"For how much longer will FoW be financially viable?" Topic

I give them another two years as far as the WW II line. In the meantime they will have to find another period that will be hot enough to bring in the cash.

Oh look! Four new book compilations of previously released books coming in 2013!

This probably means that the Barbarosa Book will get kicked down the road another six months as they find ways to reinvent the early German and Soviet forces in an attempt to make them tournament competitive. Particularly after what they experienced in the EW British Armor Company, and the rewrite that resulted from that revelation.

Of course after reinventing the EW Russian Front a Version 4 Rule Book can't be far behind. That should mark the pinnacle of their WW II run. It will be a rapid drop off after that. So two years seems about right!

Vietnam is a no-no, few armoured vehicles, most engagements 'small scale' by comparison with WWII. I think Cold War would be the way they would maximise profit. Fulda Gap anyone?

Cold War would be the way they would maximise profit

Things like Abrams vs T-80's would have to have plenty of BIGSEXYTANKS to get people playing.

The problem is that you'd have to do fantasy Cold War because we since learned the Soviet stuff was really all crap.

Wait…fantasy historicals? YES that is right up the BF alley.

irishserb 19 Dec 2012 3:11 a.m. PST
"I think their growth is tapering off, but don't expect them to disappear. Area stores have reduced inventory, one has dropped the line, so something is happening, but I think they are finding the limits of the market for their current product line. Re-inventing WWII probably isn't as …"

There are large parts of WWII that haven't been explored yet including Barbarosa and the Pacific. In addition, there army books have really only scratched the surface among the units involved in the campaigns they have created books for.

I think what they are finding are the limits of the historical gaming market for treating their customers like idiots. They have answered being too expensive by making their products more costly. The codex creep is accelerating and they have jumped the shark a few too many times. We historians all know that bears are the secret to a good artillery battery! Local stores are greatly reducing their inventory because gamers don't want the games that seem to go along with playing their game.

Board games, card-based games…

They are not going anywhere.

BF is a one stop shop. You can buy all the rules, figures and paints in one place or on one shelf (so to speak).

The figures and vehicles are nice and are proportioned to fit into the game. No thought required as to "do i need this or do I need that?" Just buy the BF platoon and be done with it!

I do see sales going down somewhat. The market is pretty saturated with figures these days. When players get good at the game in all aspects, they most likely will start shopping around for better deals. This may include e-bay and other manufacturers. The older gamers, of course, would have started the game with this mentality. Drop in sales will not kill the company. I think they can go on as long as they want to.

Regardless of whether they do Pacific, Korea or Vietnam, they will still be asking the question, "how will these sell in volume?"

That's the real question. Spanish Civil War or other relatively-obscure stuff isn't going sell, not even around here. :)

There's a reason the video game industry never tires of WW2 games: consumers never tire of killin' Nazis. Other historical wars/periods are diminishing returns.

Sci-fi is tricky. While a FOW SF version rulebook would probably sell quite well, BF is a miniatures company. Creating a new setting is a tricky business. Given the subjective nature of SF, it's often a "love it or hate it" sort of thing.

BF might want to launch another major line, once they think FoW is levelling out. Rather than constantly re-invent the one game, they may use the framework of the FoW system and launch a new game for another era and push that one. Just as GW had Warhammer, and then 40K. BF's balancing act is maintaining interest and gaining new gamers whilst not turning off the existing fanbase. They did this well with V3, which most FoW fans will agree was an improved version of the rules. As for the Early War British armour, I think they didn't playtest them properly before the books went to print.

In 2013 we have Market Garden redux, early war East Front, and Vietnam.

I could see a rehash of the Normandy and late war East front books to make their lists more competitive.

Then there is the mid war revamp that will either kill off MW or rejuvenate it.

The 100 year anniversary for WW1 is only a little over a year away. I wouldnt be surprised to see something from that. Perhaps a test of the system.

Korea, Fulda Gap, and all the wars post WW2 would be a good target in a "Cold War" series. It would be a very long time before they ran out of material.

They have already hinted at a skirmish level WW2 air game. Personally, I dont like the 1/144 scale of the system. I prefer the 1/300 or 1/285 scale.

Sci Fi? perhaps a ground based Star Wars game? The FFG space game has been a hot seller. A properly done SW ground based game is ripe. There will be new movies in 2015. Plenty of time to develop and support those movies and the previous ones.

I'd actually like to see an update to the 2 Normandy compilation books. It'd be a real test for BF. If the Normandy American lists are more powerful than the Bulge books, then we've truly got a problem.

I've been playing for what, maybe 7 years, not too sure I'd be keen to pick up yet another Normandy book, I have far too many already.
If all it does is tweak the points, then I'll just pull out a marker and correct mine.
If it adds extra lists, maybe I'll buy it.

Given the market garden one appears to have dropped my favourite character 'Vandeluer', I may just have found the point at which BF has jumped the shark. For me GW jumped it when my Death Wing terminator squads kept changing the no. of Hvy Wpns a squad could have back and forward. I do not like models becoming obselete, and I certainly don't expect them to in a "historical" game

GW has greater appeal – most nerds like Fantasy and Science Fiction and this sort of genre appeals to the younger crowd as well.

WWII at 15mm has more limited appeal. I suspect BF has hit its maximum growth potential.

I think Bolt Action has greater appeal as it is 28mm, has much easier/faster rules, and has a Games Workshop pedigree courtesy of Rick Priestly/Alessio Cavatore.

I've already noticed on one club blogspot I frequent that Flames of War has been 100% replaced by Bolt Action.

I think we can't speculate on FOW financial matters without knowing things about their cashflow, debts, profit margins etc.

If they are dependent on growing to continue then they will one day be in trouble since they have in my view nearly peaked. More will start leaving the fold to explore other fields than can be brought in by 'new blood'. Without a base of active older players I don't think new players can be drawn in and their interest held. WW2 is in fashion now but will not always be – sure there will be a hard core of enthusiasts but the recent Band of Brothers TV series and others made it more mainstream – for a while.

If FOW can settle into its niche, churning trough some new players and milking the older ones without a need to double in size every 5 years or whatever it'll be around for ages.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.