Why is games workshop overpriced

It is to be noted that taking GW tabletop games as a hobby, it means a relentless empty pocket. Some of the reasons for Games Workshop high pricing could be:.

Due to the high level of creativity, the price you pay can be determined by the price of the concept of art and design. The price of the material is mostly inconsequential and non-determinants to highly creative products. Consider when buying a car. Mostly, the high or low pricing is not because of the body material but it's mostly because of the design and other creative factors in it. Same case the Games Workshop products you are mostly paying for the design and the concept of art.

Fans are a massive contributing factor to the Games Workshop pricing because they are willing to pay for seemingly anything, with extraordinarily little questioning. Despite there being cheaper alternatives out there, customers and fans choose Games Workshop because of its high level of creativity and their loyalty. So after a massive build-up of hype, they release the box set with limited numbers, and a jacked up price which gives the GW fan club very little time to even question the bang-for-buck factor and these limited releases sell out online in the first few minutes of release, leaving the people who were waiting for their paycheck to arrive to contend with scalpers.

I get the appeal, I've been neck deep in 40k since 2nd edition, however it doesn't mean I can't be critical of them. They're a business after all, and we, the fans should hold them accountable in my opinion. Every product by Games Workshop is copyrighted. This means that it cannot be copied or reproduced and sold by any other company or individual. As it is widely known that it is illegal to reproduce an original work of a person, reproducing Games Workshops products as Warhammer leads to prosecution.

When it comes to tabletop games, Games Workshop is the most successful and they know it thus their steep pricing. Technology in plastics has of course come a long way and the plastic models themselves have also come a VERY long way since 2nd edition Warhammer 40K!

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So, why are Games Workshop products so expensive, anyway? Thread starter vivsavage Start date Feb 9, Tags games workshop. As 40k and the new, Chaos-laden, WFB took root and the idea of the character model blossomed into named models you only ever needed one of, the long march of pricing by army position began, leading to the extremes we see now.

So when did "expensive" become "too expensive"? In my case, it came on gradually as the GW Annual Price Increase became first an institution, and then became a lie. I was miffed when they put the prices up from 33p a figure to 50p in one fell swoop.

Then they introduced those unnatural newfangled plastic slotty bases. There is no such thing as "too expensive". When it reaches that level, no one will buy them. Obviously, people are buying them now, so they are not "too expensive". I ain't buying them, for a variety of reasons. But I am an Old Fart, and not part of their marketing scheme. Since I ain't buying any regardless of the price, I don't particularly care what they charge.

In the 90's through the very early 00's, when I was working on my Space Marine army, I considered them to be quite expensive, but I saved up and bought the necessary units. When the Plastic imperial Guard came out, it seemed like a price drop. Sure they were plastic, but 20 guys for less than 10 used to be? That got me into collecting IG, but then the price of plastic figs started going up. I switched over to buying used and stripping figs. By the time it was done a couple years ago, I looked around and realized that the price of plastic figs had nearly doubled for some sets and I would be buying very few new GW figs ever again.

Someday I may buy a box or two of new figs to supplement my existing armies, but it's just too much to do more than that or even consider a new army. Even now, I hit Bartertown for the bulk of any army I want to start up and only buy what I absolutely cannot find there in a reasonable amount of searching and biding time. I bought the original hard back book in I think The figures were high but within a stretch of reason.

Prices started climbing almost right away. So to answer the question in started around 88 and by I wouldn't pay their prices. A few RARE figs for display and my gaming bucks went elsewhere. If I see something I like, I'll buy it. I don't play any GW games, so am not tied to a product line.

Compared to other boutique fantasy lines they don't seem over-the-top. I find most of them within my modest budget. Keep in mind though that I buy hardly anything but core unit type troops. I tend to use less expensive special and character figures from other companies. I have never bought into the tournament style game or opponent, so it has always worked for me.

They started as too expensive. Compartitive to the Irregular miniature armies I was collecting at the time. This was the final death blow tipping point where GW really lost me, the release of 2nd edition WH40K when everything went corporate and kiddie-centric, when GW stopped being a company that appreciated creativity and encouraged it and turned to trying to stifle it, control it, and channel it into being just another revenue stream into their profit margin with grossly overpriced hobby supplies that were and are still so-priced for merely bearing the GW company label.

Sorry kids, but I don't buy into the whole branding propaganda approach. I've been building plastic models since the late s, still do every now and again, and have learned far too many things about tools, paints, materials, et al to buy into the "Games Workshop Hobby" appeal to pre-teen clique-iness marketing hype.

I understand your attitude, John, as a fellow "graybeard. I was already an experienced model builder, and a board gamer, and fell in love with Superior starships and my first sci-fi wargame for miniatures, Starguard which I still play every now and again. The hook for me was not only all the eye candy, but the fact that as a high school sophomore I could actually afford to buy enough troops for two sides, plus paints and other supplies and actually play the game with my friends, all paid for with my small monthly allowance and whatever extra money I could earn from odd jobs, etc.

I for one do not appreciate our hobby being seen as something only for rich kids with more money than sense and too much spare time on their hands, and IMHO it is this perception and attitude GW that has fueled too often and for too long.

Of course, this is why I appreciate the new upstarts that have begun to rise up, especially such as Defiance Games. Hopefully this trend will take off, and the "Evil Empire" will begin to wane.