5th Edition Rule Book for 40k!

[Sionnach Glic]

Yeah, if GW doesn't get its act together then it's going to go down hard in the next few years.

*shrug* As long as they keep writing great books, I'm happy.

[sunnyside]

Eh, but the thing about Third parties - especially ones that are allready hugley popular - is that they have a nasty habit of ripping the soul out of a franchise, or doing a 4Kids and removing all the lovley gorey bits and swearing. Hrm.

WizKids did OK with Shadowrun, IMHO.

Catalyst labs do.

Though curse them for their practical joke sourcebook preview with Obsidimen and Dragons as PCs!

[Jabber Swarky]

Yeah, if GW doesn't get its act together then it's going to go down hard in the next few years.

*shrug* As long as they keep writing great books, I'm happy.

Argh... Dammit, that really sucks D= WH and GW are, like, part of my life now, i cant imagine what it would be like without them.

Though i wonder if that chart shows profits from non-tabletop stuff like Warhammer Online or Dawn of War... Hrm.

........Mind you, ive been getting more into Roleplaying recently, and WarMachine has been tempting me to defect to them with all their lovley werewolf leigons...

[Aaron]

Argh... Dammit, that really sucks D= WH and GW are, like, part of my life now, i cant imagine what it would be like without them.

Though i wonder if that chart shows profits from non-tabletop stuff like Warhammer Online or Dawn of War... Hrm.

........Mind you, ive been getting more into Roleplaying recently, and WarMachine has been tempting me to defect to them with all their lovley werewolf leigons...

Really, I don't think the games net them much extra cash. They have to license them out, so thats a limit to the money. And how many actually get sold? A million, two million? WoW is one of the most successful games in history and they've only got around 13 million subscribers.

Now if GW ever gets their MMORPG's off the ground, we might see them in a better place. But I doubt it, WH/WH40K is somewhat obscure and hampered by the "geeK" aspect of it's TT roots.

[Mikey]

Agtain, their policy of going all Gestapo on any fan-made or outside fic, film, or anything is equivalent to shooting themselves in the foot. Exposure for the background, fiction, and online/PC aspects is what's going to help them, and turn casual fans into TT players; NOT the other way around.

[Sionnach Glic]

Exactly. And they need to realise that very quickly.

[sunnyside]

I guess I don't know how hard they are on fan stuff. But if they're rough it's just stupid.

Sometimes I do worry that they're running into market saturation. By which I mean once you've got yourself 10,000 points in models you may not need to buy many more. Plus the stuff doesn't go bad. Some of it surely gets thrown out or just boxed up for eternity.

But with the popularity of e-bay new players can just get in buying the collections of old players.

I think that's the reason in no small part for the growing popularity of clix in table top wargaming. You may need to buy new stuff just to compete in newer tournaments as with magic cards, and at any rate you'll want to have the new release of Batman or whatever.

[Aaron]

I guess I don't know how hard they are on fan stuff. But if they're rough it's just stupid.

Here's a bit of a hint on how they are with their IP:

You can't get a WH40K tattoo without violating their IP and getting sued. So if I want an Aquila across my back, it needs to be significantly different than the Imperial one.

Of course I live in Canada, not the UK. So they aren't going to have much luck sueing or even finding out that I have one but it gives you an idea of their attitude.

Edit: Here's the policy I refer too

T-SHIRTS, CLOTHES, TATTOOS AND THE LIKE

As always, we cannot allow third parties to obtain money from our intellectual property.

This effectively means that you would either have to buy Games Workshop T-shirts or clothes or make them yourself. You would not be able to sell any t-shirts or clothes that you make.

This also means that we cannot allow tattoos as an acceptable use of our IP as a third party necessarily has to perform the "service."

Follow the link and be enlightened. By my count, Rochey, Seafort and myself should now be in jail for our various avatars.

[Mikey]

Plus, don't forget the YouTube fan-film that got deep-sixed.

[Sionnach Glic]

Does that ban extend to fanfics set in the universe?

[Aaron]

Does that ban extend to fanfics set in the universe?

BEHOLD:

BACKGROUND

Background text is a major part of the hobby and writing your own is almost as much fun as reading it. Please remember to use the correct trademark disclaimer somewhere on your site, zip file and/or document. We would also ask that at the top of the material you state something equivalent to the following: "Death Ravine" an unofficial story by K. Roundtree derived, without permission, upon the Warhammer intellectual property owned by Games Workshop Ltd." Please note that we consider any background material you write to be a work which is derivative of our intellectual property. As such, you should refrain from putting any notice claiming that anyone other than Games Workshop Ltd has any right over Games Workshop-owned intellectual property or derivatives thereof.

WEB COMICS

We would probably not take issue with anyone creating a web comic based upon our intellectual property - but as with forums, keep in mind that the hobby is for people of all ages. Please be careful of the language used and the topics discussed. We would strongly recommend that you avoid any topics concerning illegal behavior, obscenity, or libel.

Seriously read through the link I posted, they are fruity as a nutcake.

Edit: The last two years they've run a competition to let people submit storys to their Random WH40K Tales Of GRIMDARK! #40 but if you win you don't get much beyond the honour of a story in their book. And bragging rights to your buddies who have probably never heard of the universe.

[Sionnach Glic]

Just read the link. Jesus christ.

[Tsukiyumi]

Yeah, they ain't f*cking around, there. How obsessive of them.

[Deepcrush]

Wait, what? Who said anything about GW going boobs up? o.o

Their massive drop off in profits suggest that they are headed for the grave.

Or that they like everyone else are suffering from the weakening economy that is boiling in the US.

[Aaron]

Or that they like everyone else are suffering from the weakening economy that is boiling in the US.

The drop off started in 2005 though.