I'm kind of impressed FFG lets us have this discussion on their own forum, come to think of it. Plenty of companies wouldn't hesitate to delete threads, ban users or remove this whole section of the website in the face of any sort of criticism.

That's because there is near zero moderation.

Yeah, there really isn't any moderation here. Also, censoring the discussion about their new policy of price discrimination certainly wouldn't earn them any goodwill.

I don't see anything wrong with alienating a handful of tantrum throwers if it removes this 25 page eyesore from the main page. Would anyone else really care?

They are raising prices on their customers (us) and engaging in price discrimination against many of our favorite game stores. They are also being dishonest about their reasoning for these changes. I'm upset about it, and it appears that I'm not alone. Sure there are some unreasonable people in here, but what 25 page / 500 post thread doesn't?

All points repeatedly shown to be moot, so all we're really left with are some indignant holdouts. Again, I'm not sure what the value is in keeping up 'goodwill' with people who are cranky about paying an extra dollar for toy space ships.

I'm kind of impressed FFG lets us have this discussion on their own forum, come to think of it. Plenty of companies wouldn't hesitate to delete threads, ban users or remove this whole section of the website in the face of any sort of criticism.

That's because there is near zero moderation.

Yeah, there really isn't any moderation here. Also, censoring the discussion about their new policy of price discrimination certainly wouldn't earn them any goodwill.

I don't see anything wrong with alienating a handful of tantrum throwers if it removes this 25 page eyesore from the main page. Would anyone else really care?

They are raising prices on their customers (us) and engaging in price discrimination against many of our favorite game stores. They are also being dishonest about their reasoning for these changes. I'm upset about it, and it appears that I'm not alone. Sure there are some unreasonable people in here, but what 25 page / 500 post thread doesn't?

All points repeatedly shown to be moot, so all we're really left with are some indignant holdouts. Again, I'm not sure what the value is in keeping up 'goodwill' with people who are cranky about paying an extra dollar for toy space ships.

The forums are fairly unmoderated and your presence here is proof of that. Don't take that the wrong way as a slight at you in any way, but you are incendiary and have a way of using language that is often demeaning and insulting. If they moderated this forum beyond avoiding legal hassles, you would have been banned long ago.

I'm kind of impressed FFG lets us have this discussion on their own forum, come to think of it. Plenty of companies wouldn't hesitate to delete threads, ban users or remove this whole section of the website in the face of any sort of criticism.

That's because there is near zero moderation.

Yeah, there really isn't any moderation here. Also, censoring the discussion about their new policy of price discrimination certainly wouldn't earn them any goodwill.

I don't see anything wrong with alienating a handful of tantrum throwers if it removes this 25 page eyesore from the main page. Would anyone else really care?

They are raising prices on their customers (us) and engaging in price discrimination against many of our favorite game stores. They are also being dishonest about their reasoning for these changes. I'm upset about it, and it appears that I'm not alone. Sure there are some unreasonable people in here, but what 25 page / 500 post thread doesn't?

How are they being dishonest? How do you know they are being dishonest? Please include any evidence you have to support your claims.

First off an LGS: Do they a sell board games, card games, miniature games, modeling supplies, paints, and provide a space to play? Are local to you? Are they friendly?

This is where I think a lot of people are missing a huge point because I have seen a lot of LGS in my day that do not supply space to play at all. Local Game Store 3 criteria they need in order to be that they have to be local, they have to sell games and they have to be a store. Friendly is one of the things that we would all like in almost any store that we walk into, playing games should be another thing that we look forward to as well. However I have been into many game stores in my life due to traveling for work and living in such a small population area that I need to leave my city to get to game stores. We had a store in a mall the next city over that sold board games never carried x-wing because they said star wars merch was too hit or miss so the didn't carry anything with that on the box. They were always around 40% over MSRP and had zero tables set up in the store to play games not even Magic which they sold there. There is a comic store two cities over that has a lot of gaming tables because of magic but they don't sell X-wing so I cannot buy or play there. Another comic store that has X-wing but no tables they also sell magic but their ships are very scarce and costly small ships are 21.99 each was there 2 days ago and looked at them. Then I have what people on here would consider a legit LGS. I don't go into this store anymore because his prices are through the roof, he lies to his customers and steals prize support to sell it. He hasn't updated anything in over 15 years and gives preferential treatment to certain games even on specific game nights.

So those are my options around me so instead of that I invite my brother and a couple friends over to my place where I could easily fit 8 X-wing tables in my rec room and if need be another 10-12 in the room behind it. I have comfortable furniture, a television with cable and cheap refreshments and fridges for people to store stuff if they bring their own. I also buy online because I do not play in tournaments the closest one I could participate in would be about a 2 hour + drive away so I buy stuff when I want it. Now I don't save 1 or 2 dollars a ship I save roughly 5 dollars a ship when the Canadian and US dollar aren't too far apart and when I put in a full order and not an impulse buy I have saved upwards of 350 dollars an order. If FFG were to increase their prices to certain online retailers and with the Canadian dollar being at where it is right now compared to the US I would more then likely stop buying altogether FFG products that is I would still buy the other games I play. I will not pay 40% over MSRP for a product and I will not support a game store that needs to close its doors. I would however buy from one of those glorious game stores you are all talking about that sell for MSRP or 10% less in a heartbeat but alas I do not have access to it.

A side note we also had one of the biggest Canadian online Games Workshop supporters in the neighboring city MiniWargaming if any of you have heard of them and they closed their doors to the public as well and I will tell you it wasn't because of lack of support I was there 3 times a week and I easily spent 200 a month there and I wasn't alone. They closed because they needed to adapt and they did so just in a different direction.

I'm kind of impressed FFG lets us have this discussion on their own forum, come to think of it. Plenty of companies wouldn't hesitate to delete threads, ban users or remove this whole section of the website in the face of any sort of criticism.

That's because there is near zero moderation.

Yeah, there really isn't any moderation here. Also, censoring the discussion about their new policy of price discrimination certainly wouldn't earn them any goodwill.

I don't see anything wrong with alienating a handful of tantrum throwers if it removes this 25 page eyesore from the main page. Would anyone else really care?

They are raising prices on their customers (us) and engaging in price discrimination against many of our favorite game stores. They are also being dishonest about their reasoning for these changes. I'm upset about it, and it appears that I'm not alone. Sure there are some unreasonable people in here, but what 25 page / 500 post thread doesn't?

All points repeatedly shown to be moot, so all we're really left with are some indignant holdouts. Again, I'm not sure what the value is in keeping up 'goodwill' with people who are cranky about paying an extra dollar for toy space ships.

The forums are fairly unmoderated and your presence here is proof of that. Don't take that the wrong way as a slight at you in any way, but you are incendiary and have a way of using language that is often demeaning and insulting. If they moderated this forum beyond avoiding legal hassles, you would have been banned long ago.

One might say that my lack of banning has more to do with how carefully I'm able to craft my points, regardless of whatever insults you may be able to infer from them. There are certainly others who are far more rude than I am.

Oh, and I've had chats with the mods. They're only as invested in this forum as we make them.

I'm kind of impressed FFG lets us have this discussion on their own forum, come to think of it. Plenty of companies wouldn't hesitate to delete threads, ban users or remove this whole section of the website in the face of any sort of criticism.

That's because there is near zero moderation.

Yeah, there really isn't any moderation here. Also, censoring the discussion about their new policy of price discrimination certainly wouldn't earn them any goodwill.

I don't see anything wrong with alienating a handful of tantrum throwers if it removes this 25 page eyesore from the main page. Would anyone else really care?

They are raising prices on their customers (us) and engaging in price discrimination against many of our favorite game stores. They are also being dishonest about their reasoning for these changes. I'm upset about it, and it appears that I'm not alone. Sure there are some unreasonable people in here, but what 25 page / 500 post thread doesn't?

How are they being dishonest? How do you know they are being dishonest? Please include any evidence you have to support your claims.

Their excuse is to help out brick and mortar game stores, but their new policy does not do that. (FFG is claiming that this will help the local game store, the burden of proof on explaining how it does this is on them, and they have failed to provide this). All their new policy does is increase FFGs margin on their products. If FFG thinks the market can bear a price increase so that they can increase their profits then fine, but don't lie to us for the reason for the price increase.

I'm kind of impressed FFG lets us have this discussion on their own forum, come to think of it. Plenty of companies wouldn't hesitate to delete threads, ban users or remove this whole section of the website in the face of any sort of criticism.

That's because there is near zero moderation.

Yeah, there really isn't any moderation here. Also, censoring the discussion about their new policy of price discrimination certainly wouldn't earn them any goodwill.

I don't see anything wrong with alienating a handful of tantrum throwers if it removes this 25 page eyesore from the main page. Would anyone else really care?

They are raising prices on their customers (us) and engaging in price discrimination against many of our favorite game stores. They are also being dishonest about their reasoning for these changes. I'm upset about it, and it appears that I'm not alone. Sure there are some unreasonable people in here, but what 25 page / 500 post thread doesn't?

How are they being dishonest? How do you know they are being dishonest? Please include any evidence you have to support your claims.

Their excuse is to help out brick and mortar game stores, but their new policy does not do that. (FFG is claiming that this will help the local game store, the burden of proof on explaining how it does this is on them, and they have failed to provide this). All their new policy does is increase FFGs margin on their products. If FFG thinks the market can bear a price increase so that they can increase their profits then fine, but don't lie to us for the reason for the price increase.

I didn't get the same thing from the article that you did, so one of us has misread or misinterpreted something in the article. I think it's you, but I'm going to go back and read it again right now to make sure. Be back in a bit.

They are raising prices on their customers (us)...

No, they're not. They are reducing the discount offered to online-only sellers. If those sellers then choose to raise their prices to maintain their margins, they are the ones raising prices, not FFG. If the relevant online sellers choose to live with smaller margins in light of the reduced discount, then you might not see any increase in price at all.

I'm kind of impressed FFG lets us have this discussion on their own forum, come to think of it. Plenty of companies wouldn't hesitate to delete threads, ban users or remove this whole section of the website in the face of any sort of criticism.

That's because there is near zero moderation.

Yeah, there really isn't any moderation here. Also, censoring the discussion about their new policy of price discrimination certainly wouldn't earn them any goodwill.

I don't see anything wrong with alienating a handful of tantrum throwers if it removes this 25 page eyesore from the main page. Would anyone else really care?

They are raising prices on their customers (us) and engaging in price discrimination against many of our favorite game stores. They are also being dishonest about their reasoning for these changes. I'm upset about it, and it appears that I'm not alone. Sure there are some unreasonable people in here, but what 25 page / 500 post thread doesn't?

All points repeatedly shown to be moot, so all we're really left with are some indignant holdouts. Again, I'm not sure what the value is in keeping up 'goodwill' with people who are cranky about paying an extra dollar for toy space ships.

If you piss off people enough, they will hold a grudge. People holding a grudge can be bad for business.

Take for example Paizo (the creators of Pathfinder RPG). They handled critucism badly in their beta days (banned the critics) and to this day most D&D forums have their own regiment of trolls ready to throw dirt at Pathfinder every time it comes up because they personally felt wronged many years back. I guess FFG would be better off without that kind of negative publicity.

It's also higly debatable how many points (for and against) were actually SHOWN to be moot, since a lot of them was speculation, opinions and/or anecdotal evidence.

@Holysorcerer

I'm back, and first I'd like to thank you for putting the link to the article in your first post, it makes finding it easier.

Ok, I still don't get the same thing from the article you do.

FFG is a business and as such they have partners. Two of their partners are LGS and online sellers. Both offer FFG certain services. However, in FFG's determination, the LGS offer more services than the online seller. For example, promoting FFG products through league nights, store championships, and game demos. FFG incentivizes their partners through trade discounts. Previously the online seller and LGS benefited from the same level of trade discount even though the LGS performed more services for FFG. I think we can agree this is not fair. It looks like they will be retaining the same level of trade discounts they had, but now the online seller will be receiving a reduced trade discount to reflect the lesser amount of services they provide FFG. To me, this not only seems fair, but seems to be good business sense on FFG's part. They were overpaying for the services they received from online sellers and they want to fix that.

I do see where they say they hope this decision benefits the LGS. I suspect that this is the basis of your argument. In my mind they made a business decision to benefit their own company. They further hope it benefits their most valued partners the LGS. This is them being honest. It will take a while for this business decision to play out, and when it does we will know if they achieved their goals of increasing their own success and that of their most important partner.

There is no burden of proof for FFG as you claim. They made a business decision. They explained their goals behind the decision. Now, all of us are waiting to see if they made a good business decision. Only time will tell.

No it doesn't have to put a dent in anything, but for some of us it will. Game stores may not be the only place to play, but they are a logical place to build a gaming community around. I think we can agree, the important thing is that we have a place to go whether it's a game store or a church, right?

I've always thought the place six asteroids and go was a little lacking in variety myself. I believe they do it for a consistent tournament experience where ever you may go. Regardless, it seems to be working well for them.

We (this online community, not you and I ) can debate the merits of game stores until we're blue in the face and not reach a consensus. What we need to remember is that, this was a business decision by ANA. It was what they think will be best for their business model moving forward. Whether any of us agree or disagree is irrelevant because we are not privy to all data and information that went into making the decision. Nor, to the best of my knowledge, are any of us staff level employees with input into the decision. We are customers with opinions. If anyone feels strongly enough about their stance, I'm sure ANA would appreciate a well thought out written response complete with charts and the appropriate data explaining why they are making a bad business decision. Short of that our options are to continue giving them our support (purchasing their products and attending their events) or to cease giving them our support. May we all be wise enough to make the decision that is in our best interests.

Of course we can also continue to, ahem, express ourselves on Internet forums too.

Great post!

I don't think I've ever heard the argument that being a chain prevents a flgs from being a flgs.

It's the flip-side of the implied argument that Barnes & Noble are too big to be a LGS. If that wasn't your intended argument then I'm sorry to have miss-read your intentions.

What I've been getting at is that this is a false conclusion. That stores dedicated to gaming (a "game store") are starkly different than a store that sells games secondary to their main focus.

If you piss off people enough, they will hold a grudge. People holding a grudge can be bad for business.

Take for example Paizo (the creators of Pathfinder RPG). They handled critucism badly in their beta days (banned the critics) and to this day most D&D forums have their own regiment of trolls ready to throw dirt at Pathfinder every time it comes up because they personally felt wronged many years back. I guess FFG would be better off without that kind of negative publicity. It's also higly debatable how many points (for and against) were actually SHOWN to be moot, since a lot of them was speculation, opinions and/or anecdotal evidence.

Sure, sure. But look who's getting pissed off: a vocal minority who, as entitled to their precious toys as they are their opinions, are going to do what they like regardless. One kid already posted that he went and made a huge online order, just to spite FFG. Ok. If a mod waltzed out here and berated us for defaming their company, I might countenance some ill will. All we're talking about, however, is closing a thread with little redeeming value at this point. People have made their opinions known, and it's time to move on.

WonderWAAAGH, on 02 Jan 2016 - 4:13 PM, said:WonderWAAAGH, on 02 Jan 2016 - 4:13 PM, said:WonderWAAAGH, on 02 Jan 2016 - 4:13 PM, said:

LordBlades, on 02 Jan 2016 - 3:37 PM, said:LordBlades, on 02 Jan 2016 - 3:37 PM, said:LordBlades, on 02 Jan 2016 - 3:37 PM, said:

If you piss off people enough, they will hold a grudge. People holding a grudge can be bad for business.

Take for example Paizo (the creators of Pathfinder RPG). They handled critucism badly in their beta days (banned the critics) and to this day most D&D forums have their own regiment of trolls ready to throw dirt at Pathfinder every time it comes up because they personally felt wronged many years back. I guess FFG would be better off without that kind of negative publicity. It's also higly debatable how many points (for and against) were actually SHOWN to be moot, since a lot of them was speculation, opinions and/or anecdotal evidence.

Sure, sure. But look who's getting pissed off: a vocal minority who, as entitled to their precious toys as they are their opinions, are going to do what they like regardless. One kid already posted that he went and made a huge online order, just to spite FFG. Ok. If a mod waltzed out here and berated us for defaming their company, I might countenance some ill will. All we're talking about, however, is closing a thread with little redeeming value at this point. People have made their opinions known, and it's time to move on.

I assume your referring to my post about a $300 purchase of mostly FFG products from Cool Stuff inc and Minature Market.

This is not in spite rather actually the most intelligent decision for me as a consumer to do. I saved over $140 dollars on my purchase. I owe no store my blind allegiance. I will NEVER purchase another FFG, Asmodee and Days of Wonder product in a brick and mortar store because of this move by Asmodee. As the consumer I get to choose were I shop. Not you, not Asmodee, not anyone else.

Additionally I am in my 40s and no "Kid" as you might say. I do own my own business as well. I do understand business and Asmodee is only doing these moves for themselves not anyone else.

Finally instead of any actual contribution to discussion, even if I would not agree with you, you choose to try to throw names and insults. Its clear your hoping to derail the thread and get it locked since you cant win others over to your point of view. It shows how weak your position really is.

You are mad at them so buy $300 of their discounted product.

Im sorry, but thats absolutely absurd.

If you were REALLY mad you would sell your own collection on ebay with free shipping for a nickel instant buy.

At least that would show discontent.

Buying $300 of product, discounted or no, is money in FFGs pocket.

Sorry, you fail at nerdrage.

Deadshane, on 02 Jan 2016 - 6:27 PM, said:Deadshane, on 02 Jan 2016 - 6:27 PM, said:

You are mad at them so buy $300 of their discounted product.

Im sorry, but thats absolutely absurd.

If you were REALLY mad you would sell your own collection on ebay with free shipping for a nickel instant buy.

At least that would show discontent.

Buying $300 of product, discounted or no, is money in FFGs pocket.

Sorry, you fail at nerdrage.

Your missing the point entirely.

I am not boycotting FFG. I am deciding were I wish to purchase their goods NOT allowing them (Asmodee) to dictate were I should purchase.

If your following the entire thread and all the PR releases by Asmodee and FFG they are trying to sugarcoat these changes claiming that herding folks into local stores is their intent.

The reason I and many people are angry with Asmodee overlords of FFG is that they are trying to control through restricting the marketplace were we can shop.

Do they have the right to? Yes, in fact they could shutter all their factory's tomorrow and that's their right as well. But we as the customers are being IGNORED in this decision making process and darn well have the right to be unhappy with Asmodee (FFG).

If you look over at Boardgamegeek you will get off this corporate fan site and see a much larger swathe of gamers who are unhappy as well. Its not just a few vocal loudmouths that feel slighted by Asmodee.

You can feel very happy with Asmodees manipulation of the distribution chain and that your prerogative. Some folks really do not care and that's their choice. But a large percentage of FFG, Asmodee, and Days of Wonder customers are NOT happy with this change.

Eeeeee?

Asmodee isn't stopping online sales. They just increased the margin to those distributors. All the panic of people in rural areas not having access is unfounded. Asmodee isn't forcing anyone to buy in stores.

Eeeeee?

Asmodee isn't stopping online sales. They just increased the margin to those distributors. All the panic of people in rural areas not having access is unfounded. Asmodee isn't forcing anyone to buy in stores.

I don't think anyone has said people without access to a good game store won't be able to buy.

But people who consider it unreasonable to buy from a games store will certainly have to pay more.

Eeeeee?

Asmodee isn't stopping online sales. They just increased the margin to those distributors. All the panic of people in rural areas not having access is unfounded. Asmodee isn't forcing anyone to buy in stores.

I don't think anyone has said people without access to a good game store won't be able to buy.

But people who consider it unreasonable to buy from a games store will certainly have to pay more.

But still at a discount when compared to RRP and those of us who do buy in store; or even the rest of the world that doesn't have access to the same discounts at MM or CSI because shipping doesn't make it worthwhile.

As has been said many times, at the end of the day, we are talking about a possible $1-$2 increase in toy spaceships, if stores like MM or CSI increase their prices to maintain their margins. The level of outrage and vitriol being in response is somewhat over the top (in my opinion). We're talking about toy spaceships, a luxury item. Not fresh food, or healthcare, or fuel.

Yes, it's still a discount. And it's still more than those people were paying before.

I think people have a right to be upset about that. And to be honest, there's not been much wailing and gnashing of teeth here. I think the most heated posts have sprung from instances where posters have been argumentative, rather than just being angry at FFG/Asmodee.

WonderWAAAGH, on 02 Jan 2016 - 4:13 PM, said:WonderWAAAGH, on 02 Jan 2016 - 4:13 PM, said:WonderWAAAGH, on 02 Jan 2016 - 4:13 PM, said:

LordBlades, on 02 Jan 2016 - 3:37 PM, said:LordBlades, on 02 Jan 2016 - 3:37 PM, said:LordBlades, on 02 Jan 2016 - 3:37 PM, said:

If you piss off people enough, they will hold a grudge. People holding a grudge can be bad for business.

Take for example Paizo (the creators of Pathfinder RPG). They handled critucism badly in their beta days (banned the critics) and to this day most D&D forums have their own regiment of trolls ready to throw dirt at Pathfinder every time it comes up because they personally felt wronged many years back. I guess FFG would be better off without that kind of negative publicity. It's also higly debatable how many points (for and against) were actually SHOWN to be moot, since a lot of them was speculation, opinions and/or anecdotal evidence.

Sure, sure. But look who's getting pissed off: a vocal minority who, as entitled to their precious toys as they are their opinions, are going to do what they like regardless. One kid already posted that he went and made a huge online order, just to spite FFG. Ok. If a mod waltzed out here and berated us for defaming their company, I might countenance some ill will. All we're talking about, however, is closing a thread with little redeeming value at this point. People have made their opinions known, and it's time to move on.

I assume your referring to my post about a $300 purchase of mostly FFG products from Cool Stuff inc and Minature Market.

This is not in spite rather actually the most intelligent decision for me as a consumer to do. I saved over $140 dollars on my purchase. I owe no store my blind allegiance. I will NEVER purchase another FFG, Asmodee and Days of Wonder product in a brick and mortar store because of this move by Asmodee. As the consumer I get to choose were I shop. Not you, not Asmodee, not anyone else.

Additionally I am in my 40s and no "Kid" as you might say. I do own my own business as well. I do understand business and Asmodee is only doing these moves for themselves not anyone else.

Finally instead of any actual contribution to discussion, even if I would not agree with you, you choose to try to throw names and insults. Its clear your hoping to derail the thread and get it locked since you cant win others over to your point of view. It shows how weak your position really is.

Could have fooled me. Really.

@tokyogriz

Are you telling me that as a business owner if you identified an area in your sales model where you were overpaying for services rendered and had the ability to fix it, you would choose to continue to overpay for said services?

Furthermore, their former sales model has lead to devaluation of their product. This is actually their own fault for adopting that sales model and they recognize that. By paying online sellers for services they weren't providing they allowed them to slash prices for their product and still make an acceptable profit margin by selling more at an artificially low price point. On the surface this was good for the end consumer (us), but actually bad for their business model by devaluing their products.

To some extent you are actually proof that they have made the right business decision for what they wanted to accomplish. You have benefited from the artificially low price of their product for so long that you refuse to pay what FFG has determined to be fair market value for their product, a price point that hasn't actually changed since the inception of the product line. I want to stress, I'm not accusing you of wrong doing. All you did was expertly shop for great deals, and good for you, why shouldn't you find the best deals possible. However, by continuing to overpay for services rendered, FFG facilitated the continuation of the artificially low price points for their products to the point that now some of their consumers, like yourself, value their product at these lower prices to the point they refuse to pay the price FFG intended all along. This is bad for their business and had to be corrected once identified. At least this is what I believe they are saying in the article.

I don't the think you should be happy you are going to be paying more in the future as a consumer if you continue your same purchasing routine, but I would expect as a business owner you would be more understanding of why they have taken the actions they did.

They are raising prices on their customers (us)...

No, they're not. They are reducing the discount offered to online-only sellers. If those sellers then choose to raise their prices to maintain their margins, they are the ones raising prices, not FFG. If the relevant online sellers choose to live with smaller margins in light of the reduced discount, then you might not see any increase in price at all.

This looks like hair splitting, but it isn't.

If an online retailer determines that they need to accept a lower margin in order to keep maximally profitable, they will do so. Since the only thing an online retailer can offer is a good price, they will be in a constant race to lower prices to the minimum sustainable level.

If an online retailer is only able to offer that discount because they are getting a better deal than brick and mortar stores- and providing less service to the community- it seems like a problem that needs correcting.

Heck! If online stores had been getting a 40% discount, and physical stores had been getting a 20% discount, that seems like a HUGE PROBLEM, and maybe online stores should be forced to compete on an equal footing.

Really, it's the second part of this interview that touches on the issues here (http://icv2.com/articles/news/view/33369/icv2-interview-asmodee-north-america-ceo-christian-petersen-part-2)

This is the part where Mr. Petersen get's into the crux of the changes coming April 1st:

"In summary, for sound and fair reasons, we want to grant additional discounts to the brick-and-mortar specialty retailer for the unique work they provide, while not granting those discounts to the online specialty retailer given the fact they are not providing the same services or making the same investment."

I suppose more explicit clarification on what constitutes a "brick-and-mortar speciality retailer" versus an "online specialty retailer" from the point of view of Mr. Petersen and ANA would be helpful. Some of the most popular retailers in the US have both brick and mortar stores and online stores. They also provide the sort of "services" that Mr. Petersen mentions in his article as being of benefit to ANA (product marketing, attracting new customers, hosting events. Etc.). It would be just as unfair to these retailers to damage them financially by manipulating the wholeale terms with them along the lines described in the interview simply because they sold products online. That retailer is still buying and re-selling ANA products AND providing the services that benefit both ANA and their customers. It's because of this ambiguity that I find the notion that this policy change is being done to help "local game stores" to be disingenuous. How about ANA financially supporting local gaming clubs as well? They can provide the exact same sort of "value added services" that a "brick and mortar specialty retailer" can. In fact, I would say they could do it even better as they are not burdened with having to run a retail store at the same time. As others have pointed out, obtaining a shared space to play games in is not all that difficult.

I also found this quote to be quite interesting:

" I estimate that the hobby loses between 10 - 20% of its players every year..."

Huh? From what I have personally witnessed, the hobby games community has been growing year over year for the past 10 years hand in had with the growth in popularity and acceptance of "geek culture". So where is Mr. Petersen getting this information from? Or is his "estimate" way off? As he point out earlier in the interview, the phenomenal growth of attendance at events such as GenCon and Comic Con seem to indicate that we are in a period of growth, not decline. I think this also hides the fact that as more people want to buy games, they are going to turn to the outlets that suit them best which these days are predominately online retailers because they provide the two most important factors when it comes to consumer goods: price and convenience. Mr. Petersen and ANA fully understand that online sales of hobby games are going to increase and they just want to cash in on this without coming out and saying it (which would anger both consumers and non-online retailers).

Look, I have (even still) the utmost respect for Mr. Petersen. He and the company he built (FFG) have been at the center of the hobby game renaissance here in the US. But from this interview, it's clear that as he has moved from his role as CEO of a small, independent games company to CEO of a multinational conglomerate he has also learned to pick up the double speak and obfuscation that comes along with such a position.

If it was just Petersen, than perhaps. But I have seen some other companies make other moves to give importance to the LGS. And I have seen others talk about issues facing the industry. This move was probably the simplest thing they could've done, without driving more bad will from retailers through more draconian measures. Yes, they get more money out of this deal as well.

Unless someone here is able to talk about what they all discuss at GAMA, I think there is some industry concerns. Personally, breaking up Diamond/Alliance monopolies would be a good start.