http://investor.games-workshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2014-15-Press-statement-final.pdf

GWs 2nd half 2014 results are released and profits are down again.  GW continues its decline, and seems to be blaming it on its front line sales staff, rather than its disastrous management decisions, and insistence that is sells 'collectable figurines' rather than games and gaming pieces.
With the rise of Warlord, Mantic, and others moving onto GWs ground with Kings of War and Bolt Action, and the Privateer Press threat from Warmahordes; GW has lost its monopoly, and its way. Basically the people that founded GW and who've been kicked out by bean counters are now running companies that are taking GW down.

I think we've been waiting a long time for the "killer app" that brings GW down. It appears the killer app is what always kills hydraulic empires - the god kings in management milk the subjects so hard they die, and then the barbarians who should be limited to picking at the margins just kick in the rotten gates and occupy the whole real estate.

Sales down by nearly 7% and profits down by 17%...  Without delving in further, the profitability would be worrying me if I were a shareholder.  They must have a massive level of fixed overheads that will result in profits dive bombing every time the sales slip even slightly.  Another similar result in the next set of accounts would see them losing a third of their profits over a 12 month period.   

I can't see them fixing this unless they buy in another huge licence like they did with LOTR (but I can't think of one that would be available?) or if they find a minor miracle in a new game/system.  The planned changes to their fantasy setting are going to fail as well, you can't just throw away an entire world and decades of development, as that's one of your key ties to the customer base.  People will keep buying when they've got a connection to the figures/world, take that away and you're just another company pushing a fantasy world.

And I doubt whether the board will ever blame themselves.  This isn't a regular corporation where you hire a fancy suit with business knowledge and they can adapt to the market.  You need to understand the industry and what it takes to get people buying again.  Unfortunately the exact people they need to do that, are the ones now running the competition.

If they want to hire me on £100k per year, I'll go fix it for them...   

When I pop into out local GW shop during the week (when it is open that is) it is always empty, compared to even 5 years ago. Will probably stock up on a few of the paints I use regulary just in case...

There is a certain morbid facination in watching the seemingly relentless decline of GW.

I wonder how bad it'll have to get before the CEO gets the boot? He'll certainly never admit to any failure.

Here's a poser; much as most of us dislike GW, or their business approach at least, would their implosion be a good thing or a bad thing?

Might be good for the smaller companies for a while, but I wonder whether it would cut off the most popular entry point for children into the wider hobby in the long run.

QuoteI wonder whether it would cut off the most popular entry point for children into the wider hobby in the long run.

I've never been convinced that GW bring that much new blood into the wider hoby.  For years their business model has stressed that players of GW products are participating in the GW hobby and nothing else and this was emphasised the few times I went to Nottingham to play in the Historical days, while the Warhammer historical and WarMaster Historical people would walk arround and chat to the 40K players there was absolutely no interest the other way round and the staff in the shop didn't seem to understand there were other non GW games available and couln't get their heads arround what the historical chaps were doing.

Thread got me thinking, I looked this up. www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,9597.45.html

We are an ageing bunch, are new players coming through from GW?

All at my club are over 40, the next nearest club is mostly under 40 but apart from GW, Saga and similar fantasy/SF skirmish games (mainly unpainted figures too), no figure games are played it's all boardgames, cards or RPG.

Too much to invest in a wargames army in terms of cost and time for a lot of the instant gratification generation.

Cheers
Ian

Our club is probably 50/50 youth and greybeards. However, weaning the kids off 40k and on to historical has so far proved wellnigh impossible. Never mind, we live in hope. 

Therefore it might be that the death of GW would see an upserge in yooff playing other game systems which, if they're not as closed as GW, could have a beneficial effect across the board..... fly free little gamer, escape from the evil talons of the Dark Empire.

Lots of 40k players appear to be moving to Bolt Action.
There may be hope yet...

There will be !
Cheers - Phil

My "generation" of about 40 all seem to have started with GW and Warhammer, then mostly dropped that in favour of historicals and other sic fi/fantasy systems as Workshop changed from a cool hobby with loadsa stuffs to "the one true path" approach in the mid nineties.

Just out of interest - because I couldn't care less if GW crash and burn - how many staff do they employ nowadays, compared to, say, 10 years ago? How many at Nottingham and how many in the shops in the UK and also worldwide? It must be much fewer than before, surely?

A lot less than even a couple if years ago - they "reorganised" the stores and "rationalised" a lot of staff :/