| From: | "M. Sean Martinez" <ElBandit@***.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: FASA Being Sold? Semi-OOC? |
| Date: | Fri, 18 Jul 1997 10:15:30 -0400 |
>At the moment, GW doesn't have any true problems... But they DO have a lot
of >pissed off players who are desperately looking for Miniatures Elsewhere
for the >games...
But the players still buy the figures. I see it all the time in the store I
used to run. "Bob" would come in and complain about the prices, but still buy
the figures.
Though, I have noticed that some players are getting alternative figures for
their armies, not as many in my area. (About 1 out of 25 players)
The clone figures produced by several other companies could pose a problem
for GWUS, so I do see your point.
>GW has been doing some really BAD things... Like raising the price of EVERY
>blister pack of mini's 50 cents, and raising all their boxed sets 10% across
the >board. plus some of their newer mini's have some rediculous prices,
like the Green >Knight. It's a REALLY cool looking and nicely done, but at
$20.00 for a single >mounted mini, it's hideously overpriced...:(
The price increase doesn't really bother me that much, since their figures
are always the best quality. Lead/pewter I do not mind paying for, but their
plastics are really over priced.
>They have also stopped making or supporting several of their "smaller"
games, >such as their Warhammer Quest and Blood Bowl games....
Blood bowl is coming back. I am not sure what's going on with Warhammer
quest, but I have heard that they have some new stuff for it coming out at
the begining of next year.
>Plus, they went to direct distributorship, and then required a certain
amount to be >ordered, thus makig it near impossible for smaller shops to
afford the mini's, thus >they stopped carrying them.
Games Work shop had to go to direct distributorship to survive. When magic
was at its peek in '94, Games Workshop would call their distributors and be
told "No, we don't need your product, magic is making our money for us." (I
got this from David Kingston who used to work at GWUS in the trade sales
relations office, as head of the department.) If they hadn't, GWUS would be
almost gone now.
I will admit that the $500 minimum order can be a bit steep for some shops,
but the average GWUS player will have to sppend $300+ to get their armies. If
the shops can not meet the minimum once a month, then truthfully they will do
better carring something else. My shop finally got to the point where most of
our customers were dealing on the internet, buying at cost, so we droped the
line.
Also, GWUS products are available to distributors, they just get the same
deal that retailers do, so they could carry them. I believe greenfield and
armory carry the line.
>And now, GW is requiring stores to buy the newer blister packs in lots of 6,
per >blister....
Yeah, I know. I understand that GW wants everyone to carry the full rack, but
I think they should create line fillers as opposed to having shops ordering
entire sleeves.
>However, Warhamemr products have reached an all time high in popularity in
the >US, which is part of the reason GW is getting greedy.
Let's face it, they admit that they are in it to make money. I would be too.
>Hopefully, GW will learn from TSR's mistakes. Otherwise, the giant of the
Mini >Industry could find itself needing rescued, in which case I can
definately see WOTC >bailing them out.
TSR made many other mistakes, like ticking off their distribtors at GenCon
one year or how about hiring friends to sit and shuffle papers. My favorite
was when TSR was building their new office, sold the old before the new one
was completed, only to rent it back for 3 months from the new owners.
-Bandit
