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Wag
 
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| So it looks like GW are/maybe gonna go under or will they return as something else? Whatever you think of them the company has certainly had a huge impact on the RP and LRP world. It’ll be sad in a way to see them go but in another way I’ll be glad. So who wants to organise Warhammer Fantasy LIVE Roleplay? It’s unlikely that the GW legal department are gonna have the time to enforce their copy rights now the end is in sight. * Note much of the above is complete rumour.
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RL: Mr Sofar
Curved core weaponry and bespoke stuff.
ShelfordFX
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Knight
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GW has issued their second profit warning of the year, are looking to close 35 stores, and cut 10% of full time staff.
It looks bad, but it's by no means the end. If they do it right, then this round of cuts should be the only one they need. Many of the cuts will probably go via wastage and natural attrition, few should be forced redundancies.
They will probably stay in profit, assuming the costs for this exercise are discounted.
If they get the cuts wrong, and have to do more, it will probably be worse for them. Nothing saps staff morale like multiple rounds of cost saving job cuts.
They did not properly predict the loss of sales after the LotR films stopped. They are still dealing with this fall-out.
I think they have some cash reserves, so are not in immediate danger. The drop in share price is interesting, the company is currently valued at around £80 million, which conceivably puts them in range of a takeover from someone like Hasbro, which would be an interesting twist.
James
The Jackal Faction - http://www.jackalfaction.com
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Wag
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Well to me it looks like they are closing the unprofitable sections of the business in preparation to sell the company. Closing 35 stores at a cost of £6 million is quite an undertaking. 10% staff cuts? This is for permanent staff, it doesn’t include all the temporary contracts and part-timers, so this figure will probably be higher. It’s all well and good trimming down the business to make it profitable but where are future sales going to come from? Strange things have been happening with the shares – the Sales Director leaving with a load of shres he either bought or was given. Separately a 7% wedge of shares was bought by an unknown entity, maybe the future company behind a potential merger?
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RL: Mr Sofar
Curved core weaponry and bespoke stuff.
ShelfordFX
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I do talk a good fight
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Some aspects of the company -- notably Black Library & its many sub-divisions -- seem to be going from strength to strength, still. So hopefully the WFRP and upcoming 40K RPG lines are still safe.
I suspect that GW will survive, but a lot depends on whether this is just the temporary fallout of New Line having stopped releasing multi-million pound promo movies for GW, or WoW having provided an alternate outlet for fantasy battle-obsessed teenagers. If the latter, this could indeed be a major, ongoing problem for GW, but again, only if it fails to adapt & diversify. I don't think that's too late by any means.
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Wag
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So it’s less of a sinking ship more of a chuck everything over the side and let others salvage them. It could be good for the RPG world that smaller publishers handle the RPG’s. But I really can’t see GW bouncy back as the old dominant behemoth that it was, this can only be a good thing.
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RL: Mr Sofar
Curved core weaponry and bespoke stuff.
ShelfordFX
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Wag
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Incidentally, it’d be great if Indie publishers can suddenly grab a big slice of the existing market after GW disappeared but there wont be the high street presence anymore that gets kids into RPGs and then maybe LRP. Maybe WoW could be the next access pint for the new blood of LRP? ‘I played WoW then thought hey wouldn’t it be great to do this for real and then I found loads of players in my area went to this thing called LRP’ – is this possible?
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RL: Mr Sofar
Curved core weaponry and bespoke stuff.
ShelfordFX
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and Minimeister
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Shelford (5/10/2007)
Incidentally, it’d be great if Indie publishers can suddenly grab a big slice of the existing market after GW disappeared but there wont be the high street presence anymore that gets kids into RPGs and then maybe LRP. Maybe WoW could be the next access pint for the new blood of LRP? ‘I played WoW then thought hey wouldn’t it be great to do this for real and then I found loads of players in my area went to this thing called LRP’ – is this possible?It seems unlikely. I haven't heard of Tabletoppers doing it.
There is only overconfidence and terror.
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Wag
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That's strange. When I started out almost everyone was from a tabletop background originally. Have the times changed? Maybe someone should do a poll 'How did you get into LRP?'.
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RL: Mr Sofar
Curved core weaponry and bespoke stuff.
ShelfordFX
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