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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MongooseMatt" data-source="post: 5871121" data-attributes="member: 16996">Well, same here, but I don't actively dislike them, which is what seems to be going on here.That's what they want you to think...I am surprised to hear you talking about similar prices.  GW is generally known for being on the (eye-wateringly) expensive side.  Most other minis companies compete with them on price.That would make no sense for a business.I'll give you a real-world example.  We do not hire a translator to turn one of our books into, say, German, nor do we print such books.  We licence them out to a German publisher.  By your rationale, we would be more in touch with the German market and could support German products better if we did - and you would be right.  However, we have little to no knowledge of German retailers, German culture (and don't underestimate 'local' knowledge) and if we brought in someone fullt-ime to handle all of that, we flat would not make any money.Better to hand it off to a German publisher who already has all that infrastructure and knowledge in place.The same is true for GW and RPGs and boardgames.  Yes, they could expand their market but they a) could not do so efficiently and b) would likely affect their core business if they tried.In years gone by, GW have tried these markets themselves, and found it was not something they were best placed to do. That is why they have licensed out, and it now becomes FFG's responsibility to handle the support.Ah ha!There is something very telling about White Dwarf.  You look on it as changing and damaging the hobby.  But look at it another way.What has happened to every other British RPG-based magazine that came along after White Dwarf? There was a big, sucking gap in the market there - and yet they all failed.GW, I suspect, saw the writing on the wall for such magazines and if they had continued with the White Dwarf you remember, it would have failed and now be consigned to history.  By turning it into something that drove GW's own products, they were able to create their own vertical market and keep the magazine going.In short, the ship was already sinking. The damage had already been done to the market, and it could no longer sustain a print magazine.Well, do they have an obligation to do so?  They have built their own market, one they have managed to pretty much isolate from the rest of the hobby, and grown it to a size larger than, say, RPGs alone. They chose their ground and are servicing their customers very, very well.But again, let's look at this another way.  I don't know anything about you, but let us assume you have an IQ north of 160.Do you not have an obligation to the rest of Mankind to discover the cure for cancer? Figure out practical fusion power or hydrogen fuel cells for cars? Come up with a technical method to stop global warming?Just what are you doing for the rest of us? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Seriously though, GW's mere presence helps they hobby far more than any attempt to get directly involved in RPGs or boardgames.  As I said later, especially in the UK, they are the main gateway into the hobby for the younger generation, and that is _essential_ for its survival.  The rest of us running other companies are doing bugger all (or having bugger all effect) to bring in new blood.  Not proud of that, but the truth is GW eclipses everyone else's efforts.I put it to you (he said, adopting a lawyer's voice) that this isn't the reason at all. I put it to you that the reason you don't much care for GW is that you don'y much care for their actual products.  Are you a Warhammer fanatic? A 40k boy? No?  Then there is nothing GW is doing that would have the slightest interest <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Put another way, BMW could release what is technically the best car in the world.  But I wouldn't touch it because their products do not interest me in the slightest.There was indeed a time when you could buy WFRP in their stores.  However, it is not difficult to believe that they sold X WFRP books to 10X miniatures box sets.  So, what do you put on your shelves for best effect?Last I heard, GW had about 2,500 employees, and they have an awful lot of shops.  That is a frightening amount of fixed costs. In their place, I would would have nothing on my shelves other than things I knew would sell well and if something started failing, kick it in favour for something else.No business has any other choice, really.They are - and, through licence fees and royalties, they do so for no investment and no risk. It is a perfect arrangement for a company.A Call to Arms: Star Fleet is coming to a shop in Brighton very soon.(Hey, I gotta make a living as well, you know <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />).I hope I have given good reasons for you to think otherwise.</blockquote>

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