Games Workshop Pricing Feedback Thread

[Jim30]

I think battlefront won themselves a ton of new customers with the V3 changeover. Adopting a mentality that says publicly 'we want you to only buy one rules set and then we'll update it at our cost for free' has won them plenty of supporters in my area, and ensured plenty of sales for the new book. Its a genius marketing technique, with new people getting into the game, plenty of people feeling warm and fuzzy and plans aplenty to buy the new hardback book. A small outlay has almost certainly more than paid for itself in profits.

In terms of wider competition and FLGS - I've been to a couple of UK based FLGs and my observation would be firstly that each time I go in, the GW racking space feels a bit smaller, and the wider companies feel a bit bigger. Similarly, there is always a new different game to try. I think GWs problem isn't that there is one new mega company out there, its that there are plenty of companies (often with ex GW staff) out there who know what sells, what people want to see, and who seem to get customer service and communication in a different way. They are marketing at the post initial euphoria of OMG SPEEZH MARHIIINEES people (e.g. later teens early twenties) and it seems to work - people with high disposable incomes are going there, and not GW. My local club of roughly 30 people has probably halved its GW focus in the last 18 months, and the money gone to new games like Maulifax, Hordes and FOW instead.

[Wintermute]

You are all aware the new plastic Tyranid Hive Tyrant is cheaper than the Failcast kit it replaces, plus it has more options?

[Ozorik]

I think battlefront won themselves a ton of new customers with the V3 changeover.

If only they would stop constantly outdating their army books requiring frequent updates (at £30 a time) to stay 'competitive'. My V3 softback also had pages literally falling out of it before I had even finished reading it. It was a nice gesture but its not much more than a gimmick with such low quality books.

[Sgt John Keel]

You are all aware the new plastic Tyranid Hive Tyrant is cheaper than the Failcast kit it replaces, plus it has more options?

I'm glad I didn't buy the metal Tyrant when it was £20. Oh, wait…

Bjorn seems to have gotten a more substantial drop, and Old One Eye almost seem reasonably priced.

[Druchii Monkey]

But you guys spotted the prices for the individual Finecast Space Wolf Marines such as the Wolf Guard and Lukas the Trickster?

Before, i think prices used to be between £8.20 - £10.25 for metal.
We now have 9 models for individual Finecast Space Wolf Marines standardised on £12 each.

Not only does this seem to push the price from the metal models by up to 45%, but it also sets a solid bar for 40K Finecast clam packs at £12.

Currently most 40K clam packs are £9.50 - £12.50, but would not be surprised if from now on they are £12 and up.

It is this price sliding i most object to in the GW pricing policy.

Oh, and the vast majority of Finecast releases are web-exclusives from what i can tell, well everything except Arjac Rockfist (£15) and the Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf (£25). (Note to self: Lukas the Trickster looks fun BUT double-check i can return individual Finecast models to GW store if there are any issues and be prepared for Finecast replacement ping-pong - more web-exclusives could equal more logistics pain for customer.)

[Sgt John Keel]

We now have 9 models for individual Finecast Space Wolf Marines standardised on £12 each.

But not the standard bearer which is £15, I think. And I have no idea how they justify the extra £3.

Well, bottom line is I'm not paying £15 for a Marine sized mini. I'm not. Especially not in resin. Now they can go ahead and price me out of this game as prices slowly creep above this line.

@strewart: AUD1-2 for a supermarket loaf seems pretty cheap to me. I'd expect to pay the equivalent of AUD3-3.5 here.

[Mister Blak]

Supermarket quality bread is about $1-2, bakery can get to $3-4.

Its no secret that almost everything is more expensive in Aus now since the Aus dollar strengthened significantly in the last 5 years or so. Not a fault unique to GW, but companies are happy to push up prices and blame a weak AUD, yet when the AUD is strong they shut up and don't decrease price to pass the savings on. Retailers in Aus are taking huge cuts the last few years simply due to the strength of the AUD, which is why a lot of people are shopping online now. I do distinctly recall specifically GW justifying a price rise in 2001-2002 for the reason that the AUD was weak though, so they are at fault for that.

On a global scale, really the problem with GW is the rapid increase in price over time and the worsening value of the product due to more models being needed or the specific sculpts in many cases just being really old. Almost every other product decreases in price over time while GW still keeps pushing up and up. If prices now were the same as what they were 10-15 years ago, I'd still be buying loads directly from GW and using their stores a lot. If they were 10% higher to take inflation into account (though in reality they should be cheaper in Aus now due to the dollar strength) I'd still be buying directly from GW. As it is, many things have doubled in price or more in that time, which is way beyond acceptable price inflation for anything, and this is a global pricing issue of GWs in every country.

I was interested in picking up some of the plastic thunderwolf cavalry for conversions into my WoC army. For 3 plastic frames, and 3 marines riding large mounts, I was expecting about $50, maybe $60 for the kit. That would have been a little high, but acceptable. I just saw the preorder page, $91 for the kit! Holy crap! Yes I do still sometimes get surprised at just how insanely high priced GW is even though I shouldn't, thats crazy talk.
So I'm on the lookout for wolves from other manufacturers that are about the same size as GW horses if anyone knows of any.

Holy mega-inflation batman! I certainly wouldn't pay £91 for those. Truly Australia has been shafted big time.

I believe those models cost around 50% of that here in GB, and I still wouldn't buy them (but perhaps that's mostly because I don't like space wolves)

[Tymell]

You are all aware the new plastic Tyranid Hive Tyrant is cheaper than the Failcast kit it replaces, plus it has more options?

Again: that's nice, but a price drop of a few pounds doesn't stack up much when they've spent years pushing it up. £33 is still too much.

If they apply drops across most of the entire range and continue that for another 5 years or so, then I'll change my tune.

[Dr Zoidberg]

Holy mega-inflation batman! I certainly wouldn't pay £91 for those. Truly Australia has been shafted big time.

I don't know what they cost in GBP, but the Aussie price is equal to 61 GBP a today's exchange rates.

[Finnigan2004]

I don't know what they cost in GBP, but the Aussie price is equal to 61 GBP a today's exchange rates.

All I can guess is that Australian prices are adjusted to subsidize the price of the crack that the people setting those prices are using. Seriously though, those prices are absolutely insane. I feel bad for balking at the Canadian price for the wolf riders.

[lbecks]

All I can guess is that Australian prices are adjusted to subsidize the price of the crack that the people setting those prices are using. Seriously though, those prices are absolutely insane. I feel bad for balking at the Canadian price for the wolf riders.

Australians are paying more so GW can build more stores! It's an amazing strategy...

[thenamelessdead]

But not the standard bearer which is £15, I think. And I have no idea how they justify the extra £3.

It's staggering isn't it? £15 for a less than exciting character choice. Oh, but how silly of me, they'll only sell a few so it's only right that the customer makes up for that at the tills.

Adversely, I notice that the 'Finecast' version of Bjorn TFH is only a couple of quid more than the ludicrously priced plastic dread, unless I am much mistaken?

[Blutrache]

Well, characters and banners are at least more "paintable" than this: Spore mines

9 epic spore mines for the grand price of £15! I guess my 30+ plastic ones from the Macragge set will be worth their weight in gold any day soon...

Cheers!

[Autumn Leaves]

You are all aware the new plastic Tyranid Hive Tyrant is cheaper than the Failcast kit it replaces, plus it has more options?

Does this mean that plastic is going to be the new finecast?
Not a bad idea.... ;-)

9 epic spore mines for the grand price of £15! Cheers!

Wow.
That is brutal pricing.
Gouge factor Ten, Scotty.

[New Cult King]

Urgh, AU$91 for the Thunderwolf Cav? Say what now?

[Darnok]

Since Bloodknights seem to be the epitome of perverse pricing...

They are currently a bit more than 12 pounds per model. A single box of them will do it for most people. But Thunderwolves come at 11 pounds per model, Bloodcrushers are even a bit more expensive - and usually you want lots of them. To me that looks like one of two options: a) Bloodknights are not that extreme, or b) ... well you know what I would say.

[musical]

Since Bloodknights seem to be the epitome of perverse pricing...

They are currently a bit more than 12 pounds per model. A single box of them will do it for most people. But Thunderwolves come at 11 pounds per model, Bloodcrushers are even a bit more expensive - and usually you want lots of them. To me that looks like one of two options: a) Bloodknights are not that extreme, or b) ... well you know what I would say.

Yes but both Bloodcrushers and Thunderwolves are large monstrous cavalry as oppose to regular cavalry, even the model is bigger (more pastic you see ).

[Hellebore]

The bloodknights are still slightly more expensive in Australia. The Thunderwolves are $91 AUD, so they're $30.33 each. The Bloodknights are $165 AUD, so $33 each. 5 Thunderwolves are still cheaper than 5 bloodknights. I suppose if you want more than one pack it gets more expensive relative to the bloodknights.

Each of the space wolf characters is $33 AUD with the standard bearer at $41....

Hellebore

[jack da greenskin]

each of the space wolf characters is $33 aud with the standard bearer at $41....

Hellebore

$41!!!!!!

[loveless]

The 40K price slide on the new Space Wolf stuff is both noticable and unwelcome.

They may just have hit my limit on single character models with this one - though I have noticed that several metal versions of the "new Finecast" models have shown up on eBay for $40 (USD) each...ugh.