"White Dwarf Relaunch, Price Hike" Topic

Full text of press release below:

"White Dwarf, the monthly magazine from the Games Workshop, is being relaunched with the October issue, on sale 27 September, priced £5.50 GBP.

Author: News Desk

Posted on: 14 September 2012 10:02

According to distributors COMAG: Launched in 1977, White Dwarf is the official magazine of Games Workshop, the company that designs, manufactures and markets the massively popular hobby of collecting, modelling, painting and tabletop gaming with armies of model soldiers to
fans all around the world.

Long since a popular pastime, fantasy and science fiction role-playing and board games became even more widespread after the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings films. In addition to its existing Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000 systems, Games Workshop also produces the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game for fans of the Tolkien saga.

An essential purchase for the Games Workshop hobbyist, every issue of White Dwarf showcases all aspects of the hobby and Games Workshop products, making it the number one title in the Leisure Interests – Games sub-sector, with an annual RSV [Retail Sales Value] of £468,500.00 GBP

Packed with the latest releases, exciting articles and features in every edition, White Dwarf also provides readers with hobby tutorials, stage-by-stage modelling and painting guides, battle reports and tactical tips on how to get the most out of their armies on the battlefield.

Now in its 36th year, White Dwarf has been redesigned and relaunched to make it bigger, glossier and more higher quality, with 160-pages of fantastic in-depth hobby content.

Beginning with October and running for four issues, White Dwarf will be bagged and feature exclusive promotional content. Some of which will be about the December release of the highly-anticipated film The Hobbit, for which Games Workshop is an official licensee.

Not only is Games Workshop launching a range of miniatures from The Hobbit, but White Dwarf will also have exclusive news, coverage and posters from it, not available elsewhere!

From the October issue, the magazine also will increase in price from £4.50 GBP to £5.50 GBP, which based on current sales will mean £104,000.00 GBP more RSV through retailers' tills every year!"

Well, a £1.00 GBP price rise is pretty steep for a mag. And it only deals with one manufacturer! So costs more for less coverage? Bizarre…

"fantastic in-depth hobby content" and bagged? Why am I skeptical?

Gave up on it years ago, but it sounds like the page count is going up significantly (160 pages is a lot for a mag, isn't it?) and the bagging is letting them bundle in posters and promo stuff (as well as hiding the contents from casula browsers, of course). The price is still absurd, but at leats there's some reason for it. I wonder if the "relaunch" and poly-bagging may have been driven by something in their license agreement with the Hobbit movie folks? Maybe they're being required to do some specific level of poster promo work for it or somesuch?

Ooh…bagged – does that mean that there will be "free" gifts again ? When they had mini-board games or complete card scenery items that was a real bonus.

£1.00 GBP does seem a steep rise – but when was the last price rise (I have no idea as I haven't bought for a couple of years now).

If there's a free figure or two or a fre game or paints with every issue it could be a good move.

Be interesting to see if the changes actually make the magazine worth getting.

In the U.S., it is already 9.00 dollars per copy. It's very expensive compared to other magazines, even "hobby magazines". It will likely be 10.00 to 11.00 per issue (U.S.) and 12.00 or higher in Canada. They are not likely to sell that many mags at that price. I used to have a subscription years ago, then the price increased and I wasn't interested in paying that increase. Ridiculous.

I doubt it.
It has not been worth it for years.

Re-launched I wasn't aware it had gone away.

Never buy WD anymore still have a few old ones (around the 100s) that were very good. I still break them out for a bit of old skool every know and then.

I'm curious, someone who actually buys it, can you tell us the current page count? Is 160 pages actually a big jump, or is my memory failing me?

How many more pages of ads will there be?

Those folks at GW really do look after us… we're each getting a free bag!

Those folks at at GW really do look after us… we're each getting a free bag!

Current page count is 120, so 160 is a 33% increase, which is huge. The big question is, will this be 'content' or just more add space? WD393 is a huge disappointment, it looked more like an add leaflet. The WDs before that were actually improving…

It's $9 USD here?? That's unbelievable, even for a shiny catalogue.

Current page count is 120, so 160 is a 33% increase, which is huge. The big question is, will this be 'content' or just more add space?

Thanks. Both valid points. Sadly, the polybag will make it impossible to see in advance, so I believe I'll just go right along skipping on it as I have for past four or five years.

Finally having a sub will pay off! I get the mag a week later than it hits the shelves, but I am presuming they will not pro-rate the price increase on my current sub which still has 8 issues left.

Have not had a sub for well over a decade … since the only GW game I still do models for is Epic. Pretty much everything you see in the over priced mag is online somewhere …

The bag is basically to stop people from flipping through the magazine to see if it is worth buying.

Will it be quilted? Scented? Covered in Aloe Vera?

LOL, Mikasa!

The bag is basically to stop people from flipping through the magazine to see if it is worth buying.

That's when I have always started to cut back on buying a magazine

That's when I have always started to cut back on buying a magazine

Oh, I don't know, at one time I found bagged magazines quite titallating. :p

"fantastic in-depth hobby content"

That doesn't sound like white dwarf. Its more of a style over substance magazine.

Once upon a time White Dwarf had some really good content. Yeah, it had been on the decline for a long time and the magazine now is nothing more than a catalog, but presumably that's why they're choosing to 'relaunch' it.

I don't think GW will manage to make White Dwarf what it was, but if they can manage to make it at least entertaining again, more power to them.

which wd staffer wrote that review (news release)?

I don't think GW will manage to make White Dwarf what it was, but if they can manage to make it at least entertaining again, more power to them.

That would require them to acknowledge the existence of other games and game companies, which is asking way too much of Fortress Nottingham.

White Dwarf used to cost 4.99 in the U.S.A., 10 years ago. Now it is 9.00, that is approximately a .30 cents per year increase in price, but with the new price increase to about 10.00 to 11.00 means that the GW folks will have raised the price over .50 cents a year. Way above the inflation rate, and way above a reasonable increase. They are telling us that they don't want our business.

White Dwarf used to cost 4.99 in the U.S.A., 10 years ago. Now it is 9.00, that is approximately a .30 cents per year increase in price, but with the new price increase to about 10.00 to 11.00 means that the GW folks will have raised the price over .50 cents a year. Way above the inflation rate, and way above a reasonable increase. They are telling us that they don't want our business.

Outsider looking in perspective:

I'm curious, is it at the point, perhaps, that they're simply milking the miniatures division for all it worth and don't care particularly about customer retention? I've often wondered if GW makes more money from licensing the property to video games and other media than they actually make on the manufacturing side?

Perhaps, Jeff. I'm not sure about their business strategy, except it involves ever increasing prices above inflation and raw material concerns.

Speaking as a mostly non-GW gamers, I think WD has some very interesting articles. I often thumb through it to look at the painting sections. I don't buy it, though. 160 pages sounds huge, though; I'm very curious as to what they will fill it with. I love seeing the pictures of tables full of figures, but they do tend to be repetitive after a while…

I could think of few ways that GW could fall even lower than the pit into which sank in the last 20 years, but I think that wrapping WD issues in condoms to avoid people flipping through the pages is a new low.

I still remember the days when in White Dwarf you could find adventures for AD&D, Call of Cthulhu and Stormbringer.

Speaking as a mostly non-GW gamers, I think WD has some very interesting articles.

I presume you haven't looked at it in awhile… ;-)

WD lately has been dire, and that's a fact. I might give the "relaunch" version a try but if it's no better QUALITY than the current product I'll not try it again.

Stalin might have thought quantity has a quality all its own, but that argument doesn't fly with me regarding my hobby content. Wargames Illustrated and WSS are consistently far superior to the WD and they do it at a lower price point – especially relevant given that they are available at newsstands/bookstores and bear the distribution costs of this, where WD isn't and doesn't.

w.

I would prefer something like the Black Gobbo e-zine that GW-US used to produce. Now that had some really useful modeling articles!

I'm not a fan of GW stuff, but I paid $8.50 USD this week for my copy of Wargames Soldiers and Strategy and it only has 82 pages. It has more diverse content though.

Well, since every GW store has an open copy for customers to look at, and any good independent retailer opens a store copy to look thru, I really can't help but think some people are hating just to hate.

I'm curious, is it at the point, perhaps, that they're simply milking the miniatures division for all it worth and don't care particularly about customer retention?

The sole purpose of the various games is to sell figures to the target market, and has been since GW Stopped selling non-GW lines, and absorbed Citadel miniatures in the mid eighties. The target market is male and 14 to 18 years of age, generated by peer pressure and "shinyness".

Customer retention is not a factor as once the customer base reaches 18 parental purchase power reduces and customers are mostly happy with the edition of the rules they started with, and the armies they've got, and of course there will always be new customers reaching the age of 14.

I was employed by GW in the Eighties and early Nineties and will never forget the response to a question I asked the Area Manager not long before I quit.

Me: How do I justify to the parents who are actually paying for the figures for their kids, that they can buy 3 miniatures in a blister for £3.99 GBP but that this single miniature is £4.99 GBP?
Area Manager: It's better in the game!

Having said that, I believe that without Games Workshop the hobby would not be where it is today. Many war gamers can trace their interest in the hobby to a visit to a GW store or playing with a friends miniatures.

Likewise Citadel along with Ral Partha in the US drove the sculpt quality of miniatures to what we have now, anyone old enough to remember pre Eighties miniatures will know what I mean. They also started the plastic revolution in 1987 even if the reason was to reduce production costs and therefore derive greater profits.

The good points about GW are true, Mahotsukoi.

""fantastic in-depth hobby content" and bagged? Why am I skeptical?"

Because this is GW we are talking about.

They do not have a very good track record.

If you do not believe me ask the Squats.

"Current page count is 120, so 160 is a 33% increase, which is huge."

Could mean 40 more pages for pictures of their mini's.

So could mean 40 more pages of advertisments that their fanboyz are paying.

I have a feeling that instead of releasing a separate Hobbit mag, GW just tacked on 40 extra pages to WD….

Actually, GW has been bussy to retain customers for a couple of years now, even trying to get old timers back again. That started with Apocalypse just before fifth edition 40k and really hasn't stopped since. Sure they still aim at kids and the 'parent' factor, but not retaining those folks just moves those models to the secondary market. The secondary market is very destructive for GWs profits.

The Squats are back, they are mentioned in the sixth edition rulebook as an abhuman race. Even the Beastmen are back as abhumans, but the Inquisition is pushing to kick them off that list and handle them like all mutants should be ;-)

Even the success of Forge World shows us that GW isn't just played or aimed at 14-18 year olds.

A for recent WDs being abysmal, I only partly agree:

WD393 – really bad, nothing more the an advertisement leaflet for Dark Vengeance and supporting products, not even an painting guide on how to paint those miniatures.

WD392 – Decent, had the Codex/Armybook expansion for Chaos Deamons, even a few sparse hobby articles, decent coverage of 40k and wfb battle reports, some background of deamons and chaos.

WD391 – Reasonable, covered 6th edition 40k, changes, etc. Had painting articles and 40k battle report.

WD390 – Excellent, contains stats/background on the new flyers, new scenario, lots of painting articles. Would like to see more WDs such as this.

WD389 – Very Good. Apocalypse battle scenario, two Apoc formations, and a Battlereport. 40k Campaign battle reports. WFB Tome of Battle, new scenario's, new spells, prayers, and relics. Background on the Demigryph Knights and heraldry. A LOT of painting articles. Background articles on the new Necrons and the Codex.

WD388 – Very Decent, Death Worlds, new scenario's. 40k Battle report. WFB civil war rules. Bacground on the Empire and the new army book. Painting articles.

In my enthusiasm I renewed my subscription on WD by another two years, so the price increase doesn't hurt me. A two year subscription was €125.00 EUR (in the US $140 USD) for 24 WDs, at the time I found that reasonable. WD393 made me review that decision, I'm curious what the future will hold.

My WD collection started with WD97 but over the years developed a few holes when my interest in GW wanned, recently I decided I wanted to fill in the holes and make the WD run from #97 to #393 complete, some WDs are truely horrible, some are quite excellent. Those first fifty WDs or so have a very special place in my heart, but whether that's because their good or it's just nostalgia is a whole different kettle of fish…

Upping the page count to MAKE UP for it's inflated price might be a good political move; even if it lacks real content.

WD is a relatively small circulation magazine, but not relative to some other wargames magazines (which are cheaper, AND imported from the UK). So, considering it's circulation, and the fact that it's GW's own ad material, I don't see how they can justify that price. Buying a magazine should be something I can pick up on a whim for light reading, it should NOT be an investment I have to weigh against spending that money on a decent meal.

I think I began picking up WD regularly around #92, never missed an issue til shortly after #200, where I have a pretty spotty collection til around #250.

If they DID bring back the squats, they would have to eat a WHOLE lot of their words. I have never before heard of a BUSINESS that had the attitude of, "dammit, customer base, we are sick and tired of you constantly telling us what YOU want-it's not all about YOU!"

Aww…just buy space dwarves from some other company and work up some house rules for them.

Problem fixed.

WD is a relatively small circulation magazine, but not relative to some other wargames magazines (which are cheaper, AND imported from the UK). So, considering it's circulation, and the fact that it's GW's own ad material, I don't see how they can justify that price. Buying a magazine should be something I can pick up on a whim for light reading, it should NOT be an investment I have to weigh against spending that money on a decent meal.

GW has around 120.000 WDs printed each month, maybe more, depending on the subscriber vs. loose sales. That's a lot for any niche market.

As for being expensive. That depends, I have here in my hands an issue of 3D World magazine from February 2004, cost: 6GBP, only 98 pages but did include a CD-rom (now their at 114 pages), and also contains a fair amount of advertisement. I paid €14.00 EUR in the stores across the pond… It only had a circulation of 12.834 in 2010.

These aren't your average 'toilet' magazines, these are special interest magazines with a limited interest range. Not to mention that in the case of GW they don't generate one iota of revenue from advertising and the magazine still needs to at least break even for GW.

GW is many things, but it isn't cheap, the new 40k Psychic powers ios app costs €999.00 EUR, that's very expensive for such a simple app. On the other hand, folks are going to buy it anyway. The same goes for the WD and all the other GW products. Companies never justify their prices to consumers, only to investors.

The squads might be back in the fluff, but it's a long, long way off to a Squad army. I suspect that we'll first see a Squad unit for IG (or even Tau)…

The 'advantage' of the high GW prices is that other companies/folks can compete. Dreamforge is selling 20 man Storm trooper platoons for $39 USD, while GW is selling 10 man sguads for $29. USD DF Powered armored troops, 20 for $42 USD, while GW asks $37.25 USD for 10 Space Marines. That's not to mention the 'titan' for $89 USD (~80% the size of a FW warhound ~$480). No way could such companies like DF or even Mantic exist without the high prices of FW. The market is just to tiny and the plastic startup costs to high.

Aww…just buy space dwarves from some other company and work up some house rules for them. Problem fixed.

It's the principle of the matter. They need to crawl if they want my cash, darn it.

Though I DO really like Mantic's.

This is the most expensive brochure on the planet. It's already over $14 USD in New Zealand.

Now in its 36th year, White Dwarf has been redesigned and relaunched to make it bigger, glossier and more higher quality, with 160-pages of fantastic in-depth hobby content.

It's hard enough to read now. It doesn't need to be any glossier. I really dislike glossy mags because the light always reflects and I have to hold them on a specific angle to read. On top of that, the high quality glossy stock paper is REALLY HEAVY. Ever tried moving boxes of these mags? I did when I moved house once. The second time I gave them all away.

… which based on current sales will mean £104,000.00 GBP GBP more RSV through retailers' tills every year!

No it doesn't. People will stop buying it. I buy the occasional copy, but not any more.

I also find it offensive that I had to "carry" players of other games. When I was playing WHFB and 40K and they introduced LotR, a third of the magazine was useless to me. Then when I stopped playing WHFB, 2/3rds of the mag was useless to me.

The person who only plays one of their games now will be paying 4 times too much. It's my not so humble opinion that they need to shift to PDF releases and split the books up into the separate games.

A while ago I went through old WD's I kept (around issues 55 to 110) to decide if I was going to keep or chuck them as part of a general loft clearout. In all honesty I have to admit that WD back then was, and actually still is, an excellent read.

I stopped buying WD years ago when it became very patchy from issue to issue.

If you accept that WD is just a sales pamphlet with a few reasonable features then you get what you want to pay for.

If you think you'll get anything more of the mag, you will be disappointed.

Expect 'magazine only' codex/army books/rules to pop up now that they are putting extra weight in the mag.

I stopped buying WD a few months ago and won't be buying it again now that it will be bagged up. I can generally get all the info I want on the GW site.

I bought WD when it had painting guides for the LotR range – once the filmns dried up, so did the "value" of its LotR coverage, as it stopped giving "how to do" and went the battle report way. So I stopped. Not sure how much Hobbit stuff I will need – only one decent battle in it :-)