The View From Lenton

On one of the boards I peruse a forum member has posted a copy of an email to Games Workshop Investor Relations and the response he received.

I think it is a very good read as it reinforces a number of views people have picked up re GW especially over the past two years.

To me the most important of these is that they see "collecting" as the hobby. This appears to mean the decision to purchase and then buy the figures. Reading their reply what you do after the purchase is up to you and is of secondary importance to them.

I suspect that this creates a significant disconnect between the company and a large number of their customers. However it does explain why they make some of the decisions they do. For instance it explains lack of official competitive tournaments, the lack of up to date FAQs for rules, the lack of customer support (other than for broken/missing physical product) etc.

In essence they seem to say once you walk out of the shop their part in the "purchase" is over. I can understand that such a view is commonplace in the retail world.....but....but.....GW products are not a bunch of bananas and I suspect that a large number of customers believe they are buying something more enduring.

I'm not sure long term this is the best approach. I'm cynical enough to believe that in 2-3 years the impact of such an approach will see a 180 degree turnaround where we go back to the "holistic" approach of the early 2000s (and likely before).

Anyway check out the emails.

My original email:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write to you today as somebody who fell in love with second edition Space Marines. I still collect those old metal marines and pick them up when and where I can. Let us suppose that I would want to invest money into the company that has formed such a large part of my free time and the free time of my friends over the years. I have some questions about why you do business the way that you do.

1. Why do Games Workshop shy away from all customer relations in this interconnected age? Instead of talking to your customers through the internet, you use it as a shield with which to keep them away. Even the 'eavy metal facebook group was shut down without explanation, leaving us to assume that it was a draconian and clandestine measure that does little more than hurt a community which has already been shrunken to its smallest by your actions.

Instead, why not foster and grow that community? Your fans want to love the company, not just your products. Why not support international tournaments - like League of Legends - and have fans play test and break your rule sets again and again so that they can be better with each revision? Why not have an official forum for people to share the hobby and get FAQ's in real time from the design team? Why not open the design team up and let us see their process through video blogs? Why not give the company a face?

2. Why are your retail stores not places where I feel free to play, create and share in your fabulous hobby? The massive cuts Games Workshop have undertaken and the relentless mark-ups on box sets has alienated great swathes of your customers. Every Games Workshop store I have visited has tried to get me to buy Dark Vengeance or, before that, Assault on Black Reach. I have three standing armies of around 2000 points and still, they treat me like a new player.

And it's because old players don't want to go there. We don't want to deal with other people's children, we want to enjoy our favourite game. But now, in place of hobby centres we have virtual stalls that spit out box sets and ask us if we need any glue. I don't buy your glue, it's overpriced and ineffective. The same with your paint, it's overpriced, comes in useless flip tops instead of dropper bottles and has changed too often for me to connect to it anymore. Those issues go back to customer relations.

3. Why can't Tom Kirby admit that the company is in trouble? Every annual report is filled with this nonsense about healthy numbers when we can all see that dropping sales is being covered up by soaring prices. Why not do the logical thing and try to grow the consumer base by engaging with older hobbyists? If the prices were right, I wouldn't have spent my last lost of 'hobby money' on everything me and a friend would need to play the X-Wing Miniatures game, I'd have bought a Land Raider, some Terminators and a Tactical Squad with Rhino.

Prices are too high and even though Alan Sugar says bad salesmen cry about the prices, consumers just stop paying them. You've gone past the goldilocks zone and off into the woods with current prices and now you're faced with the problem of slashing those prices and not devaluing the product.

If you could please direct this mail to somebody who is willing to answer my many questions, I'd be thankful.

The Reply

Dear Mr -

Thanks so much for taking the time to send your email to the investor relations email address.

Your question 1

'1. Why do Games Workshop shy away from all customer relations in this interconnected age? Instead of talking to your customers through the internet, you use it as a shield with which to keep them away. Even the 'eavy metal facebook group was shut down without explanation, leaving us to assume that it was a draconian and clandestine measure that does little more than hurt a community which has already been shrunken to its smallest by your actions.

Instead, why not foster and grow that community? Your fans want to love the company, not just your products. Why not support international tournaments - like League of Legends - and have fans play test and break your rule sets again and again so that they can be better with each revision? Why not have an official forum for people to share the hobby and get FAQ's in real time from the design team? Why not open the design team up and let us see their process through video blogs? Why not give the company a face?'

Well, we certainly do not shy away from contact with our customers - we see them face to face all the time in our stores around the world, at events and of course the thousands of visitors who come to Warhammer World in Nottingham every year. Our experience of the comment sections of, for example, Facebook, is that they are not very helpful to most of our customers as they simply become a place for trolling, spam or vitriolic opinion. This is to be regretted, but is a fact of the internet age. We are not alone in this opinion.

http://mashable.com/2014/09/02/pewdiepie-cuts-youtube-comments/

As regards international tournaments, letting fans break our rule sets and so on, our main thrust is not about competitive gameplay, but about the wonderful worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 and the amazing models which we painstakingly create for our customers to collect. Of course, if some of our fans wish to play competitive, 'hardcore' tournaments, then that is up to them - we wish them well and hope that they very much have a good time. We, however, do not seek to prescribe what anyone does with our models, rather we let our customers and collectors get stuck in to whatever takes their fancy from the broad and inclusive spectrum of collecting, assembling, modelling, painting and gaming. If collectors wish to write their own rules, or use no rules, paint their models, leave them unpainted - we are not precious! -'Everyone's hobby is not the same as mine' is something we take very much to heart.

Linked to that sentiment and principle is our belief that any 'cult of personality' is not helpful either. We do not wish to hand out official 'rulings' from 'personalities', and we see no need to - by and large our customers enjoy engaging with each other and making their own minds up about what rules (if any) to use, how to interpret a particular phrase or line and so on. Again, we do not wish to be prescriptive in that regard.

Your question 2

'2. Why are your retail stores not places where I feel free to play, create and share in your fabulous hobby? The massive cuts Games Workshop have undertaken and the relentless mark-ups on box sets has alienated great swathes of your customers. Every Games Workshop store I have visited has tried to get me to buy Dark Vengeance or, before that, Assault on Black Reach. I have three standing armies of around 2000 points and still, they treat me like a new player.

And it's because old players don't want to go there. We don't want to deal with other people's children, we want to enjoy our favourite game. But now, in place of hobby centres we have virtual stalls that spit out box sets and ask us if we need any glue. I don't buy your glue, it's overpriced and ineffective. The same with your paint, it's overpriced, comes in useless flip tops instead of dropper bottles and has changed too often for me to connect to it anymore. Those issues go back to customer relations.'

It does not feel as if it is our place to answer such a personal question as to why you do not feel at home in a Games Workshop store. Many thousands of customers do, every day. However, it is equally true that many other customers would rather engage with like minded collectors in a club, an independent retailer, or in a pals games room. All of which are super- we make no judgement about where, when or how anyone enjoys their hobby, and very much encourage such diversity and choice.

As to prices, ultimately it is of course entirely down to each individual how they wish to spend their hard earned cash. We would not want that any other way. We do, however, believe that Games Workshop products are better quality than ever before and offer good value. Not that we are resting on our laurels of course - we can always do better, and strive every day to do so.

Meanwhile our paint range has always been a key part of our offer and we continually strive to make it ever better too. The current range is extremely popular, and the painting system it supports allows and encourages everyone to get on and achieve really good results. Some of the new paints are amazing - have you seen the technical paints? Ardcoat gloss varnish, Agrellan Earth, Blood for the Blood God (blood effect), Lahmian medium for glazes and transfer sealing, liquid green stuff, Nihilakh oxide verdigris effect to name a few. We experience few issues with our paints or glues - but we are always seeking to improve our products and receive any comments/observations thankfully.

Your Question 3

This question/observation seems to be about price. We make no apologies about our prices and Games Workshop is, as Tom Kirby says, in good health. We are a very profitable business, manufacturing all our own products in Nottingham, UK, and regularly deliver strong dividends to our owners. Not many businesses have been able to say the same, especially over the difficult economic times of the last few years. We achieve this success by selling lots of Citadel miniatures to lots of happy collectors all around the world.

Of course, we know that all customers have choices - no one does business in a vacuum. We respect that, and think it is a very healthy thing. Whilst we would of course prefer that you continue to enjoy the wide range of products available from Games Workshop, we also very much hope that if you decide that X Wing prepainted models are the range for you, that you have a great time with them.

Once again, many thanks for your considered letter.

Best Regards

Investor Relations.

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