# Mark Wells Steps Down as CEO



## Zion (May 31, 2011)

From Faeit212:



> * Games Workshop CEO Steps Down *
> 
> 
> Mark Wells has been the CEO of Games Workshop for 5 years, and he has decided to step down. I will leave the rest of it to the news bit below. A huge thanks to the secret squirrel for drawing our attention to this latest bit of news.
> ...


----------



## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Thank the emperor, lets get some new blood in there who can see past their shiny plastic speese muhreens and make all the gaming lines better.


----------



## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

The leadership didn't really change though. The guy who was making joint choices with the CEO is just making them solo now.


----------



## Necrosis (Nov 1, 2008)

scscofield said:


> The leadership didn't really change though. The guy who was making joint choices with the CEO is just making them solo now.


Agreed, I doubt we will see any changes.


----------



## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Hard to say... it's still $400k annually they could at least use to hire some new writers and artists to further improve the game.


----------



## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Arcane said:


> Thank the emperor, lets get some new blood in there who can see past their shiny plastic speese muhreens and make all the gaming lines better.


Did you actually read what the article said ?

"For the past five years Games Workshop has had the best CEO it has ever had. Under Mark Wells’ leadership we have become better organised, clearer thinking and commercially more robust." 

I.e. The old guy did a great job so expect more of the same.


----------



## MetalHandkerchief (Aug 3, 2009)

This has potential to be very good or very bad.

Either they just got rid of the one person trying to curb price rises and resist toy-ification of kits, or one those two things' major proponents.

I will be watching *very* closely for even the *slightest* change in company practice henceforth.


----------



## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Magpie_Oz said:


> Did you actually read what the article said ?
> 
> "For the past five years Games Workshop has had the best CEO it has ever had. Under Mark Wells’ leadership we have become better organised, clearer thinking and commercially more robust."
> 
> I.e. The old guy did a great job so expect more of the same.


That's a matter of opinion. In the past 5 years my army has been swept under the rug, GW went back on their promise to do every codex before a new edition, prices have increased beyond that of natural inflation, and 6th edition brought more nerf/buff marketing schemes than any other before it.

That's not to say there hasn't been a lot of good. I enjoy 6th edition as a whole. I'm just saying I hope it is a chance for new beginnings and better things to come.


----------



## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

Key thing is that is GW opinion. So says the article.


----------



## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

GW says they are doing great, since they run their show their opinion matters quite a bit. Yes?


----------



## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Arcane said:


> That's a matter of opinion. In the past 5 years my army has been swept under the rug, GW went back on their promise to do every codex before a new edition, prices have increased beyond that of natural inflation, and 6th edition brought more nerf/buff marketing schemes than any other before it.
> 
> That's not to say there hasn't been a lot of good. I enjoy 6th edition as a whole. I'm just saying I hope it is a chance for new beginnings and better things to come.


The press release is for the shareholders, they say things are going great, so if things then fundamentally change, all sorts of dramas happen with the share price.


----------



## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Arcane said:


> Sure their opinion matters. So does mine. Why then do you constantly have to question it?


I'm real sorry to break it to you mate, but your opinion is not going to impact on the decisions made by the GW management.

It's not my opinion at all it is GW's as stated in their press release


----------



## Haskanael (Jul 5, 2011)

no new blood, the whole position was dropped. so just a guy leaving.


----------



## Adramalech (Nov 10, 2009)

My prayers... they are being answered ;u; A new age of liberty from price hikes and matt ward approaches, my friends. <3


----------



## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

Adramalech said:


> My prayers... they are being answered ;u; A new age of liberty from price hikes and matt ward approaches, my friends. <3


Not sure... to be honest. I've just seen a lot of people drop of the game. I feel really weird, I hope things are pointing that GW is going the wrong decision. I heard casts cost a lot of money, so with the new model making, new codex's, rules and organization, are they really making the money they need? I don't think so, but the only proof I have is empty GW stores.

I'm not sure how much power the CEO actually has though in terms of what he controls. Sure he might make many of the ultimate decisions, but I'm not sure that if there are any problems with GW currently that we don't know about (maybe hidden under the rug) that they will be fixed now.


----------



## scscofield (May 23, 2011)

The way this reads to me is as follows.

DudeA: lets do this
DudeB (supposedly in charge of DudeA): good idea make it so

5 years of this repeating...

DudeA: why are you here?
DudeB: good point, laters!


----------



## Adramalech (Nov 10, 2009)

ckcrawford said:


> Not sure... to be honest. I've just seen a lot of people drop of the game. I feel really weird, I hope things are pointing that GW is going the wrong decision. I heard casts cost a lot of money, so with the new model making, new codex's, rules and organization, are they really making the money they need? I don't think so, but the only proof I have is empty GW stores.
> 
> I'm not sure how much power the CEO actually has though in terms of what he controls. Sure he might make many of the ultimate decisions, but I'm not sure that if there are any problems with GW currently that we don't know about (maybe hidden under the rug) that they will be fixed now.


Who said I only had the one prayer?


----------



## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

So basically Tom Kirby is back in charge of the whole thing again? and has two votes on the board.


----------



## Archon Dan (Feb 6, 2012)

That makes it sound conspiratorial.


----------



## Adramalech (Nov 10, 2009)

bitsandkits said:


> So basically Tom Kirby is back in charge of the whole thing again? and has two votes on the board.


If what I'm reading about him is correct then things could be (read: are) looking up.


----------



## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Here's an interview with Tom Kirby from 2000, it give some insight into what he's like. He seems like an intelligent man with good ideas even if I don't agree with some of his business ideas (mostly the practicality of GW stores.)

It's funny to read this in hindsight because he mentions things like the poor quality of his competitors products. I wonder how he feels now that those competitors have stepped up the quality like Privateer Press and stolen a lot of his business. 

http://www.twst.com/interview/7153


----------



## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Archon Dan said:


> That makes it sound conspiratorial.


=I=
Nothing to see here, move along citizen...... :security:


Guess we all just have to sit and wait now....?


----------



## DeathKlokk (Jun 9, 2008)

Arcane said:


> That's a matter of opinion. In the past 5 years my army has been swept under the rug, GW went back on their promise to do every codex before a new edition, prices have increased beyond that of natural inflation, and 6th edition brought more nerf/buff marketing schemes than any other before it.












Hmm... Is an Ettin with only one head still an Ettin?

I see no changes imminent.


----------



## nevynxxx (Dec 27, 2011)

DeathKlokk said:


> Hmm... Is an Ettin with only one head still an Ettin?


No, it's a very lonely Ogre.


----------



## Too_hot_to_handle (Jan 4, 2007)

GW went back on their promise to do every codex before a new edition, 


when did they say this out of interest?


----------



## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Too_hot_to_handle said:


> GW went back on their promise to do every codex before a new edition,
> 
> 
> when did they say this out of interest?


Was told this by the GW sales representative for our region. Of course that isn't exactly Tom Kirby making a press release, however they hired the guy to represent them to the friendly state of Michigan so... didn't put much stock in it anyways, still sounded good though.


----------



## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

To be fair on him, Mark Wells was all about the business side of things and things like the shop strategies (positioning, staff, how things worked on a global scale). And given how even in a recession in the UK GW is making profit, he's done a bloody good job. 

He made decisions on the wider view and the business as a whole. What to release, etc, is actually decided a few steps down from him. I'll actually be quite sad to see Mark go as, despite some decisions being unpopular, he did a good job of keeping things working. 

I do hope that Tom gets some good outside advisers in now though. Old dogs and new tricks don't always mix, and there needs to be some new tricks to keep things going...


----------



## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

Arcane said:


> Was told this by the GW sales representative for our region. Of course that isn't exactly Tom Kirby making a press release, however they hired the guy to represent them to the friendly state of Michigan so... didn't put much stock in it anyways, still sounded good though.


What was the timing on this? Because don't forget, the Studio works about 6-12 moths ahead of everyone else, and the marketing strategists another 6 months ahead of those. So is it possible through timing that they actually meant for 6th Ed?


----------



## Zion (May 31, 2011)

SilverTabby said:


> What was the timing on this? Because don't forget, the Studio works about 6-12 moths ahead of everyone else, and the marketing strategists another 6 months ahead of those. So is it possible through timing that they actually meant for 6th Ed?


Actually according to a _certain_ heretical caster, the studio is working on stuff a year plus out. Apparently they've been busy little beavers as they've got stuff done up to 12 months out now, meaning that rearranging the long term release schedule isn't such a problem now.


----------



## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

Zion said:


> Actually according to a _certain_ heretical caster, the studio is working on stuff a year plus out. Apparently they've been busy little beavers as they've got stuff done up to 12 months out now, meaning that rearranging the long term release schedule isn't such a problem now.


It would be lovely if they've actually got backsides in gear and are working much further than that ahead. I know the sculptors did, and Games Dev weren't far behind them. It was just at our end that we were very hand-to-mouth and at the tail end of the schedule, and we were still at least 8 months ahead of release...


----------



## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

SilverTabby said:


> What was the timing on this? Because don't forget, the Studio works about 6-12 moths ahead of everyone else, and the marketing strategists another 6 months ahead of those. So is it possible through timing that they actually meant for 6th Ed?


That's hard to say... it was quite a while ago and my memory for dates is pretty bad. It would have either been around the spring of 2010 or the summer of 2011 since that year in between I took a long break from gaming to be with family.


----------



## imm0rtal reaper (Jul 15, 2008)

I'll be interested to see if there are any changes in the future that can actually pull me back to GW in any way whatsoever.


----------

