While putting together the list of systems for the first play-by-blog game, I read GW had taken down the resources for the Specialist Games. Is this true, or am I just not enough of a specialist to find them? Have they really killed the Necromunda living rulebook? If so, why? What about the other material? The scope is a lot of what makes the IP tick.
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12 comments:
Could just mean they're ramping to a rerelease of the system... Doesn't make much sense to have it floating out there if they want to make some money off it again.
I just checked- seems there are no downloads for any of the specialist games now. I doubt they're going to release something new for all of them. Maybe they're reorganizing the structure of the site, but I don't see why that would remove them. More likely they just don't want them up. They seem to be of the opinion that if people can't get free Mordheim rules then they'll spend a thousand dollars on Warhammer instead. Good luck with that.
The Necromunda rules are still there to buy. Mind you, the leap from free to £30 is somewhat vast...
Well spotted, whoever, er, spotted that.
Suddenly I'm very glad Coreheim exists...
It was someone at Bolter and Chainsword who put me on to it. I'm wondering how long they've been down - it's off the beaten track for many people after all.
I'd imagine Laughing Ferret's right - it seems unlikely GW would release something new for all the systems at once, or in quick succession. That said, it could be a relaunch or rebranding of the whole SG range.
Regardless, I think they've missed a trick. Removing the free option looks to make sense in terms of maximising income, but it's arguably short-term income only, and income from a narrower group of spenders. Players without the cash won't start, and again Laughing Ferret makes a good point - they won't realistically be buying much for the larger systems either, presumably not enough to sustain an interest.
Removing those free SG materials, and the core rules especially, could mean emotional investments are never made, with small financial outlays in the second major requirement - the minis - never deepening those investments. I'll bet many of us started small, and that many players still do, or would do if the barrier to entry wasn't so high and seemingly rising. The BBC report suggested the pricing is widely recognised as problematic.
It seems a danger inherent in the running of a plc that the decision-makers focus on the next year, and not the next decade - or even the next century. We might assume this is more likely to be true if key board members have significant shareholdings - who's to say those theoretical members are not building their reputations at the cost of the company's future, ready to get out quick with the winnings just before the troubles become clear?
In GW's case, I'd imagine the pricing approach is narrowing the customer base enough as it is; in the absence of mainstream skirmish tiers for either of the big two systems, the free SG materials are a great way to keep the potential player base big. If the player base shrinks, what happens to in-house retail? If that goes, will GW be GW? What will it mean for the ownership of the IP? Will licensing play a larger role, and will we then see an OGL? What's the time scale? The removal of these materials seems to move the whole thing on a step.
If anyone's interested in following up Von's mention and checking out Coreheim, it's here. There's also a fresh take on Necromunda here at The Warhammer Forum, a simple modified ruleset with an interesting 'mishap' mechanism that could work with other versions or similar systems.
This...makes me sad.
Like some small part of me is weeping....
I don't think it's relaunch-related, as Dark Future and its supplements have also gone.
Damn, you're right! Picked an auspicious day to start my Battlefleet Gothic to Starmada Nova conversion... Hope I have some backups of the pdfs on another drive.
I have it on good authority that a Blood Bowl re-launch is in the works. Or at least in the planning stage.
Something else to consider- they're making some OTHER big changes at this time, they may try to do it all at once and make things focused on what they are actively supporting....
I actually sent them an email, this is the response I got;
Thanks for writing in to us! The Specialist Games downloads have been temporarily taken down from our web-site. Don’t worry however as they will be returning this week!
Thanks!
Dave Swan
Customer Services Manager
So hopefully, they will be back.
It speaks volumes that so few of us might think to, be willing to or feel it worthwhile to contact GW and ask. Well done and thanks Infamous for doing it - for communicating and doing so in a focused way.
Interesting information then - it seems we'll soon have a better idea what's going on or not. It could be something as simple as a maintenance issue and Loquacious is very likely on the right track, that there's plenty happening behind the scenes we don't all hear about. There's a lot supposed to be happening this year, with the new paints, sixth edition and The Hobbit, quite likely even Blood Bowl soon as Lead Legion points out. One or more of these might involve changes in terminology or key passages, even just details of presentation. Maybe it's a change in the files for consistency or uniformity, or to reference or link to other games, to move players on to other products or encourage other behaviours.
Whatever, I hope the more unusual elements come back too, and stay up long-term whatever happens to the better-known SGs. Dark Future of course, and that simple orc brawler that was in WD. Those are testimony to what GW was and could be again, and what other producers can always learn from. They're quirky and quite different games in themselves, for the interests of different players and gaming groups.
John also makes a good point about conversions. As I've argued before, here for example, those worlds may be so deeply part of our lives and natures now that we have a reasonable claim to them, and might at the very least expect the currently recognised owner to continue to recognise that relationship above and beyond its commercial potential, and maybe to go much further. Why not put up scans of everything ever published, including previous editions of current games? If the real money is made on the minis, it could generate goodwill, grow the player base through the variety and range of entry levels, still boost overall income in the short term, and help in the longer.
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