Is warhammer 40k dead?

[pdfitzg]

This topic comes up with every new edition or price hike, but it's a great topic that should be discussed. Of course the below statements are mostly opinions, so take them as you will.

40K is far from dead, not dying, but fumbling. GW and especially 40K is bigger than ever. World wide exposure, market share, IP penetration into non-table top areas, and just sheer weight of plastic produced.

I think of all the cool new games I've tried over the years, but I always end up back with 40K and only rarely ever get rid of anything I own that is 40K. Part of that is because of the availability of players and easy access to product. Also knowing it's not likely to go out of business anytime soon, unlike a myriad of other hyped games (Starship Troopers, damn my foolishness), makes me feel better about the large sums of cash I throw into the hobby.

That said, it suffers in many areas that could ultimately topple it, although it will be years down the road.

Players, on average, are getting older. I rarely see kids playing. A big part is of course the price to participate. While I can afford to play and cover my son's cost, how many kids can afford to get into the hobby without a sponsor? When I was a teenager I bought into 40K with my own money and was able to play fantastic games at a low cost point. These days, outside of the starter kits (Assault on Black Reach), I'm not sure if the average kid could do that or would want to. While I love the occasional large game, the model counts for a normal game are getting too large. That makes it more time consuming and expensive, not to mention just being a labor to play anywhere other than your own home.

Another area is the rules release. This is more opinion based than my other comments. I'd much rather see a new rule set on a 8-10 year cycle with a mid stream update that incorporates fixes and all of the FAQs, rather than being hit with a whole new rule set as often as we are. It's hard enough for me to keep up with all of the other changes in the world that I've got learn a new rule book that impacts dozens of other rule books, every four years. I think rule change fatigue is setting in. With the models becoming ever more elaborate, costly, and time consuming with the current level of expected painting, having to revamp your armies to deal with new rules, isn't looked upon as fondly as it once was.

Over saturation. Black Library release schedule is a little off topic, but relevant in that it's following the same marketing strategy as the rest of GW. At first, I bought all of their books set in the 40K universe. BL rapidly increased publishing and I continued to buy but could no longer read everything. Now I've lost hope of keeping up and quit buying, or even bothering to read the books that I bought several years ago.

Provide more freebies and incentives. For the English speaking market, free content is shrinking. I now have to buy wallpapers from Black Library, when it's art that was paid for by the sale of the books it was printed on. Outside of the Japanese website, there's not much free content to download. The on-line articles, scenarios, etc are outdated. I think it's been nearly a year since the SOB WD codex was released and it's still not available as an English download. Remember Troll and the Skulls programs? Great incentives lost to time based on an accountant's input. GW has a dedicated fan base, but they are becoming disenfranchised and feel like cash dispensers rather than loved customers.

Not all the blame is on GW. How many of you have introduced, and more importantly, mentored young players? I've seen them treated as pariahs over and over. The longevity of the game depends on new blood. Also the world economy is changing rapidly, and GW belongs to a publicly traded company that answers to stock investors and that rarely seems to benefit the customers other than the initial expanding of the brand but that's just part of modern business I guess.

I could keep going on, but this is rapidly becoming thesis sized and may devolve into a rant. I love 40K and want to see it succeed and hopefully some of my comments will have a positive impact on our community and the hobby.

Paul

[ashmie]

So in summary;

That is not dead which can eternal lie yet with strange aeons even death may die.