Price increase on GW Products (coming 7th March)

[Charleston]

Seems like some bad news. 5-20% price increase on models and books. 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/02/09/important-pricing-news/
 

Quote

You can hardly pick up a newspaper or see a headline today without mention of rising costs. Electricity, gas, raw materials, shipping – inflation is abroad in the land and we’re not immune to its effects.

So, regrettably, we’ll soon be increasing prices a little.

In most cases, this will be about 5%. So, as an example of what you can expect on most kits, a box of Space Marine Intercessors will go up just £1 from £35 to £36.*

A few things are going up about 10% (e.g. books, scenery, resin miniatures), and there are a couple of outliers (e.g. Blood Bowl teams and metal miniatures) which are going up around 20%. 

The price change will come into effect on the 7th of March.

We’re writing now because we wanted to give you as much notice as we can so that you can take advantage of the current prices.

There are two bits of good news:

1. There’s a heap of things we’ve been able to keep at the same price.
2. There are certain currencies where we won’t be changing any prices.

We understand that no one likes a price rise, and so we’ve done our best to minimise any changes and to keep the things you use every day (paints, etc.) at their current levels. And to make sure that it remains easy to get started with Warhammer, we worked to exclude most Starter Sets from the changes.

What’s NOT going up in price:

• Paints
• Brushes
• Paint sets
• Tools
• The majority of Starter Sets:
  • Getting Started With Warhammer Age of Sigmar
  • Getting Started with Warhammer 40,000
  • Warhammer Age of Sigmar Warrior Starter Set
  • Warhammer Age of Sigmar Harbinger Starter Set
  • Warhammer 40,000 Elite Edition
  • Warhammer 40,000 Recruit Edition
  • Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Starter Set
  • Warhammer Underworlds: Starter Set
  • Warhammer Underworlds: Harrowdeep

Excluded currencies:

We’re pleased that there are some areas of the globe where we will be able to maintain current prices.

• Australia dollar
• New Zealand dollar
• Japan yen
• China RMB

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Charleston

[SunStorm]

Not great news, but not unexpected either to be honest. I was speaking to a restaurant owner yesterday who said his raw ingredient costs had gone up by 40% over the last couple of months and he's stuck in the position of deciding to pass those costs on or not. 

We have almost a month of notice which is at least something. 
 

 

[Durgin]

What I find a bit annoying by GW when they announce a new (well, another...) increase on prices, is this kind of Timmy the orphan's attitude, like they are begging us for another spoon of soup and they are really sad for having been obliged to increase they already god-tier prices.

Don't get me wrong, I don't care about prices too much, because this hobby is a guilty pleasure of mine so it is already a luxury activity: I just buy things I love as soon as I can afford them, then if for some reason I can't anymore, I just put my purchases on pause 'till I have some cash to dedicate to my favorite hobby.

I was planning to make a whole Eldar Corsairs army, I will just buy a box and I'm happy the same.

Said so, I find a bit disturbing this way of making this hobby unnecessary expensive, just because (and imho this is the real reason why GW constantly increases prices) they can count on a extremely supportive community that seems to be able to absorb the corporative greed. In a idealistic way, I find a bit weird to reward the average hobby enthusiast, who's already paying way more than necessary (GW prices on their paper products is out of this world, for example..), by making his hobby less and less accessible. Despite what they tell, I honestly think that this new prices are more a way to take advantage of the "bubble" created during the pandemic, and restore those unexpected waste of money that GW had for badly managing some crucial logistic factors (think about all the no-deal brexit mess, that obliged GW to pay customs fees on their products shipped outside UK).

Said so, I think that Gw can increase their prices even 100% each year: my mountain of shame is so big that I can happily paint for hundreds of years, before going out of minis XD

[Gaz Taylor]

Just to add some context for anybody living outside the UK. Our energy prices are about to jump up 54% and I imagine this as well as other things going on, have contributed to GW wanting to raise prices. I’ll be honest, I don’t like prices going up but I try to look at it like this :

The amount of time I get to spend on things I enjoy is very different now to before I was married or a father. I don’t need to have all the latest models or collect an army in one go. I want to enjoy painting rather than rushing out to get the latest unit so I can have a all conquering army. 
 

So I’m not happy but I’m not going to denounce GW and burn all my stuff. I’ll just buy differently and enjoy my hobby.

[Durgin]

9 minutes ago, Gaz Taylor said:

Just to add some context for anybody living outside the UK. Our energy prices are about to jump up 54% and I imagine this as well as other things going on, have contributed to GW wanting to raise prices. I’ll be honest, I don’t like prices going up but I try to look at it like this :

The amount of time I get to spend on things I enjoy is very different now to before I was married or a father. I don’t need to have all the latest models or collect an army in one go. I want to enjoy painting rather than rushing out to get the latest unit so I can have a all conquering army. 
 

So I’m not happy but I’m not going to denounce GW and burn all my stuff. I’ll just buy differently and enjoy my hobby.

unfortunately this is not something related only on UK economy.

Here in Italy, energy prices in 2022 will go up by 55% (electric energy) and 42% (gas)

 

[RuneBrush]

36 minutes ago, Gaz Taylor said:

Just to add some context for anybody living outside the UK. Our energy prices are about to jump up 54% and I imagine this as well as other things going on, have contributed to GW wanting to raise prices. I’ll be honest, I don’t like prices going up but I try to look at it like this :

The amount of time I get to spend on things I enjoy is very different now to before I was married or a father. I don’t need to have all the latest models or collect an army in one go. I want to enjoy painting rather than rushing out to get the latest unit so I can have a all conquering army. 
 

So I’m not happy but I’m not going to denounce GW and burn all my stuff. I’ll just buy differently and enjoy my hobby.

As an addition to this, in GW's recent 6-montly financial report they did highlight transportation/logistics having increased by a pretty significant amount too.  All things considering I feel the increase could well have been worse.

[EccentricCircle]

"Metal models to go up by 20%"

Skaven Players: "Haven't we suffered enough!?"

Am I happy; no. Am I surprised; also no. This was bound to happen sooner or later, and even if they could absorb the costs into their massive margins, I don't think anyone expected them to do so.

Mini wise this doesn't bother me much. I think I have all the resin and metal models I want for AoS & 40K right now, and most of the plastic ones. I can theoretically be quite happy painting away for months without needing to buy anything new. I might consider getting some stuff for Lord of the Rings before the rise though, as that is likely to be hard hit.

The annoying thing is likely to be a cost increase on books, as they have already jacked the prices up on those with the edition change, and its getting silly. I was already on the fence as to whether I wanted to collect the Battletomes and codices for my armies this edition, or whether to just wait and see what I play most, and get the rules if and when I need them. I think this means that I won't be playing AoS until fourth ed drops, and might not worry to much about 40K either honestly. I can be happy playing Warcry and 2e/legends with the books I've got for now. I'll save my pennies for Lord of the Rings and Necromunda releases and see how things look in a couple of years.

[AdamR]

21 minutes ago, RuneBrush said:

As an addition to this, in GW's recent 6-montly financial report they did highlight transportation/logistics having increased by a pretty significant amount too.  All things considering I feel the increase could well have been worse.

This.
One of my suppliers at work has been hit with a 1200% increase in shipping costs, from $5 a landed unit to $60!

 

[papary]

I do feel the price increases are going to price out a lot of people and a lot of potential customers will peace out when they see the prices. 
 

i very rarely buy from gw direct these days but new people to the hobby don’t necessarily know about other places to buy from, this will certainly impact a lot of impulse buys, and if books go up to £36 rrp that is insane considering they seem to have less content in them now. 

[woolf]

soooo... can we now assume Idoneth/Fyreslayers tomes to drop Mar 12?

[pnkdth]

Let 2022 be the year when you clear that backlog and turn your pile of shame into a pile of awesome new (and old) ideas.

Celebrate the hobby, don't get stuck in a rut buying new things you won't use.

[Durgin]

It is undoubted that the last years of pandemic made the prices of raw material, energy and logistic go up significantly.

What I am wondering is: how does this rise of costs affect GW?

I try to explain despite my horrible English (I know, it's painful).

 A) let's imagine I own a pizzeria. An average pizza (margherita) costs about 0.5€/0.8€ in ingredients/general production costs, and is priced 5€/5,5€. If the cost of ingredients goes up, and I have to face 1,5€ of costs, it has a huge impact on my finances.

B) I'm Cracco (a famous chef here in Italy). In my restaurant, an average pizza (margherita) costs about 1.5/2€ in ingredients (because of higher quality raw materials etc), but I sell it at 16€ each. If my costs go up even by 100%, I would still have a very consistent margin of profit. 

 

In what case does GW belong?

I think we are more talking about the B case. GW products are already waaaaaay over priced, compared to the market. Of course, there is a reason why they can afford this kind of prices: people love their products and is highly loyal to the brand, Gw products are considered (often wrongly, just think about all the hobby tools like wire cutters etc) the very best money can buy. It's legit, it's market so I don't argue with that because I am one of those customers.

Said so, I honestly can't buy the "inflation and production costs go up so we have to rise up our prices too and we are sad about that", because I think that the average GW product is already so over priced that it can easily absorb the rising of raw materials, keeping also a more than decent margin of profit.

We are talking about products like the 30€ for a single space marine character, or 35€ for 3 boltboyz. 

Moreover, as a EU based buyer, I honestly can't accept the inflation thing when GW applies a £/€ exchange that is out of this world, closer to some black markets of Venezuela. "Fury of the Deep", for example, is priced 105£, which is roughly 124€ at the current exchange: Gw priced it 140€ instead (118£).

And things get worse if we consider the US Market (fury of the deep is priced 170$, which is 125£).

On this basis, when you literally earn money from nothing applying an exchange rate that is out of this world, how can you expect me to believe you, when you try to say that "oh, inflation is high so from March 7th prices go up from 5 to 10%"? When I pay 140€ a product that should cost 124€ on your own market, I'm already paying you the whole inflation thing, and even something more XD!

It's not because the inflation, or because without increasing prices you are risking not to be able to pay your bills. It's just wanting to keep intact an enormous margin of profit on your products. Which is perfectly legit, again, but at least don't try to act as you're really sad and in needs XD

Edited February 9, 2022 by Durgin

[SunStorm]

It would be worth remembering that a lot of the same arguments and reactions are raised every time GW increase their prices. If you've been in the hobby for a long time, you'll have seen price increases many times and the same things said every time, about how this will kill the hobby, it'll put new people off, drive people to 3rd party, etc. 

Considering GW has never cost as much as it does now, the fact that they just had the best year of sales they've ever had, should show that those arguments were false then and there is little evidence that they will turn out to be true this time. 

 

 

 

[madmac]

5 minutes ago, SunStorm said:

It would be worth remembering that a lot of the same arguments and reactions are raised every time GW increase their prices. If you've been in the hobby for a long time, you'll have seen price increases many times and the same things said every time, about how this will kill the hobby, it'll put new people off, drive people to 3rd party, etc. 

Considering GW has never cost as much as it does now, the fact that they just had the best year of sales they've ever had, should show that those arguments were false then and there is little evidence that they will turn out to be true this time. 

 

 

 

I haven't seen anyone arguing that this will destroy the company, just that GW's prices on most things are already absurd and always climbing no matter what is happening in the world, which is accurate.

[zilberfrid]

Considering the price differences between GW and other UK based companies like Renedra, they have the margin to bear it, but they also have a customer base that just accepts it.

I just purchased some GW stuff, and I'm probably all done on GW stuff for the next year.

[Skreech Verminking]

1 hour ago, EccentricCircle said:

Metal models to go up by 20%"

Skaven Players: "Haven't we suffered enough!?"

Yes we have, but truthfully said, who in the right mind would even consider buying those ugly metal skaven models, especially the extremely expensive skryre acolytes.

They haven’t gotten my attention, when their price was up at 20 dollars per model, and I’m very certain that they won’t be getting my attention now at 24dollars per piece.

 

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Skreech Verminking

[Kasper]

51 minutes ago, Durgin said:

I try to explain despite my horrible English (I know, it's painful).

 A) let's imagine I own a pizzeria. An average pizza (margherita) costs about 0.5€/0.8€ in ingredients/general production costs, and is priced 5€/5,5€. If the cost of ingredients goes up, and I have to face 1,5€ of costs, it has a huge impact on my finances.

B) I'm Cracco (a famous chef here in Italy). In my restaurant, an average pizza (margherita) costs about 1.5/2€ in ingredients (because of higher quality raw materials etc), but I sell it at 16€ each. If my costs go up even by 100%, I would still have a very consistent margin of profit. 

Theres just a lot more to it than this. People often look at what item X is selling for and what the cost of the ingredients are and then assume the guy is making Y profit per item. This is not how things work. The sale of item X has to cover alot more than simply the materials used. Theres advertisement/sculpting/customer service salaries, transportering costs, import fees, accounting etc. All of these expenses are increasing atm. 

You can google shipping prices on containers and see many articles describing a boom in prices upwards of 400% (has been increasing for almost half a year by now) and other articles suggest that this will cause a 10% price hike for consumers. 

People in some EU countries are experiencing electricity prices going up 50-100%. 

 

Almost all expenses are increasing because people are attempting to cover their own expenses by charging more for their products. This is really no different for GW. Prices in groceries are not the same as they were a year ago either, its just tiny increases that you dont notice.

 

I wouldnt be surprised if we arent seeing any endless spells or faction terrain coming to any new armies for a good while because all of those things are made in China and the expenses for having it moved to EU/US is absurd now compared to pre Covid-19.

 

3 hours ago, Durgin said:

What I find a bit annoying by GW when they announce a new (well, another...) increase on prices, is this kind of Timmy the orphan's attitude, like they are begging us for another spoon of soup and they are really sad for having been obliged to increase they already god-tier prices.

I dont see it as them begging in any way. I feel like we are entering a new era where GW are actively communicating with their consumers ALOT more than just a couple of years ago. If we had no info but a sudden spike you would have complained too. 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Kasper

[Neverchosen]

So I have been looking into other game systems and this is the exact push I needed. I am not leaving AOS but I am definitely not going to be getting a new army or really adding anything more significant to my existing armies... Maybe one or two units when big releases come out, but overall I am pretty happy with my armies. In essence they have finally priced me out... a number of years back 😅

So the real question is what is the better game system between SW: Legion and Marvel Crisis Protocol? As much as I would rather support a smaller IP my friends are interested in the bigger more familiar game systems. My top pick would be Armada but pre-painted models (even knowing I can repaint them) feels a little like sacrilege. The positive news is that now I can point to this increase to get out of the pressure to avoid my friends getting me into 40k. 

Also wasn't Warhammer + going to be the companies saving grace? 😉 
Maybe if they cut down on those productions they can balance their books?

(Note: I am being overly facetious but this hobby has been very pricey for me and this increase is still not a happy time)

Edited February 9, 2022 by Neverchosen

[Jator]

I can understand the price rise on metals, but can someone please explain to me what's the reasoning behind the 20% rise on Blood Bowl teams?

[sandlemad]

I think the rising costs thing, while a real issue, is a figleaf excuse. Cut out that sentence and it could have been identical to any of the last nearly-annual price increases they’ve carried out, like clockwork. They know that much of the market will pay another 5% (on top of the previous 5%, the 5% before that, the 5% before that…) and so they raise prices. They know that Australian prices are already unsustainable to the point where it’s impacting their market share, so those don’t go up. 

I was priced out of the main games ages ago and priced out of WHU with Direchasm/Harrowdeep so in a sense it doesn’t hugely matter to me but it’s nonetheless particularly jarring to see this regretful language come after GW having its most profitable few years ever.

Edited February 9, 2022 by sandlemad

[Kaleb Daark]

10 minutes ago, Neverchosen said:

So I have been looking into other game systems and this is the exact push I needed. I am not leaving AOS but I am definitely not going to be getting a new army or really adding anything more significant to my existing armies... Maybe one or two units when big releases come out, but overall I am pretty happy with my armies. In essence they have finally priced me out... a number of years back 😅

So the real question is what is the better game system between SW: Legion and Marvel Crisis Protocol? As much as I would rather support a smaller IP my friends are interested in the bigger more familiar game systems. My top pick would be Armada but pre-painted models (even knowing I can repaint them) feels a little like sacrilege. The positive news is that now I can point to this increase to get out of the pressure to avoid my friends getting me into 40k. 

Also wasn't Warhammer + going to be the companies saving grace? 😉 
Maybe if they cut down on those productions they can balance their books?

I've fallen for X-wing in a big way, but my friend is going to be introducing me to Crisis Protocol soon.

 

To all of the above posters, it's worth bearing in mind that yes the margins are high, and yes the profits are vast per unit, however GW is run by shareholders and those shareholders or the company aren't going to see their margins diminished so you don't feel pain.

Now where they're concerned, if you keep buying, then they'll keep rising.  Just remember profit rules all. When profits drop the question gets asked why.

Every industry is the same, especially when it comes to raw materials, and even if they aren't impacted to a great degree are using the excuse to crank prices up exponentially.

Rest assured people, whatever walk of life you're facing these price rises, we've all got another couple if not three years of this BS.

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Kaleb Daark

[Kaleb Daark]

5 minutes ago, Jator said:

I can understand the price rise on metals, but can someone please explain to me what's the reasoning behind the 20% rise on Blood Bowl teams?

because people will pay it. Simple as.  And therin lies the tale.

[Clan's Cynic]

11 minutes ago, Kaleb Daark said:

because people will pay it. Simple as.  And therin lies the tale.

This.

GW has a very high profit margin compared to the majority of companies. They could absorb the cost if they wanted to, but they know their fanatic fanbase will happily eat it instead and any falloff from people being priced out will be carried by those willing to pay more.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Clan's Cynic

[Durgin]

34 minutes ago, Kasper said:

Theres just a lot more to it than this. People often look at what item X is selling for and what the cost of the ingredients are and then assume the guy is making Y profit per item. This is not how things work. The sale of item X has to cover alot more than simply the materials used. Theres advertisement/sculpting/customer service salaries, transportering costs, import fees, accounting etc. All of these expenses are increasing atm. 

You can google shipping prices on containers and see many articles describing a boom in prices upwards of 400% (has been increasing for almost half a year by now) and other articles suggest that this will cause a 10% price hike for consumers. 

People in some EU countries are experiencing electricity prices going up 50-100%. 

 

Almost all expenses are increasing because people are attempting to cover their own expenses by charging more for their products. This is really no different for GW. Prices in groceries are not the same as they were a year ago either, its just tiny increases that you dont notice.

 

I wouldnt be surprised if we arent seeing any endless spells or faction terrain coming to any new armies for a good while because all of those things are made in China and the expenses for having it moved to EU/US is absurd now compared to pre Covid-19.

 

I dont see it as them begging in any way. I feel like we are entering a new era where GW are actively communicating with their consumers ALOT more than just a couple of years ago. If we had no info but a sudden spike you would have complained too. 

Well, let's see then my personale experience, just to add some other data.

I own a small company that designs and produces resin miniatures.

To ship my products I use Spring, which is a super cool system to deliver all around the world, managed by PostNL and strongly connected with the various local posts. Before the pandemic, to ship from Italy to Australia an average parcel (about 250grams) I paid about 4.5/5€. Now I pay 5,30€.

The price has raised, it's true, but still I can live with it.

And I think that, being mine a small and newborn company, I should have a waaaaaaaay worse pricing than GW, a global company whose incomes are hundreds of millions of €, basically I think that earns more GW selling abaddon black color drops in 30 minutes than my company in a two years. Concerning shippings, as you may imagine the costs lower as the volume of shipments rise, so I fairly guess that, if you look at the singular shipment, GW should pay less than me.

Same with all the other "costs" that you correctly mention: GW has costs bigger than all the other competitors, it's true, but luckily for GW they also generate profit.

Again: I don't say that GW has no right to rise prices, or that there are not reasons for a company to rise prices. I only say that, as soon as I remember (so 25years of hobby, 'till now) GW has raised prices every 2 years, applying at the same time an exchange rate  horribly wrong (that generates huge profits without spending a single pence), so it's difficult for me to justify another + on prices, for products that are already extremely overpriced.

When WH underworlds started (2016), a single box costed about 25€. I assume that GW priced those boxes to earn some profit, am I right? Now a single box costs 34€ and, with the incoming  augmented price we are talking about 40/42€. It's a big difference, and I can hardly justify it only based on the "well, the inflation rises and we have many expenses" thing..

 

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Durgin

[sandlemad]

WHU is a particularly relevant example due to the sheer number of ‘stealth’ prices rises its received, with new starter kits and new individual warbands being something like 60% more than their equivalent a few years ago, i.e. new products being more expensive than their equivalent. 

You do get this with e.g. new AoS/40k infantry/monsters/etc being more expensive than infantry/monsters/etc released a year or two before but it’s a particularly sore point in a game based around seasons. Regardless it’s worth remembering that this new price rise is coming on top of not just three other open price rises in the last four years but also these other, more subtle increases.