2024 Pricing Update

[Kastor Krieg]

8 minutes ago, Robbienw said:

Talk of immorality and ‘predatory pricing’ (always makes me laugh that one, is usually incorrectly applied) is for the birds.

These are not essential items we must buy.

GW will know when they have gone too far with the prices because it will show up in their sales data, when that happens they will act accordingly or fail.

This kind of dismissive attitude towards both the ethics / morality of customer-corporate relationships in late-stage capitalism, as well as how "essential" hobby items are for many of us (e.g. either as mere daily distractors, or even doctor-prescribed mental health recovery tools), is really uncalled for and does not reflect well.

We are not helpless in the face of the corporate overlords. The Helldivers 2 community has just made Sony back the hell down. Sony.

Edited May 7 by Kastor Krieg

[Robbienw]

It’s not dismissive, it’s fact.  
 

This is not food, or clothing or similar essential items.

 

It’s still purchasable in smaller amounts if you want a model or book now and then as a distraction.

 

Emotional bribery isn’t going to make GW lower prices.  Descending sales figures will, they’ll soon know when they have gone through the price ceiling!

 

 

Edited May 7 by Robbienw

[SkimaskMohawk]

3 minutes ago, Robbienw said:

Talk of immorality and ‘predatory pricing’ (always makes me laugh that one, is usually incorrectly applied) is for the birds.

 

These are not essential items we must buy.

 

GW will know when they have gone too far with the prices because it will show up in their sales data, when that happens they will act accordingly or fail.

 

And yet, most of the conversations about predatory selling practices comes from non essential products like video game microtransactions. 

 

Like, it's no secret that most free to play games turn a profit off of whales rather than an even distribution of sales; they tune their sales techniques to leverage the sales from those whales. Is it moral to build a business thats core customers are the most vulnerable to exploitation, like children and people with addictive personalities? The backlash to all the microtransaction gimmicks tends to paint a picture.

 

Does gw do every technique, or even half of them? No. But they definitely do a bunch of predatory techniques like artificial life span of product and encouraging repeat buys of the same product, not allowing long term planning for budgeting purchases, a very high amount of fomo/early access, and even some regional pricing exploitation.

[Marshal Rohr]

23 minutes ago, Kastor Krieg said:

This kind of dismissive attitude towards both the ethics / morality of customer-corporate relationships in late-stage capitalism, as well as how "essential" hobby items are for many of us (e.g. either as mere daily distractors, or even doctor-prescribed mental health recovery tools), is really uncalled for and does not reflect well.

We are not helpless in the face of the corporate overlords. The Helldivers 2 community has just made Sony back the hell down. Sony.

The customer-corporate relationship is entirely voluntary, especially with toys. 

[LittlePlasticHomies]

I know most of us only engage in buying/selling in our personal lives but my career’s been on the B2B sales side. CPI adjustments are a fact of life with every product line in every industry.

 

You can’t walk into a board meeting with a YoY decline in profit margin (especially on the same SKUs) as a public firm - simply can’t happen. As long as this doesn’t completely screw their other key retailer ratios (like total asset turnover) and it won’t - then this was always going to happen.

 

Like, if anyone here were to run a DuPont analysis and compare the last 3 fiscals I’d bet my lunch there’s virtually no change.

[armarnis]

some people here should watch a few videos how deodorant companies became the giants they are today and what being exposed to constant marketing is truly doing to people. might being an eye opener if things are truly "not essential" buys. really begs the question why marketing is one of the biggest budget point of lots of "essential" and not so essential items.

[Marshal Rohr]

Marketing is not a major expense for GW. 

[vadersson]

Man, this really sucks for LI.  I still can’t get units in stock and now they will cost more if I do ever get them.  And the name needs lots of units (hence Epic.)  At least I have enough other GW stuff for 40K that if I ever play again, I should not have to buy more.  (Not a fan of 10ed, or 9th for that matter.). 
 

This makes me happier that Bolt Action has a 3rd edition rule set coming out finally.  Historical miniatures can be just as nice and much cheaper.  I also don’t feel bad 3D printing actual historical vehicles.  
 

Slightly off topic, but I think it is interesting that Wargames Atlantic sell 3D stls for some of their lower volume minis in addition to traditional plastic set.  Maybe some day all companies will just sell minis on demand via 3D files.

 

I wish so many companies were not addicted to huge profit margins.  I don’t think we are seeing inflation as much as just greed worldwide.  :(

[Dark Shepherd]

3 hours ago, Osteoclast said:

So I went and looked at some of my previous purchases, back from when I first started. 
Inceptors 10/19 $50 then, $60.87 today with inflation, retailing $60

Sororitas Rhino 11/19: $60 then, $72.86 today, retailing $60

Sororitas Imagifier: 11/19: $30 then, $36.43 today, retailing $33.50

Sororitas Zephyrim 11/19: $55 then, $66.79 today, retailing $60. 
Hellblasters 9/20: $60 then, $72 today, retailing $60

Aggressors 9/20: $50 then, $60 today, retailing $60

 

Inflation calculated using BLS.gov calculator. 
 

Prices going up is never fun, but this very much does not look like gouging by GW. If anything, they aren’t keeping up with inflation. 

I started with the launch of 8th ed

Fenrisian Wolves were €15, now theyre €32.50

and they were in the first round of supply crates/mystery boxes which irked me no end

 

They should just do a warehouse clearance sale, between a web sale, supply cratw drops, Tzangors, and Underworld theyre letting slip what doesnt sell already :)

Edited May 7 by Dark Shepherd

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

This is just greed but it is inevitable given tje world we live in. A sad sign of the times. 

 

On the plus side though FW raising prices does put my internal debate on starting another 40k army (chaos) to bed. Which is a actually a relief in a way. 

 

GW just lost a lot of my money with this price rise. 

[Mostwanted]

4 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

I mean do you not like how they named Warhammer in the same sentence as essentials such as food and transportation?

 

Let's just all take a second and appreciate this sentence

 

"Prices for food, materials, and transportation have been trending upward for a few years now, and Warhammer isn’t immune to that trend."

 

Food. Materials. Transportation. Warhammer. Your essentials to being able to live

Yes, the food comment wasn't really needed as it doesn't have an impact on the production and distribution of the hobby products. But quite obviously materials and transportation do have an effect, so I don't see the problem of mentioning those things as factors in increasing the prices. 

[FarFromSam]

5 hours ago, sarabando said:

not quite, ive seen many hobbiest who exhibit clear signs of addiction in this hobby. Predatory sales techniques coupled with Fomo due to scalpers and a customer base that has a higher than normal percentage of "socially reclusive" types means that i think immoral is absolutely fitting. 

 

Lots of people in this hobby simply can't say no, plenty of sales posts come up after big releases with intros like "over bought rent is now due quick sale" etc 

 

 

to the "its only a small increase" crowd at what point is it too much? because il be honest £40 for the new khorne beserkers was too much for me, i certainly wouldnt pay £50 for a box of marines, how about £100 for a tank? 

 

 

I won't defend GW, or marketing strategies,  but we're adults.  Adults take responsibility for the outcomes of their decisions.   We don't need a nanny.  We don't want one either.   

[phandaal]

10 minutes ago, Mostwanted said:

Yes, the food comment wasn't really needed as it doesn't have an impact on the production and distribution of the hobby products. But quite obviously materials and transportation do have an effect, so I don't see the problem of mentioning those things as factors in increasing the prices. 

 

What is funny about this is this year's post is basically the same as last year's post. Like you could stick the two of them side-by-side and not be able to tell which is from which year.

[Corswain]

Prices are going up. In other news, water is wet.

 

Far less concerned about this than with rent and grocery cost increases.

[Matcap86]

2 hours ago, Kastor Krieg said:

We are not helpless in the face of the corporate overlords. The Helldivers 2 community has just made Sony back the hell down. Sony.

 

Exactly and all it took was massive coordinated consumer action causing instant monetary loss, potential legal kerfuffle from another big corporation (steam) to back down on a minor account/data linking exercise. 

 

If those things happen for GW they will probably also attempt course correct. As long as it's some minor grumbling on forums and social media they're not bothered.

[Robbienw]

They aren't engaging in harmful or 'predatory' business practices.  They are a business that sells model figures.

 

We have to be restrained, its not GW's responsibility to parent us.  Developing the ability to resist FOMO and nullifying the urge to buy every new release is a powerful ability.

[Marshal Loss]

My immediate response to this announcement was to buy Fulgrim Transfigured so I think I might be the problem here

[Robbienw]

People can get help with those kind of addiction problems from a variety of sources such as their families and trained professionals.  Such problems will affect them in many areas of their life, not just model buying.  We don't need an expectation placed on GW to nanny us and manage our lack of restraint.  They are a business.  It would be inappropriate.  The onus falls on us to resist marketing tricks, it gets easier as you get older.  Its satisfying when you are able to see it for what it is.

 

None of their business practices could be described as harmful or 'predatory' towards their customers.  Some of their business practices are irritating, that's about it.  Possibly a few might end up being harmful towards them as a profitable company, but that's something all businesses have to manage and be careful not to do.

Edited May 7 by Robbienw

[DemonGSides]

I'm inclined to agree that most of GW's practices are just bad, not predatory or harmful.

Predatory would be if every box was random.  Most trading card games are inherently predatory as they hinge on gambling.  Thankfully, right now, the "Random" boxes are low in number and less random than any given M:TG box (you can get all of the Death Guard "random" sculpts from a singular box).

That being said, they are still not good practices for long term health and viability of both the consumer base and the company itself.  There's an argument there that their practices are harmful, but not in the sense of overpricing insulin shots harmful.

Edited May 7 by DemonGSides

[Marshal Rohr]

14 minutes ago, Marshal Loss said:

My immediate response to this announcement was to buy Fulgrim Transfigured so I think I might be the problem here

You deserve a little (expensive) treat!

[Marshal Rohr]

28 minutes ago, Trysanna said:

And some people have a harder time with that than others. Some people have an incredibly hard time with gambling or missing out on cosmetics in video games or gacha characters. I'm not saying we shouldn't develop those skills, I'm saying that we shouldn't just ignore the way marketing and advertising does, factually, effect us and what we buy and how compelled we are to buy it.

Unless you want to just dismiss decades of research on the subject of advertising and marketing and the effect it has on individuals, in which case go ahead, but I expect to see some peer reviewed papers. 

 

Also yes, some of their business practices could be considered Predatory/harmful. The obsession with FOMO, artificial scarcity, the constant pressure to keep up with most recent releases, etc. There are degrees to this but it is something to keep in mind. This isn't a black and white topic, nuance is important. 

Games Workshop doesn’t engage in the kind of marketing that could be considered exacerbating habit forming activities unless you consider a poorly edited WarCom article and sixty second video about products (half of which are for other systems) every Sunday the same as fan duel and lottery ads. This is just more of the typical twitterati “no one is responsible for their bad decisions” discourse and it 100% doesn’t apply to toys. There’s no excuse. There’s no justification. Don’t buy toys you can’t afford. We really shouldn’t be buying toys anyway! We are adults!

[SkimaskMohawk]

38 minutes ago, Robbienw said:

They aren't engaging in harmful or 'predatory' business practices.  They are a business that sells model figures.

 

We have to be restrained, its not GW's responsibility to parent us.  Developing the ability to resist FOMO and nullifying the urge to buy every new release is a powerful ability.

 

4 minutes ago, Robbienw said:

People can get help with those kind of addiction problems from a variety of sources such as their families and trained professionals.  We don't need an expectation placed on GW to nanny us and manage our emotional problems and lack of restraint.  They are a business.  It would be inappropriate.  The onus falls on us to resist marketing tricks, it gets easier as you get older.

 

None of their business practices could be described as harmful or 'predatory' towards their customers.  Some of their business practices are irritating, that's about it.  Possibly a few might end up being harmful towards them as a profitable company, but that's something all businesses have to manage and be careful not to do.

 

Exploiting fomo is known to be predatory. This isn't any thing new or contentious, it's just a plainly accepted fact.

 

It doesn't matter if it's in service of their goal of making money. Ya, corporations exist to generate profit; corporations are known to try every exploitative, predatory, and unethical trick in the book to make those profits. Look at every layoff in the video game industry to maintain profitability. "Just business" isn't an excuse.

 

It also doesn't matter if their practices are "only" harmful towards a small percentage of their customer base with problems. That's who those practices are supposed to target. To prey on them. 

 

Just a series of some of the least educated takes on the subjects of consumerism and business practices. 

[Matcap86]

5 minutes ago, Marshal Rohr said:

 We really shouldn’t be buying toys anyway! We are adults!

 

You lost me there. As an adult is the best time to buy toys.

[Marshal Rohr]

Just now, Matcap86 said:

 

You lost me there. As an adult is the best time to buy toys.

Just one more purchase and I’ll be set! Just one more!

[Robbienw]

It’s not ‘predatory’.  People are keen to spend their money on GW stuff, GW FOMO techniques are just there to give people more reasons.  Including a new character model or kill team squad in a large box set 2 months before its single box release is hardly ‘predatory’. 

 

Predatory is such an overly dramatic word in this context.  Trying to equate GW’s business practices with dangerous people or animals via word association.  This is a company selling model kits 

Edited May 7 by Robbienw