"Games Workshop White Dwarf Price Increase" Topic

R u kidding me? From $6 USD to $8 USD an issue? From $55 USD for a sub renew to $75? What drugs r they smoking now? The people that put it together thought it was a joke as well since the old prices are in the current issue though they send a little card along to say "oh so sorry we meant to put in the 30%+ jacked up price in the current issue instead." And I don't wanna hear the jack in gas and oil prices since they have been steadily coming down the past couple of months. Someone take their crop from them. They have been spending way too much time in the fields as of late. I for one and disappointed. Didn't even go for the 50 cent or even $1 USD raise but straight to the $2 USD price increase. No need to take advantage to make a buck. But if I just released a broken game where I had to take out 85% of the game to get it on the shelves then I guess I would worry about where I could milk the blood to make up for the eventual loss. :-(

Grimm

I just wonder how they manage to keep their drooling idiots, Err I mean customers at all! Yikes! Who is running their marketing department, the board of directors of Lehman Brothers?

The target market here is the folks paying $12 USD for a can of primer, and $7 USD for a tiny bit of sand.

I don't imagine it even registers with them.

I saw the message in my White Dwarf also. The price increase appears to be only with the figure. On line it is still $55 USD to renew for 15 issues.

While a $2 USD increase is a bit steep, it's still cheaper than any other hobby mags I occasionally peruse. Still, I'd be happy to hear that the increase was for a "free" pigure.

Those bastards! How dare they?!

When other wargames magazines are sooooo much cheaper for a subscription.

I mean 12 issue of WI is only $120. USD

6 issues of Battlegames is $60. USD

6 issues of Historical Miniature Gamer is $48. USD

WS&S is $120 USD for 12 issues.

Ancient Warfare is $72 USD for 6 issues.

Oh, wait, I have my little crocodile turned around wrong.

White Dwarf is LESS per issue than all of those but one, which it is equal to. And it is still cheaper than a year subscription.

Also it is $60 USD for a subscription online.

Maybe the games workshop geniuses, I mean customers, are smarter than the historical drooling idiots, I mean fans, after all.

Pictors normally I would agree with you here, but White Dwarf just doesn't have the content anymore to justify that cost. I admit some of the other magazines are lacking too, but I don't read them. I used to buy White Dwarf all the time. But every issue I pick up now can be read in about five minutes. I miss the days of Fat Bloke.

Joey

I agree with Deathwing. There just isnt anything to White Dwarf anymore. I eally enjoy the terrain and conversion articles and those have been weak as of late.

No dice, Pictors. Small-press game mags may be more expensive that those on the shelves at the local grocery, but anyone knows there is a reason for that.

With WD's MUCH higher circulation, easily more than all the other wargaming mags put together, and that fact that it is nothing more than one long in-house ad, it is WAY, WAY overpriced.

I dropped it long ago, with the LAST price increase, which was supposedly to add more REAL content to the rag. GW failed to deliver on that one. What's new?

I am disappointed about the price increase, but I still enjoy all the pretty pictures and battle reports. Probably more importantly I pick up something new from almost every painting article they run, and that in itself makes the magazine worth it to me. For me it's still worth the cover price, but I'm sure there are plenty of others who are more accomplished painters that don't find the magazine all that helpful. They're not forcing anyone to buy it.

It has been years since I bought one of these but when I last did it was just a catalog marketing rag for GW products. Gone were the hobby articles and the chapter approved rules. It was just a rag that focused on talk about how great their stuff was.

Every time I look at WD in the store it seems to be all about building Chaos or Undead armies…

Once a year there is the "WAAAGH! Here come the Orks!" issue and every other year when they redo the models they highlight the Empire or Elves.

I dont think I'd wave that 'content' flag too briskly, the other mags are a bit lean on content too these days and WD is an inhouse mag dealing with GW stuff only, whats the excuse for the others?
If you dont like it dont buy it,no need for forced outrage on an internet forum.
Bricole anyone?

"With WD's MUCH higher circulation, easily more than all the other wargaming mags put together, and that fact that it is nothing more than one long in-house ad, it is WAY, WAY overpriced."

It is nowhere close to the circulation needed to make it one of those supermarket mags. Not even remotely close. It is sold in game stores and by subscription.

Also the other mags are supported by advertising which contributes to their income. While GW advertises in the mag itself it isn't really getting other sources of income for it.

Plus I've seen plenty of "articles" in the other magazines that are essentially adds for product as well.

Pictor, it's a losing battle. If they were giving away WD for free (ha!) then these same guys would be complaining about how evil it is to hurt all those other magazines that way (or something similar to that). GW can never do anything right, even when they occasionally are…

I am so amazed that people will pay for an ad folder anyway that the fact that they will need to pay more in the future fails to faze me…

Whether it's solely about GW products or not, WD is the best source of anywhere I know for painting, modelling and scratch building tips. It also has the best photography of anywhere I know. I suppose that someday, an online mag will become better, but I haven't seen it. I buy WD once in a blue moon, but I always check it out. Plus, old copies can be purchased on eBay for a song.

I bought a copy of Harper's the other day at the airport. It was $6. USD If a regular news magazine is $6, I think $8 USD doesn't sound outrageous.

nazrat you're right. It does amaze me that everyone complains about GW though for price. I'm looking at starting a 40K ork army, which I thougth about doing when the new codex came out, but I can put a 1500 pt army together for about $125 USD or so. It really is a good price.

Pictors you are talking to the wrong group. GW will always be evil to TMPs. Sad but true.

Theres something very sanctimonious about how many here are almost in competition with each other about how they rush to declare that they hate GW the most and not to hate them can not be tolerated or let to pass unhated without comment, its very wearisome. Almost as if they have a dark secret expunged only by publicly vilifying the only large wargame company there is, very similar to the way ex smokers are the most vocal about the evils of smoking, s'funny that. ;)

I still quite enjoy WD.

"Can't we all just get along?" --Mr. R. King

I actively play some GW games and still buy the occasional figure or box set when something new I want comes out. Not WD though.

I dropped my WD subscription a few years ago because I found the content lacking. What I would like to see is their hobby content available as pdf downloads. That would bring down their creation cost and allow them to up the content significantly. Free would be nice but I would pay a few dollars a month for that.

The recent practice of polybagging most issues to prevent value analysis prior to purchase is also annoying.

I passed a couple of years ago on renewing WD. It wasn't price as much as my interests had changed. Content-wise it it what it is a house ad vehicle, but I'll agree with nycjadie that it's the best shot miniatures hobby mag on the racks, most issues have good painting/building/terrain tips. If my interests lean back into sci-fi/fantasy from historical, I'd probably re-up even at the current rates.

Mark

I'm backing Pictors on this one.

Also the circulation is typical game shop like everything else. I cant get one without driving 20 miles round trip thru miserable city traffic or 30 miles highway. It isnt
available anywhere on my half of PIttsburgh and thats a huge metro area.

I hate the price increase but I enjoy the mag so I deal with it. I like gw's products compared to their present competition.

I used to read an anime mag NEW TYPE which was up to $13 USD the last I looked. NOw that was a bit much.

If you're desparate for cheap reading I dont think the enquirer goes for too much.

I went to grab one last Friday night. Gave it to the clerk, and he gave me a much higher total than I expected. When he told me of the price rise, I put it back on the shelf, and just paid for the soda I had grabbed. I am still thinking it over some, but I think I may have bought my last White Dwarf. Unless I special order it from the other store in the area who will give me 20% off. We shall see.

"it is sold at game stores and by subscription"

I never SAID it had the circulation of a "grocery checkout" mag (many of whom cost the publisher very little to print and circualate because of ad revenue backed up by high circulation figures). I said it had a much higher circulation than an other (understandably higher than average-priced) mag. And FYI, I have seen WD on the shelves at major chain booksellers, which certainly has to up your circulation figures!

And it's not my fault they don't have advertisers. They are not Consumer Reports, there is no conflict of interest issue, it's just that they do not want to acknowledge competition, you know, like they USED to.

I get multi-page, full color ads in the mail all the time, I just throw them away. Am I supposed to believe that GW is not recouping some of its advertising "losses" by making consumers pay for its lousy ads?

"Am I supposed to believe that GW is not recouping some of its advertising "losses" by making consumers pay for its lousy ads?"

You are supposed to believe that because it is absolutely true.

As a matter of fact the idea that games workshop "makes" anyone pay for anything is pretty absurd when if you think about it.

The fact is that as nycjadie pointed out the new price is not much higher than magazines with much larger circulation and it is lower, as you would expect even from your argument, than other wargaming mags. So it seems to be priced about right regarding the competition.

Anyway to say whether or not it is overpriced has nothing to do with the price tag on it as much as it has to do with how much people are willing to pay. Now it *might* be overpriced if people stop buying it, but if they don't, then it isn't. Currently a 12 month sub to WD is half the price in the US of a 12 month sub to WI, Battlegames or WS&S.

I have a lot of the pre-House Organ issues of White Dwarf, and more than a few since then. The current incarnation is rarely more than a stretched out 'Eavy Metal article couched in ads of various sorts (which category includes what they now call "battle reports"). Often not very useful 'Eavy Metal articles at that.

If WD was a home improvement magazine, what used to be "Woodworking Projects Monthly" has become "Modern Home" (aka "Pictures of what we can do and you can't").

well guys I stopped buying anything new from GW when they did in 40K (for me and all the people I played with) with 3rd ed 40K, so I have saved 1000s of US dollars every year since.

I hope you didn't lose all of your savings in the recent stock market plunge.

GW will sell what the market will tolerate as Pictors said.
I dont agree with the prices GW puts on things but their figs and the 40k universe are some of the few interests I have so until they out price me, I'll chomp on the crow and continue to enjoy their stuff.

They continue to improve their figs, the wd painting articles are inspiring to me as a painter for hire and the figs seem to have regained the quality market over the other brands that are on the shelf now. To me this mkaes it worth it.

Well as i asked i didnt see any responses on gas or oil.

Now, if i undertsand it, that is it ok for GW to raise their prices by a rediculous amount cause other magazines are high prices as well? By that logic then it would be ok for Ford to raise the prices of their Festiva to say $75,000 because Mercedes makes cars that are $80K+. I would have stuck with the gas or oil response personally.

Grimm

It's best to assess any magazine on the basis of pages of actual content per dollar. Cut out all the ads and total up the pages of content that is actually useful to a gamer and divide that into the price to find the pages per dollar. You'll find WD to be of slightly worse value than the over perfumed women's mags at the supermarket checkout.

Somehow, pointing that out makes people "haters" or "unwilling to admit when GW does good"? That makes no sense at all.

Don't know about the US, but in the UK the price has gone up from £4.00 GBP to £4.50. They have a deal though a bit like their subscription deals. Set up a direct debit, get your first 3 issues for £5, then £9.00 GBP every 3 issues – so buy 2 get one free in effect. Delivered to your home. In fact, WD will not be in the local GW stores until the last Friday of the month as a rule – IE the 31st this month. Mine arrived this morning!

£4.50 GBP compares fairly well to other hobby magazines – music magazines for example are all ~£4.25 (although you usually get a cover mounted CD – for what they may or may not be worth

If I played a lot of GW games I'd buy WD again – when LOTR was at its height there was plaenty of reasons to pick up a dwarf

"when LOTR was at its height there was plaenty of reasons to pick up a dwarf"

Gimli jokes aside, WD was a different magazine at LotR's height.

And the price went up again, by the way. $9 USD starting in March…