Why no GW presence in India?

[AGC]

On paper India should be a major market for Games Workshop: A billion people, a rapidly growing middle class, english as the official langauge, a thriving heavy-metal/punk scene and a long tradition of building sculptures and painting highly detailed figures, yet as far as I can tell the only GW presence is in a single shop called "Hobby Ideas" in Dehli.

Does anyone know why?

[Bodysnatcher]

Market analytics show it's unfavourable?
Copyright protection isn't sufficient?
Lack of resource to expand markets?

[Hendarion]

If Delhi would prove to be a gold mine, they'd clearly expand. One problem will be that even if the middle class is growing rapidly, the income still is much lower than in other countries.

[Mr Ogre]

They are expanding East, but like most companies, are seeking to do so at a sustainable rate. They learnt a valuable lesson post LotR boon...

[canberraguy]

Painted figs are in Sri Lanka, not sure about the size of the hobby there though, it's industry instead.

[AGC]

One problem will be that even if the middle class is growing rapidly, the income still is much lower than in other countries.

That raises an interesting question:- What sort of income do you need to have for GW to consider you as a potential customer?

Before the mods jump in and close the thread I should just say that all price related discussion should be kept in the correct "sticky".

Back on topic: Even if the average wage is a fraction of that in the West I would still think in the mega-cities like Mumbai there should be enough people with sufficient earning power for GW to get it's foot in the door. But so far I've not seen any interest from them in doing so. The annual reports are filled with talk of breaking into the United States despite repeated failures to do so, but India not a word.

[Sean_OBrien]

Why not India?

The per capita income is right around $3700. While there are a few on the rise, the majority are looking at spending their mad money on things like indoor plumbing, a TV, phones or moving out of India. It isn't a slight against the country - just largely the reality of the situation on the ground.

Before they move towards India, they will look towards countries like Brazil or other emerging economies which have already built up their infrastructure to the point where extra spending money can be spent on things like toy soldiers.

[xxRavenxx]

Culture is a possible reason too.

I have no knowledge of what is popular in India, but if high fantasy based on central european folklaw isn't their thing, warhammer is a no-go. If scifi isn't popular, 40k is out too. If anything in either system offends a large religious body (There are 4, I seem to think?) it would be dire for the companies profits there too. GW need both systems to be accepted and popular in a country to even attempt to penetrate it.

[Der_Benson]

I have no knowledge of what is popular in India, but if high fantasy based on central european folklaw isn't their thing, warhammer is a no-go. If scifi isn't popular, 40k is out too.

good point... maybe some (relatively) easy-to-aquire statistics like the success of the LOTR movies/Books (or starship troopers respectively) could give us a hint... just an idea...

[AGC]

good point... maybe some (relatively) easy-to-aquire statistics like the success of the LOTR movies/Books (or starship troopers respectively) could give us a hint... just an idea...

It would but I have no idea how to get those figures. Wikipedia only breaks it down between "USA" and "Foreign" also New Line Cinema that made the films was itself part of Warner Brothers so trying to get the underlying figures might be rather difficult. I tried Lucas films (Owner of the Star Wars franchise) but it's privately owned so no chance of getting any figures out of it, but I did notice that Lucas Arts does not even list India under it's "Asia" contact and support page so it may be that Western style Sci-Fi and Fantasy simply doesn't have a market there. Which to be honest would surprise me as Star Wars is actually based on old Samurai Films and the Indian aesthetic does have a lot in common with the Sino-Japan one.

[baphomael]

It would but I have no idea how to get those figures. Wikipedia only breaks it down between "USA" and "Foreign" also New Line Cinema that made the films was itself part of Warner Brothers so trying to get the underlying figures might be rather difficult. I tried Lucas films (Owner of the Star Wars franchise) but it's privately owned so no chance of getting any figures out of it, but I did notice that Lucas Arts does not even list India under it's "Asia" contact and support page so it may be that Western style Sci-Fi and Fantasy simply doesn't have a market there. Which to be honest would surprise me as Star Wars is actually based on old Samurai Films and the Indian aesthetic does have a lot in common with the Sino-Japan one.

But then, its only in recent years that Hollywood films have got anywhere close to being popular in India. For a long time Bollywood films have ruled the roost.

[Sean_OBrien]

It would but I have no idea how to get those figures. Wikipedia only breaks it down between "USA" and "Foreign" also New Line Cinema that made the films was itself part of Warner Brothers so trying to get the underlying figures might be rather difficult. I tried Lucas films (Owner of the Star Wars franchise) but it's privately owned so no chance of getting any figures out of it, but I did notice that Lucas Arts does not even list India under it's "Asia" contact and support page so it may be that Western style Sci-Fi and Fantasy simply doesn't have a market there. Which to be honest would surprise me as Star Wars is actually based on old Samurai Films and the Indian aesthetic does have a lot in common with the Sino-Japan one.

You need to actually look at a relevant source as opposed to Wiki for such information:

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?pag...pofthering.htm

According to their numbers, the first of the trilogy grossed $874,459 while the last grossed $944,651 in India. You can also hit Box Office India which offers additional information regarding the Indian movie market.

At this point, there just isn't enough disposable income to make it an attractive market for a company like GW. In a decades time, that could very well change - but I don't think it will be much before that (speaking as someone who has been to Mumbai three times in the past 8 years). When it does mature, GW could very easily release a new faction within the fantasy setting to take advantage of the culture that exists and as of right now, they are already in an OK position with the 40K setting (much of the stuff which GW has borrowed from over the years has been borrowed by Bollywood as well).

For now, South America would be the better option. Brazil, Chile and Argentina all have existing fan bases who order (at great expense) materials from Europe or North America. They have a more developed infrastructure, so less of the surplus capital in families will be used to improve living conditions. That surplus capital is already much larger when compared to countries like India. They also will have fewer linguistic and cultural issues to deal with (GW already translates material into Spanish and finding a Portugese translator is a bit easier than figuring out which Hindi dialect to use (they have no official language - though the majority of the urban populations do speak English at varying levels of understanding).

[AGC]

I think that answeres it. It's best we just lock this thread now.