"How Warhammer Won" (article at Financial Times)

[Brother Tyler]

You can read the article at: https://www.ft.com/content/e11e5548-e0a7-4b00-bacf-9a3c7769f417

[N1SB]

Love this.  Reminder: the journalist, Chris Allnutt, did the due diligence, built and painted his 1st miniature, he's One of Us now BROTHER Chris is...but it's the editor that writes the headline (or forces/coerces/manipulates the journalist to do so).  And technically the article 100% does explain the article's title, "How Warhammer Won", in the 5th paragraph.

 

 

+++ Purest Form of Vertical Integration +++

 

Brother Chris interviewed Brother Jason Andrew (he invests in small start-ups), who talks about GW's vertical integration.

 

100% spot on.  It sounds like business jargon IT'S NOT.  It's engineering jargon, at least to us Techpriests.

 

So regarding the term, "vertical integration", it's like a flowchart.  You start with design at the top, then manufacture the product, then you send the product to sell, down the line.  Few Western companies do that anymore.  They don't even design to manufacture in China.  They take a Chinese-designed product, made in China, and slap their logo on it to sell as their own.  It's the business equivalent of copying the Asian kid's maths homework (I know this because I WAS that kid).

 

Example: large Western game companies vs. large Eastern game companies.  Western game companies are like investment banks, they hire/buy out developers to make games for them, milk them ASAP, then close them down after their 1st miss.  Eastern game companies like Nintendo design, develop, sell the games AND THEN toys, cartoons, collectibles, etc.  That's why there's a bajillion Mario/Pokemon films but not a Call of Duty one.  Vertical integration has all sorts of benefits.

 

(Irony: Nintendo doesn't make the Pokemon card game, WotC/Hasbro does, but it WAS a playing card/hanafuda company.)

 

Why this matters: I was looking at Electronic Arts's financial reports.  GW really fixates on their cost of production...thus the high price of our miniatures, even though it's a drop in the bucket because about half their operating expenditure are Warhammer Stores.  EA doesn't.  Instead, EA fixates on "Cost of Revenue"...that's licensing fees and royalties to the NFL, NBA, MLB, UFC, because their literal annual revenue is mostly sports games.  EA cares more about licensing than development.

 

GW doesn't pay ANYONE to license Warhammer...if anything, you may criticise them for barely paying their own designers.

 

Remember, remember, remember GW is actually Citadel miniatures buying out GW's game designers and retail store chain.

 

Brother Jason knew what's up, had to give a soundbite, focused on GW's vertical integration to explain to normies.  Full marks.

 

 

+++ A Cult or Lifestyle +++

 

"Players don't just buy a product," said Brother Jason, "They join a cult or lifestyle."  Why, yes, we call it The Hobby.

 

Since you all know this, I'll give a parallel example.  You know Apple?  They're actually a fashion brand, a lifestyle company.

 

 

+++ "Watered Down Earth Shade" +++

 

Just a note the journalist our new Brother Chris mentioned shading gold with a "watered down earth shade".  That is such a shibboleth, we all know what he means, but that was a subtle flashing of his Cog Mechanicus right there.  I mean he knows enough to "get it", and to also know that we "get it" that he "gets it".

 

Btw, GW does have a gloss version of Agrax Earthshade.  But point is, FT, British papers in general, do have good wordsmiths.

 

" Earth shade."  Like srsly, tell me you play Warhammer without telling me you play Warhammer.  That's so good.  Great article.

[ZeroWolf]

10 hours ago, N1SB said:

Love this.  Reminder: the journalist, Chris Allnutt, did the due diligence, built and painted his 1st miniature, he's One of Us now BROTHER Chris is...but it's the editor that writes the headline (or forces/coerces/manipulates the journalist to do so).  And technically the article 100% does explain the article's title, "How Warhammer Won", in the 5th paragraph.

 

 

+++ Purest Form of Vertical Integration +++

 

Brother Chris interviewed Brother Jason Andrew (he invests in small start-ups), who talks about GW's vertical integration.

 

100% spot on.  It sounds like business jargon IT'S NOT.  It's engineering jargon, at least to us Techpriests.

 

So regarding the term, "vertical integration", it's like a flowchart.  You start with design at the top, then manufacture the product, then you send the product to sell, down the line.  Few Western companies do that anymore.  They don't even design to manufacture in China.  They take a Chinese-designed product, made in China, and slap their logo on it to sell as their own.  It's the business equivalent of copying the Asian kid's maths homework (I know this because I WAS that kid).

 

Example: large Western game companies vs. large Eastern game companies.  Western game companies are like investment banks, they hire/buy out developers to make games for them, milk them ASAP, then close them down after their 1st miss.  Eastern game companies like Nintendo design, develop, sell the games AND THEN toys, cartoons, collectibles, etc.  That's why there's a bajillion Mario/Pokemon films but not a Call of Duty one.  Vertical integration has all sorts of benefits.

 

(Irony: Nintendo doesn't make the Pokemon card game, WotC/Hasbro does, but it WAS a playing card/hanafuda company.)

 

Why this matters: I was looking at Electronic Arts's financial reports.  GW really fixates on their cost of production...thus the high price of our miniatures, even though it's a drop in the bucket because about half their operating expenditure are Warhammer Stores.  EA doesn't.  Instead, EA fixates on "Cost of Revenue"...that's licensing fees and royalties to the NFL, NBA, MLB, UFC, because their literal annual revenue is mostly sports games.  EA cares more about licensing than development.

 

GW doesn't pay ANYONE to license Warhammer...if anything, you may criticise them for barely paying their own designers.

 

Remember, remember, remember GW is actually Citadel miniatures buying out GW's game designers and retail store chain.

 

Brother Jason knew what's up, had to give a soundbite, focused on GW's vertical integration to explain to normies.  Full marks.

 

 

+++ A Cult or Lifestyle +++

 

"Players don't just buy a product," said Brother Jason, "They join a cult or lifestyle."  Why, yes, we call it The Hobby.

 

Since you all know this, I'll give a parallel example.  You know Apple?  They're actually a fashion brand, a lifestyle company.

 

 

+++ "Watered Down Earth Shade" +++

 

Just a note the journalist our new Brother Chris mentioned shading gold with a "watered down earth shade".  That is such a shibboleth, we all know what he means, but that was a subtle flashing of his Cog Mechanicus right there.  I mean he knows enough to "get it", and to also know that we "get it" that he "gets it".

 

Btw, GW does have a gloss version of Agrax Earthshade.  But point is, FT, British papers in general, do have good wordsmiths.

 

" Earth shade."  Like srsly, tell me you play Warhammer without telling me you play Warhammer.  That's so good.  Great article.

Actually your pokemon card game example is actually tied in more then you think to what you said about western companies taking Asian products and slapping a logo on it, as that's what Wizards of the Coast did with the pokemon card game. They basically took the Japanese release and translated it for the rest of the world. The original creator of the card game was Creatures Inc in 1996. Wizards got the western licence for it in 1998. However they only keep it for 5 years before the Pokemon Company took the licence back and have handled it ever since (you think Warhammer scalpers are bad, they've got nothing on pokemon).

 

It's a similar story with YuGiOh funnily enough, even down to the game's original owner (Konami) taking control back.