Dear Hasbro: about those minis

[rgard]

According to who, your crystal ball? Look, I'll freely admit that the current model seems to be doing OK for Wizards, but you have no way of knowing whether WotC could be even more successful with a different business model. WotC embraced the collectible mentality for minis because the company was built on collectibility.

Which brings to mind:

If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

 

[Glyfair]

I read through the entire thread and I didn't see much. Most of what I saw seemed to be that we were asking the boxed sets to REPLACE the random line. That isn't what we are asking (or at least what I am asking - a few people did come across that way and I'm not sure if they intended to or not). WotC is making waaaay too much money from that to just up and quit making them. I also understand the issue of boxes taking up shelf space and the risk of them not selling however I'm not asking for 50 different poses for Spawn of Tiamat or that ever elusive Celestial Flumph. I want orcs.

The target - and I believe the major audience - for the Boxed Sets would be those who aren't buying the regular minis. I'm not buying the regular minis. If you already have way too many orcs you won't be buying the new mini releases anyway so those won't be lost sales. They may lose a handful of purchasers that were buying the randomised minis for the hopes of getting the commons but then I also think (with no real evidence to back this up) that portion of the market is fairly small.

I'll note that shortly after Harbinger was released WotC did have some non-random sets in their catalog (Orc War Party was one, IIRC). It was cancelled. Word was that it was a combination of the great sales of Harbinger and poor orders from stores.

 

[rgard]

I'll note that shortly after Harbinger was released WotC did have some non-random sets in their catalog (Orc War Party was one, IIRC). It was cancelled. Word was that it was a combination of the great sales of Harbinger and poor orders from stores.

Poor pre-orders will kill a production run before it starts.

Also, the current basic game has a fixed set of minis in the box. That set didn't exactly fly off the shelf in my store.

 

[Glyfair]

Also, the current basic game has a fixed set of minis in the box. That set didn't exactly fly off the shelf in my store.

In fairness, they aren't selling a "fixed set of minis in a box." They are selling an introduction to D&D that includes a fixed set if minis.

 

[delericho]

(Incidentally, there's a very similar law to Merric's in the market research industry. You can have your data (a) fast, (b) cheap, or (c) accurate -- pick two out of the three.)

And to software. It can be good, fast (as in delivered soon) or cheap. Any two.

 

[kenobi65]

WotC embraced the collectible mentality for minis because the company was built on collectibility.

And because their prior attempts at entering the minis market with traditional non-randomized packaging failed.

 

[humble minion]

You have to wonder how much Mage Knight is responsible for the random nature of D&D minis. That was a successful product line before DDM even existed, and they used the random distribution method. But Mage Knight was a skirmish product line to itself - there was nothing like the additional RPGers market that there is for D&D minis. I wonder if WotC looked hard at Mage Knight, saw that it was going ok, and decided to replicate their business model rather than risk going out on a limb with non-random distribution. It'd be an understandable way of going about things - the whole minis line must have been a pretty big financial gamble for WotC in the first place...

 

[crazy_cat]

And because their prior attempts at entering the minis market with traditional non-randomized packaging failed.

QFT - But hey, like anybody who disagrees is actually going to take this into consideration...

 

[rgard]

In fairness, they aren't selling a "fixed set of minis in a box." They are selling an introduction to D&D that includes a fixed set if minis.

Hi Glyfair, too fine a hair to split in imho, but point taken.

 

[kenobi65]

You have to wonder how much Mage Knight is responsible for the random nature of D&D minis.

Wouldn't surprise me. WizKids couldn't make MK figures fast enough for a while there, and I'm sure WotC saw all that money and decided they wanted in.

(A friend of mine worked at WizKids when DDM came out, and, as I remember it, they felt more than a little threatened by it.)