Hello there Reader.
Back in 2011 we published an article sharing with our readers our info about the imminent enforcement back then of new trade policies concerning independent retailers. In what was to be known as the “GW Embargo” Games Workshop prohibited trade account holders based in the European Community of reselling their products to consumers outside the EU.
It should come as no surprise that the hobby community down here in Brazil was severely affected by those new policies given that most of us here purchased from the two giant retailing stores in the UK back them.
One of the ways people found of circumventing the embargo was purchasing from US based stores. Their shipping charges were not as reasonable as the ones from European stores but we could still purchase our models at discounted prices.
It seems that window has now been closed by yet another of GW’s trade policies. In a document dated March 15th 2013 addressing North American Trade Account holders GW’s disclosed its new blow against consumer base and independent retailers alike.
Invoking the same ill fated argument from a couple of years back GW says that in order to protect the sizable investments made by the company in the research and development of their products and also the investments made by the company and the owners of “brick and mortar” stores in fomenting the community and the “hobby culture” related to GW products they saw fit to alter the trade policy concerning the “retailers” of their products (by their definition “retailers” includes both the directly-supplied Trade Accounts and indirectly supplied retailers who purchase GAMES WORKSHOP products from Authorized Distributors).
The new 2013 Retailer Policy major changes are thus summarized:
o The prohibition against online retail sales of GAMES WORKSHOP products is restated and now expanded in its applicability to all North American Retailers both in the United States and in Canada;
o A requirement that all Retailers resell GAMES WORKSHOP products (including, but not limited to, components) only in their Original Packaging and Labeling;
o A requirement that Retailers limit their resale of GAMES WORKSHOP products to domestic sales in their respective countries – i.e., no exports;
o A requirement that Retailers comply with the timing and disclosure requirements associated with new product releases;
So in one fell swoop GW is now not only prohibiting USA independent retailers from selling to countries other than the one they’re based in, but also banning the online sales of their products in the USA and Canada and putting a stone over the bitz (or bits) commerce.
You can certainly see how disastrous that new policy will be for the already hurt Brazilian community devoted to GW’s games given that, having no local distributors or retailers, we’ll only have GW online stores to purchase from. I believe this might spell if not the demise of the hobby in Brazil, at least a very serious blow agains an incipient community.
It’s a bad day for the hobby I guess. The aforementioned changes (and more) are in effect from the 15th of June onwards. If you feel inclined to read more about the new trade terms do check out this link.
Over and out.
+++
Salve Leitor.
Há algum tempo noticiamos aqui no blog um artigo sobre o infame embargo posto em prática pela Games Workshop à comunidade brasileira devotada aos seus jogos quando, por força das novas políticas da empresa colocadas em pratica em 2011, lojas baseadas na União Europeia foram proibidas de vender seus produtos para países fora daquele bloco econômico.
Essa política teve um impacto significativo em nossa comunidade uma vez que não só não contamos com a presença da Games Workshop em nosso país mas também em virtude de atualmente não possuirmos sequer um distribuidor independente por aqui.
Pois bem, hoje ficamos sabendo de mais uma manobra da Games Workshop que terá impacto direto em nossa comunidade. A empresa colocará em prática uma nova política de vendas aplicável desta vez ao mercado norte-americano.
Em um documento datado de 15 de março de 2013 a GW comunicou a todos seus revendedores independentes nos Estados unidos sua nova política de venda aplicáveis a eles e, destacam-se as seguintes inovações:
1 – A proibição de toda e qualquer venda online de produtos da Games Workshop, medida esta aplicada a todos os revendedores nos Estados Unidos e no Canadá.
2 – A obrigação de que todos os revendedores de produtos da Games Workshop o façam em sua embalagem original (incluindo ai a venda de simples componentes o que inviabiliza o comércio de partes – comumente chamados de “Bitz” ou “Bits”).
3 – A obrigação de que os revendedores limitem as vendas de produtos da Games Workshop somente aos seus países efetivamente proibindo a exportação de seus produtos pelos revendedores.
Fica bastante claro assim o impacto dessa nova política de vendas para nós brasileiros uma vez que, diante do embargo de 2011, muitos por aqui migraram suas compras para lojas online baseadas nos Estados Unidos. Com esses novos termos a comunidade brasileira que já sofria com os altos custos dos modelos em dólar, do custo de postagem e dos assustadores impostos ficará agora sem ter a quem recorrer para a compra de seus modelos.
A justificativa é a mesma conversa fiada de 2011, no sentido de que essas medidas seriam uma forma da empresa proteger seus significativos investimentos no desenvolvimento de seus produtos bem como proteger as lojas físicas que promovem os produtos da empresa e a cultura do hobby associada a eles.
Alega a GW que assim se estaria evitando que revendedores online se aproveitassem indevidamente desses investimentos feitos pela GW e pelas lojas revendedoras físicas e que assim se estaria protegendo o interesse maior do consumidor ao fomentar o hobby através das lojas locais.
Bom, discordo veemente desse entendimento já que algumas lojas online têm ao longo dos anos feito MUITO mais para promover os produtos GW e o hobby associado a eles do que a própria GW. Um exemplo da importância dessas lojas online para a comunidade aqui no Brasil é a loja Warstore, de propriedade do Neal Catapano e baseada nos Estados Unidos, que nos primórdios do hobby no Brasil cedia prêmios e brindes para sorteio nos campeonatos organizados pela comunidade através do fórum Warhammer Brasil, coisa que a GW, até onde eu sei, nunca fez.
A Games Workshop rema assim contra a maré. Em tempos em que a comunidade devotada aos jogos, pintura e colecionismo de miniaturas tem efetivamente votado com as carteiras (como ilustram recentes campanhas no Kickstarter) e mostrado que o apreço e atenção das empresas pela comunidade dedicada aos seus jogos é reciprocada
Estou muito, mas muito, receoso em relação ao futuro dos jogos da marca no Brasil e penso que essa nova política de venda imposta aos revendedores norte americanos possa ser o tiro de misericórdia contra o já combalido hobby dos produtos GW no Brasil.
Se você domina a língua inglesa e quer ler mais sobre o assunto confira os documentos no link.
Grande abraço e até breve.
My advice is to buy metal miniatures from Ebay and learn to make moulds and copy them. Mould making is relatively simple and good results can be had from kitchen table technology, even without the use of centrifugal casting kit. If the GW’s gloves are off, then they can expect a huge market in counterfeit bits to appear, and for individual gamers to make copies and buy third party proxies wherever possible. This company no longer deserves any loyalty.
Hey there Knight.
I guess a lot of people might turn to that option. One thing I always talk about is that GW might hold the IP over their projects but the 40K universe is asmuch ours as it is theirs since we invest so much into gaming in that universe. It just isn’t fair to leave a good share of hobbyists cut out from the model supply.
One could say we could still buy directly from GW but there are so many more reasonable priced sellers out there that it just seems foolish.
Anyway thanks for your comment and for visiting mate. I do appreciate that.
As as 40K (but absolutely not limited to) player I say “who cares”. We have dozens of other games out there, and many of them are better games, too.
Hey there Ga.
Thanks for visiting and for commenting mate. I agree with you that there’s a lot of fish on the gaming/wargaming sea but I can’t avoid being bothered by said policies.
That’s one of the reasons I took up Infinity and am looking into other options out there, but after years spent into the 40K hobby and quite a lot of money invested in miniatures, scenery and assorted gaming paraphernalia, it is extremelly frustrating to be cut out of the market and not being able to purchase my models from my trusted retailers.
We’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds but it is another serious blow against the hobby community here in Brazil and it might prove a bit of pain for those hobbyists in the US and Canada with no FLGS, or GW hobby Centers, nearby.
GW policies will be their own undoing. In the end it is only a matter of time before the underground market grows as mentioned by the first commenter. It will be good for the hobby for them to hold such a heavy hand on their IP. Those of us who gave up GW when they went to a publicly traded company saw the writing on the wall back then. As for those of us who produce Alt models it can only be good for us. Thanks GW for pushing out your retailers and choking your customers. I look forward to an increase in sales due to this.
With the rise of 3D printing and better mold making products I suspect GW are shooting themselves in the foot. If they want to support the gaming community, they need to put their money where their mouth is and start some more stores in South America or adjust wholesale prices by region to allow the bricks and mortar stores to thrive. Was it the beginning of the end taking the company public? We’ll see.