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Paizo Announces More Details about Minis Line
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<blockquote data-quote="Jefe Bergenstein" data-source="post: 5642244" data-attributes="member: 31506"><p>That's not entirely correct. Hypothetically, lets say I wont buy their product unless they include a 6 pack of beer with it. Should they now include a 6'er for fear of not getting my money? I mean, it would be nice, but...</p><p> </p><p>What you want to avoid is enough people not buying your product. However, historically, random lines have done rather wellcompared to non-random, of which the only 2 of note that I can think of are Reaper's Legendary Encounters, and the Rackham Confrontation pre-paints, which were backed by a skirmish game. Reapers LE line isnt very large despite being in production for several years, and Rackham went out of business. Oh and Heroscape, also canned. Wizkids still produces a lot of random clicks, and Mageknight is getting a re-launch. </p><p> </p><p>At some point, you accept you arent going to get every potential customer, when the effort to get them outweighs the payoff. They said they would have some non-random packs, likely of the basic stuff. For guys that want more than orcs, goblins and undead, point them towards the secondary market for the stuff that's not profitable enough to sell directly yourself, and let the resellers deal with the headaches of grell vs otyugh inventory. Yeah, you lose some money off the direct sale, but you also dont have to pay for individual packaging and distribution related headaches. The reseller is still buying packs to open, so you're getting money that way. As a bonus, the rest of us get a wide selection of minis, and the line actually has room for growth.</p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p>Yeah, if you pre-suppose it kills the line, I guess you can consider it a hypothetical problem. Its basically countered by "What if randomness causes it to succeed! They should do random!" </p><p> </p><p>Bear in mind, Wizkids/Paizo arent WOTC, who must answer to their Hasbro overlords. Random packs have historically made money (its the bulk of wizkids busines). For WOTC/Hasbro, it wasnt enough that the minis turn a profit, it had to be ENOUGH profit that the resources werent better spent elsewhere, developing something else that would bring in bigger returns. Wizkids is owned by Neca, which makes more niche toys, and would appear more willing to take a leser return. </p><p> </p><p>WOTC's line suffered from a few stumbles. They killed their skirmish game, alienating existing customers. The quality of both sculpts and paints took a significant nose dive. They lowered the number of figures per pack, and kept the price the same. They experimented with semi visible packs, which resulted in unicorn pegwarmers, and retailers stuck with unmoving stock. And also of note, this was all during a significant economic downturn. That's a lot of torpedoes aimed at you. </p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p>The reasons for randomization have been spelled out over, and over, and over. Sure, you have a vocal contingent that just wants to stick their fingers in their ears, ignore everything people actually in the industry tell them, and squawk "We want whatever we want, whenever we want it, super cheap! Or ELSE!" They're an unpleasable fan base who doesnt care about the realities of manufacturing and distribution. If they cant be satisfied by the fixed packs of mooks or wont order a single figure on the secondary market, oh well. You lose their marginal purchases of certain figures, and console yourself on the fact that you didnt waste money on all the burdens that comes with individual sku's.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jefe Bergenstein, post: 5642244, member: 31506"] That's not entirely correct. Hypothetically, lets say I wont buy their product unless they include a 6 pack of beer with it. Should they now include a 6'er for fear of not getting my money? I mean, it would be nice, but... What you want to avoid is enough people not buying your product. However, historically, random lines have done rather wellcompared to non-random, of which the only 2 of note that I can think of are Reaper's Legendary Encounters, and the Rackham Confrontation pre-paints, which were backed by a skirmish game. Reapers LE line isnt very large despite being in production for several years, and Rackham went out of business. Oh and Heroscape, also canned. Wizkids still produces a lot of random clicks, and Mageknight is getting a re-launch. At some point, you accept you arent going to get every potential customer, when the effort to get them outweighs the payoff. They said they would have some non-random packs, likely of the basic stuff. For guys that want more than orcs, goblins and undead, point them towards the secondary market for the stuff that's not profitable enough to sell directly yourself, and let the resellers deal with the headaches of grell vs otyugh inventory. Yeah, you lose some money off the direct sale, but you also dont have to pay for individual packaging and distribution related headaches. The reseller is still buying packs to open, so you're getting money that way. As a bonus, the rest of us get a wide selection of minis, and the line actually has room for growth. Yeah, if you pre-suppose it kills the line, I guess you can consider it a hypothetical problem. Its basically countered by "What if randomness causes it to succeed! They should do random!" Bear in mind, Wizkids/Paizo arent WOTC, who must answer to their Hasbro overlords. Random packs have historically made money (its the bulk of wizkids busines). For WOTC/Hasbro, it wasnt enough that the minis turn a profit, it had to be ENOUGH profit that the resources werent better spent elsewhere, developing something else that would bring in bigger returns. Wizkids is owned by Neca, which makes more niche toys, and would appear more willing to take a leser return. WOTC's line suffered from a few stumbles. They killed their skirmish game, alienating existing customers. The quality of both sculpts and paints took a significant nose dive. They lowered the number of figures per pack, and kept the price the same. They experimented with semi visible packs, which resulted in unicorn pegwarmers, and retailers stuck with unmoving stock. And also of note, this was all during a significant economic downturn. That's a lot of torpedoes aimed at you. The reasons for randomization have been spelled out over, and over, and over. Sure, you have a vocal contingent that just wants to stick their fingers in their ears, ignore everything people actually in the industry tell them, and squawk "We want whatever we want, whenever we want it, super cheap! Or ELSE!" They're an unpleasable fan base who doesnt care about the realities of manufacturing and distribution. If they cant be satisfied by the fixed packs of mooks or wont order a single figure on the secondary market, oh well. You lose their marginal purchases of certain figures, and console yourself on the fact that you didnt waste money on all the burdens that comes with individual sku's. [/QUOTE]
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Paizo Announces More Details about Minis Line
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