While the 25% hit in stock is troubling for a publicly traded company, this isn't the biggest thing that worries me. The attitude and business mentality of Games Workshop is far more troubling. If they do not finally face their faults and poor business decisions of the past few years, they will be in danger of going under completely. For those who doubt that, I refer to the American Auto industry's collapse a few years ago. There are many factors that went into this, but a big part of it was that, despite shoddy and questionable craftsmanship and efficiency through the past 30 years, Americans for the most part still bought American made cars, and so American car companies were content to churn out relatively poor cars because they knew they didn't have to really try and people would still buy. With the rapid rise of gas prices, coupled with a struggling economy, people couldn't justify those purchases as they once did, and also saw the better value of European and Asian manufacturers. People started buying a lot more foreign made vehicles, and the auto industry was content to ignore it, until, too late, they realized the damage to their own companies. Many "needed" multiple bailouts to pull themselves from the wreckage they caused themselves because of failing to adjust and compete with the others.
How does this compare to GW situation you may be asking? Well, they have the same attitude towards their own customer base, and while their products are mostly of high quality, of late, many have been hit or miss in design. This, on top of ridiculous pricing for most items now, and also their alienating of their player base has led many people to decrease their purchases significantly, or even switch gaming systems altogether. I have been die hard GW customer since i started hobbying, but lately, even i have had a hard time being able to justify purchasing much new stuff, and I have also started getting into a few other games, albeit on a much smaller scale compared to my GW stuff. But, the fact remains, when GW starts to lose its more loyal customers, or they stop buying as much, they will eventually be in dire straights. I see fewer and fewer new people getting into the game, despite their interest in doing so, for one simple and glaring reason; The PRICING.
Right now, Games Workshop faces far more competition than they ever have, and they haven't even thought of changing to adapt in any way. In fact, the games systems that were very good value and balanced and mature games to many, they completely canned last year (Battlefleet Gothic, Epic 40k, Warmaster, Necromunda, Mordheim, Inquisitor), much to the frustration of the many people who still played them. This forced people into having to start the most expensive games available, which many don't want to do, and rightly so. Why should they when there is now more than a few decent alternatives. Lord of The Rings - Specifically Lord of the Rings and not The Hobbit - is now the only game system which is still mostly good value, and not a huge investment to play, but, next to no one is buying the models because it just doesn't appeal to everyone the same.
If GW does not make significant strides this year in drastically changing their draconian business habits with their customers and their pricing, they will quickly end up in the position of GM and Chrysler a few years back; without a penny and slowly dying because of it. Things have to change and soon. They now cannot afford to have such an arrogant attitude toward their products and expect things to stay the same. I really hope they do realize this, because GW still have the best lore and model/army choices out there and I would be sad to see it go. The coming year is going to be a very interesting one to see how they respond.
No comments:
Post a Comment