those complaining that they do not have a Local Gaming Store, this move makes it significantly more likely that you might one day.
Yep. The stores in my local area that have folded over the last few years even as tabletop gaming has accelerated might still be around if more companies did this.
Though I don't have a LGS, I have a Hastings which carries X-Wing Stock. I'm nearly always willing to pay up to MSRP for product that is on the shelf and available, partly because I want others to see the game in the store and to eventually start up people in our area playing X-Wing on a regular basis. I have bought some product online, but only when my store did not have what I needed. Recently, they had a large inventory increase and I hope a lot of it is bought with Christmas money, because it hasn't flown off the shelf just because of the movie. I suspect there are others buying, but I still cannot prove it. At least I have new things I can buy if I get any cash for Christmas and heading into next year.
As most of the places I buy online have brick and mortar stores, I'm not too worried about picking up the extra things I need from them...
For those complaining that they do not have a Local Gaming Store, this move makes it significantly more likely that you might one day.
Yep. The stores in my local area that have folded over the last few years even as tabletop gaming has accelerated might still be around if more companies did this.
Might still be around if they provided services people saw as worth the extra money.