Yes, that's all Mouse Affair

the big brother is watching us!

sometimes it seems it looks exactly like this xD

Perhaps not irrational, but certainly misguided, IMO. In my experience, people who buy online put in one big order a wave and then also buy at the LGS whenever there is some impulse idea they wanna try.

In any case, most LGS's order the kits because the players want them and will pay for them with event entrance fees. Some places are exceptions and do more for their players (aka Pasttimes in Niles, a Chicago suburb).

All I am saying is this policy change is going to screw the player base, who should be the last person FFG wants to harm.

We are talking about 2-6 dollars per expansion. Yes, it adds up. But, this is also a luxury item.

How is that even an argument?

I can't even comprehend that. Money is money. Money represents hours of my life. Who gives a **** what the category of the expenditure is? Would it be more upsetting if it were raising prices on meds?

I don't get it.....The point is you want to support the LGS as the Manufacturer? Fine. There are better ways to do it then screwing the End Customer.

...Holy **** the amount of misinformation and childish entitlement in these posts is staggering..

First of all, a coalition of LGS owners formed and petitioned FFG to do this because your penny pinching was seriously effecting their livelyhood and their stores are what carry this game. Disney had nothing to do with it and in the end neither they or FFG make any more money this way except in that if the LGSs go under or decide to boycott like they threatened the game will instantly tank. And I'm sorry but you being able to pay a couple dollars less on a toy is not more important then store owners being able to pay their bills.

The game will not tank. PLENTY of places have NO FLGS. They never have and they never will. And guess what? People play games there. The internet does EXACTLY what it should. It connects them and lets them get the materials and supplies they want. Then Asmodee hurts these people who have NO access and spoiled people like you who do have somewhere to go applaud them getting screwed. This is bad for some people. And narrow minded selfish people would rather cheer it then recognize in today's age we live in a global market that has the internet to get people what they need rather than indiscriminately harm them.

Oh grow up, its a couple dollars more for a toy not fifty grand for a life saving medicine. The MSRP is the same all FFG did was limit online stores ability to undercut because they don't have to pay rent or a workforce. You can still buy from the same place you always did you just now have to actually pay closer to full price like the rest of us. If anything the onlines were guilty of price gouging using their lack of overhead to beat out retail get off your highhorse and suck it up.

and please anyone correct me if I'm wrong , I think there is no question that any attempt to control price to favor certain stores over others or set up rules deciding whether local stores can also sell online or not is vertical price fixing.

You are wrong:

FTC Manufacturer-imposed Requirements

Reasonable price, territory, and customer restrictions on dealers are legal. Manufacturer-imposed requirements can benefit consumers by increasing competition among different brands (interbrand competition) even while reducing competition among dealers in the same brand (intrabrand competition). For instance, an agreement between a manufacturer and dealer to set maximum (or "ceiling") prices prevents dealers from charging a non-competitive price. Or an agreement to set minimum (or "floor") prices or to limit territories may encourage dealers to provide a level of service that the manufacturer wants to offer to consumers when they buy the product. These benefits must be weighed against any reduction in competition from the restrictions.

Really Asmodee is trying to protect FLGS by eliminating the ability for a couple vendors to undercut the entire market. Don't have a FLGS? Guess what? You just may have a viable business model in your town now.

your post does not prove me wrong, I said (or meant to say) exactly the same thing. your post says that the supreme court ruled that price fixing is not necessarily illegal and is in fact allowed if deemed reasonable. it also cites the reasoning of the court is that price fixing could improve competition and be beneficial to customers.

as I said,whether this is the case with FFG is up to anyone's opinion.

this story reminds me a bit of the authors and publishers complaining about amazon's setting the price of e-books too low, saying it would send authors and publishers out of business. a court eventually ruled that the behavior of the publishers was illegal and contrary to competition and not beneficial to customers.

One of my many faults is my Americentrism. In the USA, stores are can be very strongly influenced by Magic, whereas boardgaming is hit and miss and often less influential as it appears to be in the rest of the World.

Perhaps it's because we are all degenerate gamblers.... like a good many things, I don't honestly know.

The game will not tank. PLENTY of places have NO FLGS. They never have and they never will. And guess what? People play games there. The internet does EXACTLY what it should. It connects them and lets them get the materials and supplies they want. Then Asmodee hurts these people who have NO access and spoiled people like you who do have somewhere to go applaud them getting screwed. This is bad for some people. And narrow minded selfish people would rather cheer it then recognize in today's age we live in a global market that has the internet to get people what they need rather than indiscriminately harm them.

Your amount of faith into the economical prowess and spending capacity of rural areas is disturbing.

Putting my personal feelings on the matter aside.

You guys do realize that this thread is just going around in circles right? Both sides are engaging in bad arguments and justifications to try and prove that the other side is wrong. None of you are going to be swayed either way, so just let it die. We can watch this kind of stuff on CNN for a few more days anyway.

Relax, Tim. We are bored at our crappy day jobs and would rather argue about stuff we have no real impact on than go back to work.

It's not like anyone "wins" anyway...you know what they say about arguing on the internet....

@Majorjuggler.

Would you please explain how Asmodee is engaging in vertical price fixing? It seems to me that vertical price fixing is fairly narrow in scope and that you are broadening that scope to fit your narrative. It may be that you aren't stretching it as much as I think. So, if you could elaborate some it would be helpful. It may also be that you have read details that support your stance that I'm not aware of.

Sure, IANAL (I am not a lawyer), but there's enough information out there that this seems like a relatively clear cut case. The link here is by someone with actual credentials -- specifically a lawyer who was involved in the original 1977 Supreme Court case that opened the door for legal vertical price.

It is a textbook definition of vertical prize fixing, which since 1977 is no longer automatically illegal , with various aspects of anti-trust law being effectively nullified by the Supreme Court over 30 years. ( Disclaimer, IANAL )

When people think of "price fixing" they usually think of horizontal price fixing. As a fictitious example, if competing retailers have a near-monopoly on iphones, they may collude together and agree to fix the selling price at a certain amount. That would be horizontal price fixing, and isn't what is going on here.

Vertical price fixing generally involves the manufacturer of a product trying to enforce a particular selling price by placing restrictions on the distribution channels. (not a legal definition, see the above link for some background). One example that almost always meets the definition of vertical price fixing is when a company puts geographic restrictions on how a product can be sold. I.e. they will sell the product to different distributors at different prices, and then put restrictions on them so they can't sell in each other's locations, preventing the distributor with the lower cost from eating into the other one's turf.

There's a lot of info out there, and I won't claim to be an expert, but geographic restrictions such as FFG's new reseller agreement are a red flag.

There's also some analysis of the announcement here:

https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/49015/starting-2016-asmodee-will-operate-asmodee-north-a

One of my many faults is my Americentrism. In the USA, stores are can be very strongly influenced by Magic, whereas boardgaming is hit and miss and often less influential as it appears to be in the rest of the World.

Perhaps it's because we are all degenerate gamblers.... like a good many things, I don't honestly know.

Hey americanism is not wrong in this context. This is a 100% american problem, I don't recall any special online discounts outside of america.

Putting my personal feelings on the matter aside.

You guys do realize that this thread is just going around in circles right? Both sides are engaging in bad arguments and justifications to try and prove that the other side is wrong. None of you are going to be swayed either way, so just let it die. We can watch this kind of stuff on CNN for a few more days anyway.

how can I sleep if somebody is wrong on the internet?

and please anyone correct me if I'm wrong , I think there is no question that any attempt to control price to favor certain stores over others or set up rules deciding whether local stores can also sell online or not is vertical price fixing.

You are wrong:

FTC Manufacturer-imposed Requirements

Reasonable price, territory, and customer restrictions on dealers are legal. Manufacturer-imposed requirements can benefit consumers by increasing competition among different brands (interbrand competition) even while reducing competition among dealers in the same brand (intrabrand competition). For instance, an agreement between a manufacturer and dealer to set maximum (or "ceiling") prices prevents dealers from charging a non-competitive price. Or an agreement to set minimum (or "floor") prices or to limit territories may encourage dealers to provide a level of service that the manufacturer wants to offer to consumers when they buy the product. These benefits must be weighed against any reduction in competition from the restrictions.

Really Asmodee is trying to protect FLGS by eliminating the ability for a couple vendors to undercut the entire market. Don't have a FLGS? Guess what? You just may have a viable business model in your town now.

From my understanding, none of this would have been possible (legal) before the 1977 Supreme Court ruling, and possibly as late as 2007. The second paragraph you quoted is actually a good example of how the "rule of reason" is now used, whereas prior to 1977 "vertical restraints" including "non price" were "per se" illegal. The guidelines in that paragraph were probably established after the 2007 case Leegin v. PSKS, Inc .

As XBear has already replied, this doesn't change the fact that FFG is engaging in vertical price fixing, it just means the courts may not look unfavorably on it, as they would have pre-1977.

So what has changed? IANAL

Interesting choice of words and a strange place to come out, but I applaud your courage and wish you much happiness in life.

For those not familiar with the acronym, IANAL = "I Am Not A Lawyer".

Sorry, had to Dude this thread up.

Putting my personal feelings on the matter aside.

You guys do realize that this thread is just going around in circles right? Both sides are engaging in bad arguments and justifications to try and prove that the other side is wrong. None of you are going to be swayed either way, so just let it die. We can watch this kind of stuff on CNN for a few more days anyway.

how can I sleep if somebody is wrong on the internet?

...like a happy, cute 'lil baby with soft fluffy bed stuff and a full tummy of nice warm milk...

Vertical price fixing has a clear legal definition. This is not it. It collusion between DIFFERENT parts of the manufacture, seller, distributor chain. This is just the seller setting different margins. There is no collusion.

If you have an FLGS, please shop there.

If you don't have an FLGS, it may be because of the previous pricing structure that made it impossible for an LGS to sell at competitive prices. This new structure should (hopefully) lead to more LGS.

If your LGS isn't F enough, buy some stuff and be kind and hopefully they will get some F to go with their L.

If you live in an area where no GS is L, I'm sorry but you are SOL.

edit: misplaced parenthesis

If you have a Friendly Local Wagonwheel Dealer, please shop there.

If you don't have a FLWD, it may be because of the new fangled rubber tires making it impossible for a LWD to sell at competitive prices. This new structure should (hopefully) lead to more LWDs.

If your LWD isn't F enough, buy some stuff (like whips and horeshoes) and be kind and hopefully the rubber tires are a fad.

If you live in an area that has paved roads, thank your fellow man for buying an auto mobile, but you're still screwed.

edit: misplaced anachronisms

If you have an FLGS, please shop there.

If you don't have an FLGS, it may be because of the previous pricing structure that made it impossible for an LGS to sell at competitive prices. This new structure should (hopefully) lead to more LGS.

If your LGS isn't F enough, buy some stuff and be kind and hopefully they will get some F to go with their L.

If you live in an area where no GS is L, I'm sorry but you are SOL.

edit: misplaced parenthesis

If you have a Friendly Local Wagonwheel Dealer, please shop there.

If you don't have a FLWD, it may be because of the new fangled rubber tires making it impossible for a LWD to sell at competitive prices. This new structure should (hopefully) lead to more LWDs.

If your LWD isn't F enough, buy some stuff (like whips and horeshoes) and be kind and hopefully the rubber tires are a fad.

If you live in an area that has paved roads, thank your fellow man for buying an auto mobile, but you're still screwed.

edit: misplaced anachronisms

Until you can play X Wing on the Cool Stuff Inc website this remain the moronic logical fallacy we can all see it for.

Vertical price fixing has a clear legal definition. This is not it. It collusion between DIFFERENT parts of the manufacture, seller, distributor chain. This is just the seller setting different margins. There is no collusion.

I thought someone above said it was a group of local stores who argued with FFG they should do the price fixing, so if that's true it was between different parts of the chain

If you have an FLGS, please shop there.

If you don't have an FLGS, it may be because of the previous pricing structure that made it impossible for an LGS to sell at competitive prices. This new structure should (hopefully) lead to more LGS.

If your LGS isn't F enough, buy some stuff and be kind and hopefully they will get some F to go with their L.

If you live in an area where no GS is L, I'm sorry but you are SOL.

edit: misplaced parenthesis

If you have a Friendly Local Wagonwheel Dealer, please shop there.

If you don't have a FLWD, it may be because of the new fangled rubber tires making it impossible for a LWD to sell at competitive prices. This new structure should (hopefully) lead to more LWDs.

If your LWD isn't F enough, buy some stuff (like whips and horeshoes) and be kind and hopefully the rubber tires are a fad.

If you live in an area that has paved roads, thank your fellow man for buying an auto mobile, but you're still screwed.

edit: misplaced anachronisms

Until you can play X Wing on the Cool Stuff Inc website this remain the moronic logical fallacy we can all see it for.

Besides that I can play X-Wing just fine on Steam and vassal, your argument is surprising non functional.

I can play X-Wing just fine at home, I can play X-Wing just fine at a club, I can play X-Wing just fine in a professional game room. I would go even further and say that this fixation that your LGS has to offer space, free one even, for you to play is one of the biggest reason that stores are not profitable.

If you have an FLGS, please shop there.

If you don't have an FLGS, it may be because of the previous pricing structure that made it impossible for an LGS to sell at competitive prices. This new structure should (hopefully) lead to more LGS.

If your LGS isn't F enough, buy some stuff and be kind and hopefully they will get some F to go with their L.

If you live in an area where no GS is L, I'm sorry but you are SOL.

edit: misplaced parenthesis

If you have a Friendly Local Wagonwheel Dealer, please shop there.

If you don't have a FLWD, it may be because of the new fangled rubber tires making it impossible for a LWD to sell at competitive prices. This new structure should (hopefully) lead to more LWDs.

If your LWD isn't F enough, buy some stuff (like whips and horeshoes) and be kind and hopefully the rubber tires are a fad.

If you live in an area that has paved roads, thank your fellow man for buying an auto mobile, but you're still screwed.

edit: misplaced anachronisms

Until you can play X Wing on the Cool Stuff Inc website this remain the moronic logical fallacy we can all see it for.

Besides that I can play X-Wing just fine on Steam and vassal, your argument is surprising non functional.

I can play X-Wing just fine at home, I can play X-Wing just fine at a club, I can play X-Wing just fine in a professional game room. I would go even further and say that this fixation that your LGS has to offer space, free one even, for you to play is one of the biggest reason that stores are not profitable.

Game Stores are the past. The future is Gaming Cafes and Gaming Pubs. Value added after purchase.

Yes, that's all Mouse Affair

the big brother is watching us!

sometimes it seems it looks exactly like this xD

Perhaps not irrational, but certainly misguided, IMO. In my experience, people who buy online put in one big order a wave and then also buy at the LGS whenever there is some impulse idea they wanna try.

In any case, most LGS's order the kits because the players want them and will pay for them with event entrance fees. Some places are exceptions and do more for their players (aka Pasttimes in Niles, a Chicago suburb).

All I am saying is this policy change is going to screw the player base, who should be the last person FFG wants to harm.

We are talking about 2-6 dollars per expansion. Yes, it adds up. But, this is also a luxury item.

How is that even an argument?

I can't even comprehend that. Money is money. Money represents hours of my life. Who gives a **** what the category of the expenditure is? Would it be more upsetting if it were raising prices on meds?

I don't get it.....The point is you want to support the LGS as the Manufacturer? Fine. There are better ways to do it then screwing the End Customer.

...Holy **** the amount of misinformation and childish entitlement in these posts is staggering..

First of all, a coalition of LGS owners formed and petitioned FFG to do this because your penny pinching was seriously effecting their livelyhood and their stores are what carry this game. Disney had nothing to do with it and in the end neither they or FFG make any more money this way except in that if the LGSs go under or decide to boycott like they threatened the game will instantly tank. And I'm sorry but you being able to pay a couple dollars less on a toy is not more important then store owners being able to pay their bills.

The game will not tank. PLENTY of places have NO FLGS. They never have and they never will. And guess what? People play games there. The internet does EXACTLY what it should. It connects them and lets them get the materials and supplies they want. Then Asmodee hurts these people who have NO access and spoiled people like you who do have somewhere to go applaud them getting screwed. This is bad for some people. And narrow minded selfish people would rather cheer it then recognize in today's age we live in a global market that has the internet to get people what they need rather than indiscriminately harm them.

Oh grow up, its a couple dollars more for a toy not fifty grand for a life saving medicine. The MSRP is the same all FFG did was limit online stores ability to undercut because they don't have to pay rent or a workforce. You can still buy from the same place you always did you just now have to actually pay closer to full price like the rest of us. If anything the onlines were guilty of price gouging using their lack of overhead to beat out retail get off your highhorse and suck it up.

Wow. Seems like the market has spoken. Too bad some flat earthers can't seem to get that. CSI and MM both have b&m stores where folks play.

Also, one could posit that someone who refuses to understand free-markets, yet tries to run a business, has some growing up to do. It's not the player's job to keep your doors open. It's your job to provide a service to gamers that they want to pay for. If you can't then someone who can gets the money. Pretty basic.

If what you say is true, that a 'coalition of game stores' threatened boycott and changed FFG/Asmodee policy (which I find exceedingly difficult to believe), then we are in worse shape than I thought. How hypocritical is it to say that a couple dollars more is entitlement so grow up, but a game store that says you have to buy it at the price and place they want isn't entitlement?

My money matters to me. If you want it, give me the best deal. If you can't, good luck in keeping your doors open. Capitalism and a Free Market equal competition. Compete or go under.

If you have an FLGS, please shop there.

If you don't have an FLGS, it may be because of the previous pricing structure that made it impossible for an LGS to sell at competitive prices. This new structure should (hopefully) lead to more LGS.

If your LGS isn't F enough, buy some stuff and be kind and hopefully they will get some F to go with their L.

If you live in an area where no GS is L, I'm sorry but you are SOL.

edit: misplaced parenthesis

If you have a Friendly Local Wagonwheel Dealer, please shop there.

If you don't have a FLWD, it may be because of the new fangled rubber tires making it impossible for a LWD to sell at competitive prices. This new structure should (hopefully) lead to more LWDs.

If your LWD isn't F enough, buy some stuff (like whips and horeshoes) and be kind and hopefully the rubber tires are a fad.

If you live in an area that has paved roads, thank your fellow man for buying an auto mobile, but you're still screwed.

edit: misplaced anachronisms

Until you can play X Wing on the Cool Stuff Inc website this remain the moronic logical fallacy we can all see it for.

Besides that I can play X-Wing just fine on Steam and vassal, your argument is surprising non functional.

I can play X-Wing just fine at home, I can play X-Wing just fine at a club, I can play X-Wing just fine in a professional game room. I would go even further and say that this fixation that your LGS has to offer space, free one even, for you to play is one of the biggest reason that stores are not profitable.

You and he are basically saying that LGSs are obsolete because of the online market and the idea that they should be able to compete with discount online retailers is backwards and outdated.

Snakes and Lattes in Toronto is a good example of a store that didn't need to really on price fixing by Asmodee to survive. They actually are giving people what they want, not demanding what the store wants from them.

https://www.youtube.com/user/snakesandlattes

Vertical price fixing has a clear legal definition. This is not it. It collusion between DIFFERENT parts of the manufacture, seller, distributor chain. This is just the seller setting different margins. There is no collusion.

I thought someone above said it was a group of local stores who argued with FFG they should do the price fixing, so if that's true it was between different parts of the chain

Interesting. Is there evidence for this?

But the increase in price for you is, over the long term, about keeping FFG in business by keeping the doors open at those stores. FFG didn't make this move out of charity, but out of concern for their own long-term health.

So what has changed? IANAL, but basically, vertical price fixing can still be considered illegal, but the court must weigh the economic cost of the price fixing versus the economic benefit of the price fixing. AsmodeeNA is behaving monopolistically and is likely violating anti-trust laws. It is still possible that they could get taken to court over this, and lose, although given the relatively small size of the industry, it is unlikely that a lawyer would go after them for this. FFG isn't stupid, in order to make the merger between FFG and Asmodee financially viable, the plan all along was to exert monopolistic practices to increase their profit margins at the expense of the consumer, distributors, and local game stores. Therefore, Asmodee/FFG's hedge against getting taken to court and losing is to establish as strong a perception as possible that vertical price fixing is in the best economic interest of the industry . That's it.

This is 100% about improving profit margins through financial engineering...

You were so close...!

This is indeed an instance of vertical price fixing--or at least of something on the same spectrum as vertical price fixing. (Technically, they're setting a maximum discount from the MSRP, rather than setting a minimum, but I'll cede the territory arguendo .), In a less pejorative turn of phrase much more beloved by business majors, you could also call it minimum resale pricing.

And why is "vertical price fixing" no longer per se illegal? I'll let Justice Kennedy have the floor:

The rule [of reason] distinguishes between restraints with anticompetitive effect that are harmful to the consumer and those with procompetitive effect that are in the consumer’s best interest...

A single manufacturer’s use of vertical price restraints tends to eliminate intrabrand price competition; this in turn encourages retailers to invest in services or promotional efforts that aid the manufacturer’s position as against rival manufacturers. Resale price maintenance may also give consumers more options to choose among low-price, low-service brands; high-price, high-service brands; and brands falling in between. Absent vertical price restraints, retail services that enhance interbrand competition might be underprovided because discounting retailers can free ride on retailers who furnish services and then capture some of the demand those services generate.

The bold text there is mine. Translating that that from legalese into English, it's describing exactly the case we have here: online retailers have lower overhead and broader reach, so they can offer substantially cheaper prices. In doing so they're taking advantage of the player base, which is typically built up and maintained by local stores that offer play space, tournaments, demos, advice, etc.--all of which make up the marginal cost that keeps them from offering the kind of discounts CSI and MM can.

So this the kind of case the federal courts literally used to make the case that, at least in theory, vertical price fixing promotes fair competition rather than restricting it.

To all the defenders of FFG's new price fixing policies, feel free to keep defending them. I don't really care. There are a lot of serfs arguing for the benefits of the feudal system. What am I going to do about it personally? Probably not much. As long as I continue to play the game competitively (another discussion entirely), then I'll just keep getting ships for free from my store credit. If not, then I'll probably just slow down my purchases instead.

I've slowed down my purchases, certainly, because buying from my FLGS is half again as expensive as buying with those deep discounts. Essentially I still spend about $100 per wave (inclusive of store credit etc.), but that $100 now buys less stuff. Whether that lost business is or will be made up by new customers generated by this policy is anyone's guess, but FFG seems to believe it will.

your post does not prove me wrong, I said (or meant to say) exactly the same thing. your post says that the supreme court ruled that price fixing is not necessarily illegal and is in fact allowed if deemed reasonable. it also cites the reasoning of the court is that price fixing could improve competition and be beneficial to customers.

as I said,whether this is the case with FFG is up to anyone's opinion.

It isn't a matter of opinion at all. It's a matter of theory, at the moment, but it's an eminently testable proposition.

this story reminds me a bit of the authors and publishers complaining about amazon's setting the price of e-books too low, saying it would send authors and publishers out of business. a court eventually ruled that the behavior of the publishers was illegal and contrary to competition and not beneficial to customers.

You're talking about Amazon and Hachette, and that case was almost literally the opposite of this. In order to be parallel, one retailer would have to control over half of all hobby-game sales, and that retailer would be threatening to stop carrying Asmodee products unless they slashed prices on all their games.

Yes, that's all Mouse Affair

the big brother is watching us!

sometimes it seems it looks exactly like this xD

Perhaps not irrational, but certainly misguided, IMO. In my experience, people who buy online put in one big order a wave and then also buy at the LGS whenever there is some impulse idea they wanna try.

In any case, most LGS's order the kits because the players want them and will pay for them with event entrance fees. Some places are exceptions and do more for their players (aka Pasttimes in Niles, a Chicago suburb).

All I am saying is this policy change is going to screw the player base, who should be the last person FFG wants to harm.

We are talking about 2-6 dollars per expansion. Yes, it adds up. But, this is also a luxury item.

How is that even an argument?

I can't even comprehend that. Money is money. Money represents hours of my life. Who gives a **** what the category of the expenditure is? Would it be more upsetting if it were raising prices on meds?

I don't get it.....The point is you want to support the LGS as the Manufacturer? Fine. There are better ways to do it then screwing the End Customer.

...Holy **** the amount of misinformation and childish entitlement in these posts is staggering..

First of all, a coalition of LGS owners formed and petitioned FFG to do this because your penny pinching was seriously effecting their livelyhood and their stores are what carry this game. Disney had nothing to do with it and in the end neither they or FFG make any more money this way except in that if the LGSs go under or decide to boycott like they threatened the game will instantly tank. And I'm sorry but you being able to pay a couple dollars less on a toy is not more important then store owners being able to pay their bills.

The game will not tank. PLENTY of places have NO FLGS. They never have and they never will. And guess what? People play games there. The internet does EXACTLY what it should. It connects them and lets them get the materials and supplies they want. Then Asmodee hurts these people who have NO access and spoiled people like you who do have somewhere to go applaud them getting screwed. This is bad for some people. And narrow minded selfish people would rather cheer it then recognize in today's age we live in a global market that has the internet to get people what they need rather than indiscriminately harm them.

Oh grow up, its a couple dollars more for a toy not fifty grand for a life saving medicine. The MSRP is the same all FFG did was limit online stores ability to undercut because they don't have to pay rent or a workforce. You can still buy from the same place you always did you just now have to actually pay closer to full price like the rest of us. If anything the onlines were guilty of price gouging using their lack of overhead to beat out retail get off your highhorse and suck it up.

I'm not the one on the high horse. I am delighted after 15 years to actually HAVE a place to CHOOSE to spend my money locally. You all are the ones on the high horse IGNORING the fact that some have NO WHERE to go but now have to spend more online for no reason. They have to do this to support some business in some other place that they have no access to but would be glad to if they could.

That is what really gets me PO'd. As I already said several times. People without access to gaming stores have to spend more online because somebody wants to influence them to go somewhere that doesn't exist in an attempt to make it better for some businesses that are struggling. That actually makes sense to you? To anyone?

How is that fair competition when there is NO competition?

One could also argue that the prevalence of deep online discounts means that the boardgame boom is a bubble, ready to burst. The online shops are a good portion of FFG's business, sure. But, I would doubt it is the majority of it. What happens when the vast majority of shops that buy from FFG refuses to buy the premium boardgames, like Rebellion, when they can't sell them, because they can't afford to discount them like the online shops? When the discounts become the "expected price"?

Yes, there is a short term monetary gain for Asmodee. But, I do think they are thinking long term here.