Games Workshop Prices - too high?

Are Games Workshop prices really that bad?

Before there are howls of derision I want to make an objective observation on GW prices when you compare them with another 'toy' in the same niche.  If you are the same age as me you might not like them being called toys, and indeed GW seems on one hand to portray the models as high quality collectors's pieces, while at the same time operating a churn and burn policy in the 10-16 age group.

So for a parent who has been buying lego for the past eight years (I am one!), is the switch at eleven years old to GW going to be a huge shock?  How many who comment on the big forums about prices are actually parents and really know the price of living and goods?


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I would contend GW prices are in line with their niche, within that age bracket the cost of GW models is not out of kilter with lego and similar top end toys.  You may argue that they are ALL too expensive (good argument) but in terms of what the market price for these type of items happens to be then they are not too wrong.

For example an individual lego figure will typically cost you anything from £2.50 to £15, depending on rarity.  However the average going rate seems to be £2.50-£3.  A squad of lego figures would therefore be £25-30.  A squad of some of the Force Awakens Star Wars figures may set you back £50. A Space Marine Tactical squad suddenly looks reasonable, especially as you have the option of buying from a third party discounter bringing the price to just over £2 per figure.

We can also look at big kits.   Some of the larger Star Wars kits (where the greatest amount of price gouging occurs for Lego) started off at £3-400, Forge World territory.  The Kylo Ren command shuttle is £100.  For that money I can get a complete Cadian Defence Force, and more from a discounter.

The lego movie Construct-o-Mech is currently £70-80.  Not much different from a Wraithknight or equivalent 40K model.

And Warhammer has always been expensive.  Back in 1987 three Goblins cost me £2.50.  That was a big sum for me.  The Warhammer rulebook cost £14.99, again that was a significant amount of money. According to an online inflation calculator £2.50 is now equal to £6.50,  about £2.17 per figure now.   As I speak a Goblin regiment is on sale for £20.50 at GW, so £1 a figure.  So the cost per Goblin is actually 50% of 'the good old days'.   On the other hand the same calculations show that the equivalent price of boxed games and rule books is far above inflation.

Back to the main point, overall you need to compare their current prices with niche competitors.  I believe that the pricing GW use is 'lego' pricing.  Luxury, best of the best, original product pricing for the 10-18 age group.  Now I also think the prices for ALL these types of items are far too high.

But within their niche they do not seem too bad, and that is why the parents with the spending power will just not bat an eyelid when little Jonny wants some Space Marines.

What do you think of GW prices?!



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