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Guardian Newspaper covers 40k


alfred_the_great

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An interesting and balanced view on 40k in a mainstream U.K. Paper. Focus on profitability and how welcoming we all are.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/21/heroin-for-middle-class-nerds-how-warhammer-took-over-gaming-games-workshop?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

Interesting that we've got such positive coverage; it would've been very easy to write a snide counterpoint to such an article.

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Whether commissioned or not. it's a great article, both in terms of positive growth for the company and positive PR too.

 

Plus there are some awesome one-liners in there. My personal favourite: “Imagine if Disney were founded by a bunch of people who had been primarily inspired by heavy metal album covers,”

 

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Whether commissioned or not. it's a great article, both in terms of positive growth for the company and positive PR too.

 

Plus there are some awesome one-liners in there. My personal favourite: “Imagine if Disney were founded by a bunch of people who had been primarily inspired by heavy metal album covers,”

Awesome or just more cringeworthy? The debate rages on...

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To be honest, such articles are often comissioned. I wouldn't be surprised if GWs marketing team paid a good sum for a positive article like that. ^^

This isn't paid for, it's normal editorial.

Sponsored articles have to be clearly marked as paid marketing. The law is clear and enforced.

https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/recognising-ads-native-advertising.html

 

So this is genuine because they think it is interesting to some of their audience. And they're right.

 

Source: I work in a national newsroom, but not Guardian. We are scared of advertising law on this stuff.

I also know from Twitter that Alex Hern knows his stuff about gaming.

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To be honest, such articles are often comissioned. I wouldn't be surprised if GWs marketing team paid a good sum for a positive article like that. ^^

This isn't paid for, it's normal editorial.

Sponsored articles have to be clearly marked as paid marketing. The law is clear and enforced.https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/recognising-ads-native-advertising.html

So this is genuine because they think it is interesting to some of their audience. And they're right.

Source: I work in a national newsroom, but not Guardian. We are scared of advertising law on this stuff.

I also know from Twitter that Alex Hern knows his stuff about gaming.

Not saying that's how it definitely is, but eh ... laws are there to be broken for some people.

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It's a nice article. For myself 40k (along with some other nerdy pastimes) was something I always wanted to get into as a teen but I never did as I was worried about how it would make me look. In my early 30's I started the hobby and now really wish I'd got into it when young as it's really, really good fun.

 

Anything that lifts a stigma on fun and harmless stuff like this is great - 100 years ago in Britain you were considered a very strange and suspect person if you didn't have hobbies while 20 years ago it was the other way, a reversal of that trend would not be a bad thing.

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Ya, just to provide some fun trivia to this article.

 

They mention Kieron Gillen, "a longtime fan" and he did stuff for Warhammer Monthly.  This guy was a founder of Rock, Paper, Shotgun and has many achievements beyond this, like writing a lot of X-Men and I think now the Darth Vader series for Marvel.  Right now he's still writing Uber, which is in fact not a comic about the taxi service, but a comic with the premise "what if Nazi Germany really developed superhumans in the 2nd World War."  He's got serious street cred, so he's clearly understating himself and just helping out a fellow journalist.

 

And this article came out a few days after GW's mid-year report just came out.  The fascinating thing is a lot of traditional retail, like Toys 'R Us and SEARS are all but gone, yet GW is growing year-on-year.  It's a (good, positive, successful) business anomaly.

 

Another fun fact is how much GW is now investing into Warhammer Studios.  Like you guys probably saw the little video on Warhammer TV and this new animated series done by the guy that did Helsreach.  Because I've been following the financials, I reckon it's enough to basically be considered a new business in itself, but way more complex.  And GW's growth in the last 2 years basically are giving it enough to keep doing what it's doing PLUS this new media arm.  We're barely seeing the tip of the iceberg.

 

Thanks for sharing this article, it's pretty funny.  My favourite part is how this writer describes GW's offering as "The Hobby".  So true.

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I wonder how in an era of shrinking retail a niche hobby could still expand to new locations and grow. It’s almost like fans on other continents are driving the growth

 

It's almost like there was a lot of untapped potential the whole time and now that Kirby is gone GW has access to it. Kinda like a dam holding back the water. :P

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To be honest, such articles are often comissioned. I wouldn't be surprised if GWs marketing team paid a good sum for a positive article like that. ^^

 

The article does state this: "[Games Workshop] is notoriously press-shy, and would not be interviewed for this article."  I've seen similar articles in other newspaper/media, usually a reaction/comment on the companies financials (when they're doing well).

 

But really, GW don't need to pay for promotion when you think about it.  They've pretty much got us (as in, we hobbyists) to promote their hobby (sorry, 'The Hobby' ;) :) ), when we talk to friends or family, or share pictures of our painted models on forums like this and social media.

 

In all, it was a reasonable article - it could've been snide and condescending, but was written with something bordering affection.  The headline is a bit unfortunate though (even if it's a tad accurate in describing how compulsively addictive our Hobby is :teehee:

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I'm interested to see what they consider middle class. I certainly wouldn't consider myself middle class, as I work entry level IT. If I wasn't single or frugal I couldn't afford to set aside some plastic crack money every paycheck. If I wasn't in school my loans would suck up all my available funds as well.

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These points are either partially or wholly correct.

 

I wonder how in an era of shrinking retail a niche hobby could still expand to new locations and grow. It’s almost like fans on other continents are driving the growth

 

In GW's case, they don't disclose their sales by product line, but they do break down by region.  I've been tracking it and it's growing across the board, but also, yes, the biggest dollar increase has been in North America, while the biggest percentage increase has been in Asia (mainly because it was so small to begin with).

 

It happened I was so curious about the Retailpocalypse that, though it wasn't my area of expertise, I took some time to look at it to, y'know, see the world outside my bubble.  There's another analogous industry/company that's been also doing well and, like GW, expanding.  It's Hobby Lobby, the arts & craft shop.

 

So when this journalist described GW's offerings as "The Hobby"...he's spot on IMHO.  If GW sold toys, then welp, look what happened to Toys 'R Us.  If it's tabletop games, that's partly true I think, as Wizards of the Coast/D&D I think has been doing well, too, but still doesn't match how GW basically doubled in size in 2 years.  When including things like arts & craft, and a lot of our hobby is the painting and modeling aspect, then maybe yeah.

 

It's almost like there was a lot of untapped potential the whole time and now that Kirby is gone GW has access to it. Kinda like a dam holding back the water. :tongue.:

 

Now, I never want to lay all the blame or all the praise on any particular person, but yeah, y'know.  Kinda yeah, the dam broke.

 

One interesting thing was when the new/current CEO Kevin Rountree took over, he started talking about "lapsed" customers, meaning people who used to play but took a long break from Warhammer.  I'm one such.  Maybe some of you are, too.  That's PART of all the untapped potential, so yeah.  But also the other many factors you guys are thinking of, too!

 

What interested me recently: the poll on the Best Miniature of 2018.  Remember how the winner was the Noise Marine, that callback to 1st ed 40k?  There were so many factors that could've skewed the results (like recency; that was the last miniature released...or that awesome paintjob, but they all had good paintjobs, I dunno), the idea of "lapsed" players was forefront in my mind.  That's why I mentioned it.

 

The headline is a bit unfortunate though (even if it's a tad accurate in describing how compulsively addictive our Hobby is :teehee:

 

Great point.  Humble reminder that journalists usually don't write the headlines, the editors usually do.  I dunno, though.  I just felt a slight disconnect between the headline and the article, so I thought back to that.

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Aside from completely missing out Warhammer TV, Warhammer Community and the Facebook pages (which in my opinion are the biggest reasons for GW's recent successes and growth), this is a surprisingly well written and reasonable article...

Which is saying something when it's published by the Grauniad!

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One possible reason for GW's growth in a declining retail scene could be that they're a product that's (mostly) not carried widely by the big stores like Walmart or stocked regularly on Amazon. Even when things are, they're usually not available in huge quantities or with the discounts a lot of people can get from their local brick and mortar flgs. That combined with us basically being in a "geek renaissance" where games of all types are getting more popular could explain why they're booming while so many other retail brands are sinking.

 

Personally I'd love to see more media coverage like this. I'm of the opinion that more exposure equals more players equals better local communities.

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More exposure brings scrutiny and the last thing gamers need is more scrutiny. The author of the article already called the game fascist because he’s a moron who doesn’t read the lore. The hobby doesn’t need a bunch of blue check marks and Pepe’s going to war over it. Those :cuss can all stay in their own lane.
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