# GW Annual Report



## slaaneshy (Feb 20, 2008)

For those with an interest in such things, here is the GW annual report.
In all, good news for the company it seems! :smoke:

http://investor.games-workshop.com/...12/07/Preliminary-announcement-2012-final.pdf


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## Archaon18 (Feb 17, 2012)

It is just very heartening to know they trust us enough to put this out. I am also glad to see that with such great advances prices may be able to go down a bit - The same change of a single fire warrior beating Ghazgull in CC, but it could happen


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## nevynxxx (Dec 27, 2011)

Archaon18 said:


> It is just very heartening to know they trust us enough to put this out.


They have to by law.... Trust has nothing to do with it


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## PlagueMarineXenon (Jun 30, 2012)

It all looks encouraging. The one remark from the ceo about new releases sounds like there's something big coming down the pipes. Can't wait to see what it is!


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## slaaneshy (Feb 20, 2008)

That would be the hobbit i think!


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## imm0rtal reaper (Jul 15, 2008)

Hobbit and horus heresy I'd imagine. 

Pretty sure it mentions their paint costs 15% less to make now...


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## slaaneshy (Feb 20, 2008)

Shame the Heresy series is such a money maker....looks like we will have to put up with even more dribble filler before the main event...


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Mark Wells (CEO) needs to hire a PA that can check his facts for him and make sure that he doesn't fib in his commentary.



> Our web store
> has also delivered good growth, especially from the in-store terminals in Games Workshop Hobby
> centres, through which we offer access to our entire back catalogue of products.



Then again I may be wrong, maybe I'll pop down and order some Squats.


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## Diatribe1974 (Jul 15, 2010)

Viscount Vash said:


> Mark Wells (CEO) needs to hire a PA that can check his facts for him and make sure that he doesn't fib in his commentary.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Go ahead and fire off an email inquiring when they'll be made available again, Vash. Let's see how that one goes, mmmmkay?


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## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

Never mind squats, I want that old chaos warrior with the goatskull head and ribcage armour. He was awesome.


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## texcuda (Aug 17, 2010)

Too bad they hiked prices again. Land Raiders are now $75.00 dollars. 2 months ago they were $66.00. :ireful2:


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

No sign of a policy shift for australian customers? Fuck you gw.


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Viscount Vash said:


> Mark Wells (CEO) needs to hire a PA that can check his facts for him and make sure that he doesn't fib in his commentary.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh sweet. Means I can finally get a copy of "Battle for Armageddon" and "Chaos Attack"!


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## slaaneshy (Feb 20, 2008)

shaantitus said:


> No sign of a policy shift for australian customers? Fuck you gw.


Why would they - their making money!


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## Achaylus72 (Apr 30, 2011)

shaantitus said:


> No sign of a policy shift for australian customers? Fuck you gw.





slaaneshy said:


> Why would they - their making money!


 
Yes total overall earnings in Australia have gone up but that is on the back of the recent price rises and it has nothing to do with overall sales, which are down by a further 15% on top of last stated report 11% sales drop which ironically GW had a rise in earning in that year.

The problem for GW is that eventually they will go over the tipping edge where price rises will not make up for total sales.

Just an example the Assault on Black Reach starter set. When it came out it was $85.00AuD but now several years down the track it is $165.00AuD that equates to a 95% price rise inleass than several years, in fact i bought a Battle of Macragge box set only a couple of weeks before the AoBR came out and it retailed for $75.00AuD.

I am expecting the new starter set to be around the $185.00AuD mark.


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## PlagueMarineXenon (Jun 30, 2012)

slaaneshy said:


> That would be the hobbit i think!


He mentions the hobbit thing but then starts talking about something else and stops mid sentence, saying he doesn't want to ruin the surprise. So there's definitely something else besides the hobbit stuff. As mentioned, I was thinking something with the Horus Heresy as well.


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

slaaneshy said:


> Why would they - their making money!


Not from me they aren't. I won't even buy the 6th ed rulebook. $124 bucks for the rulebook. Fuck off. A decimator from FW is $20 bucks cheaper than a defiler. I can get a forgeworld warhound for the same price as 4 defilers. My last purchases, 4 chimeras and a land raider have all been made through forgeworld because they are 30% cheaper than gw australia. I don't know of anyone in my area that has bought 6th ed because the price went up so much. The last 12 artillery units we have bought have all come from 3rd party manufacturers because gw is ridiculous. And all this from a guy who happily spent almost $5000 bucks on gw in the last 5 years. No more, it all comes from ebay now. I am tired of their shit. Even the rulebook will have to come from ebay or the us so those pricks don't get the bulk of my money. I will happily pay 50bucks freight to get it from the us if i have to.


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

shaantitus said:


> No more, it all comes from ebay now. I am tired of their shit.


Thing is it still ultimately comes from GW so your saving yourself money and they are selling product win-win


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

I don't understand their wasting money in LoTR wargames. I've never once seen anyone in the USA play LoTR, or buy the minis, or a store carry the minis (other than GW) or anyone even talk about the game... and this is coming from someone who read all the War of the Ring books and the Hobbit, and who's girlfriend has read all of Tolkien's works and speaks Quenya. GW just seems to have failed with that product.


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

Magpie_Oz said:


> Thing is it still ultimately comes from GW so your saving yourself money and they are selling product win-win


True, but my ebay purchases are usually the bargin basement second hand already built variety, not the new in box stuff so theoretically they have already got their money from someone else and stuff all from me. The sad thing is I used to be the most die hard supporter of gw, but i feel us aussies have been brutally shafted repeatedly.


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

shaantitus said:


> True, but my ebay purchases are usually the bargin basement second hand already built variety, not the new in box stuff so theoretically they have already got their money from someone else and stuff all from me. The sad thing is I used to be the most die hard supporter of gw, but i feel us aussies have been brutally shafted repeatedly.


OK but we're not relegated to buying the shit. I get ALL my stuff from the US and pay less than half price and that includes postage. I get magazines and paint locally really only to support the local store because the manager is a mate.


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## PlagueMarineXenon (Jun 30, 2012)

Arcane said:


> I don't understand their wasting money in LoTR wargames. I've never once seen anyone in the USA play LoTR, or buy the minis, or a store carry the minis (other than GW) or anyone even talk about the game... and this is coming from someone who read all the War of the Ring books and the Hobbit, and who's girlfriend has read all of Tolkien's works and speaks Quenya. GW just seems to have failed with that product.



I have to agree with that for the most part. Though my local shop carries a couple things.


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## HOBO (Dec 7, 2007)

Magpie_Oz said:


> Thing is it still ultimately comes from GW so your saving yourself money and they are selling product win-win


Kind of like how us Aussies buying from Wayland, and GW still got their cut from those sales...win win right?

Oh wait, GW ain't having none of that shit...they want a win win for them 100%, not a win win win for all 3 of those parties.

I'm with you Shaanti, screw GW AUS. My group of 15 pitched in and spent the dollars to buy the new Rulebook, but through a 25% off Aus Store, and that's it.
We have spent about $4,000 on PP models in that same time period though, which is a win win for us, and a big fat lose for GW because frankly they don't deserve anything else.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Achaylus72 said:


> Yes total overall earnings in Australia have gone up but that is on the back of the recent price rises and it has nothing to do with overall sales, which are down by a further 15% on top of last stated report 11% sales drop which ironically GW had a rise in earning in that year.
> 
> The problem for GW is that eventually they will go over the tipping edge where price rises will not make up for total sales.


But the thing we cant get away from is that the business operation down under was loosing money, which is why the changes happened, now i know that may not concern the average punter but from a business stand point GW had to do something to make the hobby viable down under, the number of sales may have dropped, the prices may have gone up, but if the business operation is back to making money (i havent checked the document yet) then as far as GW are concerned they have done what is required of them which will make the people who matter happy. 

Every time one of these releases comes out we go over the same shit conversations, if GW have done badly and are loosing money its because prices are too high and they are loosing customers, if GW do well its because they are over charging for there products. 

The folks down under are just gonna have to either get used to the prices or move on to something they can afford or source from elsewhere,like the US,until GW close that gap too,and it seems like Wayland after nearly a year and a half have failed to work a way around the ROW situation. 

GW are a business, we are the customers, they can still afford to pretty much do as they please because deep down we all love that grey plastic crack, and deep down we all know that under the right circumstance if the right model/codex/product is released, we will even pay full RRP because we love those little 28mm bastards.


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## Cypher871 (Aug 2, 2009)

Yeah, I am pretty much with B&K on this. It's the same re-hashed bollox every year and to be honest it's boring. 

It comes down to two things. Do you want it and can you afford it? If you want it badly enough you WILL find a way of getting hold of the kit, either through official channels or via ebay or cut-price online retailers.

It is no different to wanting any other product that is not readily available in your own country...you end up paying a premium for it! I have bought kit from Oz companies like Shadowforge and CNC Workshop which is expensive. I have bought Battlefoam bags and custom cut foam from the US which is 'fucking expensive' :shok: AND THEN you get hit with import tax to the UK...so don't ask me to cry over how badly done to you are...be thankful you still have GW products available for Oz at all.

If I had been on the board making decisions when the shit was hitting the fan I would have pulled out of all none EU markets other than the US...GW simply over-reached themselves so are now looking to make those unstable markets stable again. The simple fact of the matter is GW products are 'luxury' items for those with disposable cash. They don't give a shit whether people pull out of the hobby or not so long as they are turning a profit and that's pretty much the way most big companies operate.

So long as they are courteous and helpful to their customer's and their products deliver (and let's face it there's not much to go wrong with plastic models) they will always have a stable customer base and it will be constantly fed by new youngsters coming into the hobby.

It's the way it is deal with it or ditch it...or be smart and use proxy models from other gaming systems. A long time ago I played 40k with photocopied cardboard figures...does the job, just means you have to put more effort in. :grin:


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## normtheunsavoury (Mar 20, 2008)

> AAHHH! Panic, the sky is falling, its the end of the world! GW are going bankrupt! Rising profits are proof of poor business decisions, the evidence is plain to see, AAAHHHH!


This annual Warseer moment was brought to you by Norm.


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## boreas (Dec 4, 2007)

bitsandkits said:


> But the thing we cant get away from is that the business operation down under was loosing money, which is why the changes happened, now i know that may not concern the average punter but from a business stand point GW had to do something to make the hobby viable down under, the number of sales may have dropped, the prices may have gone up, but if the business operation is back to making money (i havent checked the document yet) then as far as GW are concerned they have done what is required of them which will make the people who matter happy.


That's the problem... If you read the document, losses in Aus went from 406 000 pounds to 735 000 pounds. The much applauded (at least on this forum) GW business model (ie "Come buy to our crackhouses only") doesn't work in large, low-density areas. People in Aus (and in Canada) have to drive a long-long way to get to a GW store. So no one goes in. 

To add to GW's problem, people in Aus and Canada have figured out that companies (all of them, not just GW) have been screwing us by not adjusting properly to our now higher-value currency. So more and more of us are getting used to buy stuff from across the border (via the Net mostly, but in Canada we can actually just drive across the border...). Every 4-5 weeks, we have a front-page here saying how cars or groceries or whatnot is 20% cheaper across the border (as a reference, for me going across the border is 60 minutes whiles going to the nearest GW is 30 minutes and a 15$ parking fee).

Now, I know all about how our taxes, cost of living etc are higher. But the thing is international commerce now exists and local companies will have to adjust. I also know that import taxes exist, but technically on GW products there shouldn't be any in Canada (since AFAIK they are made in Memphis,US and ALENA trade agreement prevents those import taxes). GW should at the very least help support FLGS (of which there are more since they can survive in the large suburbs mainly by selling CCGs). Here FLGS either closes or stop supporting GW completely since, according to a few FLGS owner I knew support is horrible (orders being late to very late, minimal orders being too high, no support for local events, giving a % off to good customers of frowned upon, etc...)



> If I had been on the board making decisions when the shit was hitting the fan I would have pulled out of all none EU markets other than the US...


PLEASE PLEASE become CEO of GW. Then we can buy from Wayland or other UK-based company instead of your colonial-counters called GW Stores...

Phil


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## Cypher871 (Aug 2, 2009)

boreas said:


> PLEASE PLEASE become CEO of GW. Then we can buy from Wayland or other UK-based company instead of your colonial-counters called GW Stores...
> 
> Phil


:laugh: Oh wait...we can't do that because:

1. That would be common sense - cutting your losses
2. GW don't like win win situations...unless it's their win win.


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## slaaneshy (Feb 20, 2008)

boreas said:


> .... your colonial-counters called GW Stores...
> 
> Phil


GW - Reclaiming the Empire, one store at a time!


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

well looking at the figures (has now read the report) it seems GW is really enjoying a good spell, though its obvious that all people down under have shifted from buy from the EU to buying from the states, which i imagine GW will want to stem yet again or they will close the stores down under as i cant see them wanting to support them at a loss year on year.

and considering its a 40k cycle and HH from FW and the Hobbit, i expect GW will be seeing some growth next year too.


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## boreas (Dec 4, 2007)

bitsandkits said:


> well looking at the figures (has now read the report) it seems GW is really enjoying a good spell, though its obvious that all people down under have shifted from buy from the EU to buying from the states, which i imagine GW will want to stem yet again or they will close the stores down under as i cant see them wanting to support them at a loss year on year.
> 
> and considering its a 40k cycle and HH from FW and the Hobbit, i expect GW will be seeing some growth next year too.


Oh, overall, GW is doing very well... But the augmentation in Aus revenues (about 6.5%) obviously still doesn't compensate the costs (as profits are plumetting by an extra 81%) indicating that locally, GW is actually doing pretty bad. In NA, GW is doing extremely well, with sales up 11% and profits up 35%!!! But I guess that Canada is a raindrop in the NA market so it's hard to say how they do locally...

I do hope you're right and GW will revise it's policy...


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

There is one massive hole in these arguments that aus players should just deal with it or suck it up. Gw is busily closing loopholes everywhere for third party suppliers but the cheapest supplier of gw product is forgeworld( i am including freight and like for like products.). They are gouging us, it is not cost or anything to do with that, they are price gouging pure and simple.


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## Achaylus72 (Apr 30, 2011)

bitsandkits said:


> well looking at the figures (has now read the report) it seems GW is really enjoying a good spell, though its obvious that all people down under have shifted from buy from the EU to buying from the states, which i imagine GW will want to stem yet again or they will close the stores down under as i cant see them wanting to support them at a loss year on year.
> 
> and considering its a 40k cycle and HH from FW and the Hobbit, i expect GW will be seeing some growth next year too.


Yes the mighty GW business model, no company except GW could take a relatively well supported game that had public appeal in my local area in LoTR and give it the Imperial Guard treatment ie... splitting troop boxes in half from 20 troops per box to 10 and then raising the price overnight by a whopping *87.5%* and then see their much precious game fall in a screaming heap because it now costs *87.5%* more now to field the same amount of troops. Yes folks that is getting 50% less product and paying 87.5% more, pure fucking genious, except folks do remember, we are not the dumb fucks GW Global think we are, we look elsewhere.

Case in point my now 18,000 point Chaos Army, as of today none of it was bought from any GW Australian Stores or any Indie Store, all of it came from Britain and the USA via Ebay and other sources also my 7,500 Ork Army same deal, all of it came from Britian and the USA via same avenues.

I will eventually do that with my Chaos Daemon and Dark Eldar Armies (i have yet to start this but will tie in as an ally to my Chaos Army)

I have seen literally dozens of LoTR extremely dedicated gamers walk away from the game thus losing thousands of pounds (British currency example) due to a wanton base greed of arse raping Australian Customers, and then GW Australia wonders why in 2010 their sales drop by 11% and then their sales drop in 2011 by a further 15%, it is not because of sales increases, far from it, the only reason that GW are making an operational after tax profit is because it aggressively and effectively price gouges Australian customer to the enth degree, and if you think it is bad spare a thought of our brothers across the ditch in New Zealand which are treated with even more contempt that here in Aus, they get an even worse arse raping than us.


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

Well, apparently GW Australia has a new plan for profitability - firing a bunch of staff. They've just laid off all their casuals (or are in the process of doing so in state after state), and they're apparently going to be trimming many stores down to one man operations. 

Kind of sad that some staff had to find out from gaming forums that they were losing their job though.

*edit: has been mentioned that some central stores might keep some casual staff, but seems most stores are having to lay them off*


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## Achaylus72 (Apr 30, 2011)

maddermax said:


> Well, apparently GW Australia has a new plan for profitability - firing a bunch of staff. They've just laid off all their casuals (or are in the process of doing so in state after state), and they're apparently going to be trimming many stores down to one man operations.
> 
> Kind of sad that some staff had to find out from gaming forums that they were losing their job though.


A large GW store in Hornsby, Sydney just shut up shop and a much smaller operation opened up in Castle Hill, Sydney.

I have heard that many large GW stores located in expensive shopping mall are targeted in a massive downsizing regime, this explains the sacking of so many casuals.


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

My local independent has closed also. He generally offered discounts on all gw product but prices were up so high that no-one was buying.


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

maddermax said:


> Well, apparently GW Australia has a new plan for profitability - firing a bunch of staff.


Not sure how it works in Aus, but in the States, GW locations are franchised and independently operated by the owner, albeit under strict GW guidelines. So it would seem, such activity would be purely at the discretion of the owners and not actually GW's doing. However I could be completely off the mark and they may indeed completely control locations down under?

IMO Proprietary businesses with such a small product line as GW's (comparitively to a store which sells hundreds of different lines) are a bad idea, at least State side. Relying too much on one product doesn't allow the business to diversify and ride the ever changing market. Table top miniatures may swell and shrink in popularity but at least most game stores can rely on something taking it's place, TCGs, board games, general hobby supplies, comics, etc and not tank because one game did poorly in a quarter. I wish GW would understand this and see it is not a viable business model in the long term. By focusing in house on a higher quality product, advertising, and developing their line they can succeed rather than depending on high profit margins from their franchised GW centers.


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## Achaylus72 (Apr 30, 2011)

Arcane said:


> Not sure how it works in Aus, but in the States, GW locations are franchised and independently operated by the owner, albeit under strict GW guidelines. So it would seem, such activity would be purely at the discretion of the owners and not actually GW's doing. However I could be completely off the mark and they may indeed completely control locations down under?
> 
> IMO Proprietary businesses with such a small product line as GW's (comparitively to a store which sells hundreds of different lines) are a bad idea, at least State side. Relying too much on one product doesn't allow the business to diversify and ride the ever changing market. Table top miniatures may swell and shrink in popularity but at least most game stores can rely on something taking it's place, TCGs, board games, general hobby supplies, comics, etc and not tank because one game did poorly in a quarter. I wish GW would understand this and see it is not a viable business model in the long term. By focusing in house on a higher quality product, advertising, and developing their line they can succeed rather than depending on high profit margins from their franchised GW centers.


GW Australiasia owns all the stores in Australia and New Zealand and they in turn are run by managers, so as it goes no franchises in Australia & New Zealand.


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## Cypher871 (Aug 2, 2009)

maddermax said:


> Well, apparently GW Australia has a new plan for profitability - firing a bunch of staff. They've just laid off all their casuals (or are in the process of doing so in state after state), and they're apparently going to be trimming many stores down to one man operations.
> 
> Kind of sad that some staff had to find out from gaming forums that they were losing their job though.
> 
> *edit: has been mentioned that some central stores might keep some casual staff, but seems most stores are having to lay them off*


This is pretty much what happened in the UK a while back...at least to the smaller stores (not that I visit GW stores much anymore). My local store in Doncaster used to have 3 permmy staff and some temps...now, as far as I know it's just a manager.


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## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

When the US style of shops wasn't working, rather than patch a broken model they shut it all down and restarted in a way that worked for the US. All the firings in Aus might be them doing a similar thing prior to changing the setup to something that works better.


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

My local GW has been a one man band for quite the number of years now. It makes me laugh no end when GW keep going on about manager training and "running your own store" etc when there are so many of these stores knocking about.
Manager of what? Yourself? And from local exp. all the managers we've ever had are constantly scrutinised and questioned from above about anything and everything anyway. Manager?
I think not. :fool:


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