Ex GW staffer explains GW's sales and stuff.

Robstick · Feb 16, 2012

reddit chat with an ex-GW sales rep (he posted this and this for verification) which included some interesting titbits of information:

It's true that space marines make up roughly 12% of sales, and all of the other races make up roughly 2% each, but that's lumping Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Blood Angels, etc. all in one big bunch.

40k and Fantasy actually split right down the middle in terms of actual sales. Popularity, as you say, may tend towards 40k in your area, but overall, both are really equally popular, according to the actual sales figures.

Our discount (which exists in quite a different form these days) was that we paid for metal by the gram rather than by the goblin index. I think that at that time it was $0.08 per gram, meaning that a normal fig (which weighs maybe 20 ounces) was $1.60. A dragon was not more expensive because it was more effective in-game; it was more expensive because it was heavier, and contained more metal.

The "goblin index" is how they actually price miniatures. A goblin is the least useful thing in the game, and so represents what mathematicians (and I happen to be one!) call a "unit". For example, in the decimal system, the number 1 is a unit (which is why it is not prime, by the way).

The easier way to explain this concept is that a package of metal Space Marine Terminators costs about $5 more than a package of plastic Space Marine Terminators, which are MUCH less costly to produce. However, the value of Terminators in the game is so high, that pricing them lower simply because they're plastic wouldn't make sense.

The company doesn't price things based on how much it costs to make them. It prices them on how much you value them.

And then

MercatorMap 41 points 14 hours ago

How does GW attempt to justify it's unnecessary price jumps to you, it's employees?

VladTheEmailer 44 points 14 hours ago

The logic for the price jumps is simple: nobody actually NEEDS any of this, and the market can withstand it. More to the point, if the company made buying an army or a unit extremely affordable, it would suffer financially.

A case in point is Blood Bowl. For YEARS, we heard retailers asking us to bring it back, and, reluctantly, we did. Sales were very, very low, because people who loved Blood Bowl already had teams, and there was nothing for them to buy. GW learned a lesson on that one.

Gorka Morka (my FAVORITE non-core game) is another good example: there were so many orks and trukks and bikes in the core game that there was never any reason for anyone to buy any further sets, other than they might need a certain bit, like a grappling cannon, or whatever. You could play a complete campaign with all of the bits in the box, which completely neutered the subsequent product line, which was extensive and expensive.

Having said that, I have LOADS of Brian Nelson's Grots, and they make up the core of my 40k army. Hands down, he was the sculptor who "got" orks (and orcs) the best. I LOVE that guy!

scythus 15 points 14 hours ago

So basically people will buy the same amount of pieces no matter the price, a higher price just means you can earn more money from one customer?

VladTheEmailer 44 points 14 hours ago

Not quite, but very close. People will spend the same amount of disposable income every month, be that on movies, miniatures, hookers, or what have you. The company wants (reasonably) to get as much of that disposable income as possible. Pricing, therefore, is set to ensure that you can't quite get everything you want in one month, so that you'll come back and spend money next month.

Not for nothing, it works on me, too. I have roughly 10,000 figs, and over Thanksgiving dropped $500 on a new Orc army, because I love the new plastics. Even knowing the marketing strategy, I'm helpless against it, because they're so cool. I mean, the new giant spider???

TAKE ALL MY MONEY!!

So guys, what do you think of this? Personally, yes, it IS expensive and slightly greedy, but we do buy it all the same.
And GW are a company out to make money after all.

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Ex GW staffer explains GW's sales and stuff.

Robstick Troll Admin

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Ex GW staffer explains GW's sales and stuff.

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