Rolling for Initiative is a weekly column by Scott Thorne, PhD, owner of Castle Perilous Games & Books in Carbondale, Illinois and instructor in marketing at Southeast Missouri State University. This week, while noting reasons some people might not want to, Thorne offers thanks for the market contributions of Wizards of the Coast and Games Workshop.
It is a week late for official Thanksgiving thoughts, but I figure it is as good a time as any to take a look at why I am grateful for Wizards of the Coast and Games Workshop.
Wizards of the Coast
it is easy to complain about WotC and the latest stupid thing the company has done (from one person or another’s point of view), such as the new Magic: The Gathering Bloomburrow tins that currently will only be available through mass market stores (see “’Bloomburrow’ Tins”).
I know of FLGS that have already had two dozen calls from customers wanting to pre-order them, only to have to direct them to Walmart. At least there is not a hobby game store item like last year’s Lord of the Rings Scene Boxes (see “The Gifting Season Will Soon Be Upon Us”), which still clog up a lot of retailers’ shelves, for the Bloomsburrow tins to compete against. Last year, I was reminded, WotC released a similar Lord of the Rings tin into mass market which pulled away a lot of sales from the Scene Boxes.
Ah, but I digress. Despite the individual missteps, no company does more in general to support the game store (at least those that carry Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons), than Wizards of the Coast. I still remember the boxes of Mystery Boosters WotC distributed free of charge to help game stores during the worst part of the COVID pandemic (See “Notable Events (Besides the Epidemic) of 2020”).
The company provides quantities of promotional product to push prerelease and other events, provides hobby store-exclusive covers for Dungeons & Dragons books and has once again re-instated the two week window giving hobby game stores D&D product before mass market gets it. Yes, the company makes missteps. Can you say OGL (See “Well, that Was Quick and Four Picks for RPG Week”)? I still think it pumps out too much Magic product too quickly, but I cannot argue with how well the market absorbs it and my customers keep coming back for more.
Games Workshop
Another company people (especially retailers) like to complain about, and it is really easy to suffer inventory creep if a store does not watch its budget and purchases; and a new edition of the Warhammer 40,000 rules hitting the shelves every three years on average seems a bit much. But no matter how much they complain about it, customers keep buying products for each new edition. Our sales are easily four times what they were pre-2020.
When a customer interested in miniatures games asks our staff what miniatures game they should start playing, we have no hesitation pointing them towards Warhammer 40,000 and, to a lesser extent, Age of Sigmar (which I really wish they would rename Warhammer Fantasy Battle again) as those are the only miniatures games for which I can guarantee they will find opponents. In addition, for Stockist Stores, Games Workshop offers guaranteed sale on White Dwarf magazine, limited credit on outdated rulebooks and miniatures and a very generous promotional credit.
In short, both companies have strong promotional programs, and putting it bluntly, make the store money so we can keep servicing our customers and keep our staff employed. For that, I give thanks.
Comments? Send them to castleperilosugames@gmail.com
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Source: ICV2
