Oct 5, 2011
As of today this topic takes on a morbid curiosity, but trust me this doesn’t really have anything to do with the death of one certain tech giant. Instead this article is about the odd similarities between GW and Apple.
The last six months or so I have followed GW’s erratic behavior and the level of Internet condemnation. In the middle of all the hateraid I tried to rack my brain, “What business model is GW actually trying to (fail at) follow” and this what I came up with…
GW is trying to live in its own fantasy world as Apple of Wargaming.
The revelation happened last week when I was going over the latest rumors about the iPhone 5 (turned out it was just the iPhone 4S) and noticed I was getting a very familiar tingling in my tummy. It was the same bowel movement I get when I read the recent silly Internet wish listing/rumors concerning GW product mood swings. People believing FineCast getting canned? As most folks know GW has added a karate chop to an otherwise weak karate kick to the wooden rumors about new releases. What does this have to do with Apple? Well Apple seems to be just as nazi the flow of internal information. True Apple rumors seem to come from either past history or a random naughty non-apple business partners drinking too much sake and letting things slip. Eerily this is the same way we get anything from GW at this point.
Other comparisons can be made between both companies. They both keep independent retailers in the dark just as much as the public. They both operate brand name stores for products. Apple is number 1 in tablets and cell phones while GW is (still) number 1 in wargames. Both have a very dedicated fans that only buy their related products.Both charge a premium for their products while competitors offer cheaper alternatives. Both show a certain degree of arrogance at the top of their particular hills and oddly enough both are fighting IP infringement cases.
When Apple announced the 4S to the world, insiders and stockholders were immediately disappointed. The rumors for the last few months had become truth for many, from the iPhone 5 delivering your child to a lower tier iPhone being released; all the major rumors turned out false and expectations crushed. Instead we got a beefed up iPhone 4 just like Apple history predicted. GW has decided to copy this behavior and as a result could lead to major disappointment for its customers. Now that we are not getting really any reliable kernels of information, it has allowed for all the bat shit crazy rumors to propagate and spread. Apple though has something that will always protected from the fluctuations of five-hour energy day traders and something that GW seems to be losing: customer loyalty.
Where Apple (true or false) has been perceived as a company that protects and cultivates its loyal fans. GW might think Apple only got to where they are now because they made technology look cool, but Apple grew and held on to its core audience. For GW’s products they can never hope to achieve mass market appeal, but they could foster and build their core audience instead of fighting it.
Apple even goes a step further (for a cut) will allow anyone to add products to their devices through the App Store. So just think for a moment if instead of suing Chapterhouse GW decided to ask for a reasonable cut of profits and actually supported Chapterhouse? Think for a moment if GW actually read the Internet for the good ideas, instead of wasting everyone time sending little nasty grams for every copyright infringement menstrual cycle they’re on at the moment.
Ever since the return of Steve Jobs to Apple in the late 90s Apple particular model has been mainly in place and accelerated as demand and popularity of Apple products increased. I think it is easy to image the heads of GW are arrogant enough to consider themselves equivalent to Apple at least when it comes to wargaming. This is where GW gets into trouble and if they try to copy Apple. There are millions of other reason Apple is head and shoulders above Games Workshop, but I thought it was curious just how much GW copies Apple, but at the same time still staying the classy D list corporation it seems destined to be.
So instead I think in honor of the passing of a true innovator Games Workshop should ask themselves, “What would Jobs really do”?
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Apple became what it is because Steve Jobs took over and had that rare combination of drive, vision, and singularity of purpose. Everything, from advertisements to new products, went through him and he was meticulous in his guidance of the company. Steve Jobs was an innovator with the brilliance and perseverance required to get the job done. We lost someone special yesterday.
I think Games Workshop is an example of what Apple will become now that Jobs has passed. Having rose to the (relative) heights of the market with a groundbreaking product, GW has gotten lazy. Most of the innovative pioneers of the game have left, and those that remain are stymied by a corporate culture of design by committee. You can see it in the lack of innovation since 3rd Edition, or in the way that White Dwarf has become a waste of paper, or in how Specialist Games have been all but eliminated. Or you can see it in the GW’s idiotic handling of the Internet with regards to rumor control, online sales, and international pricing policies.
GW might have been an Apple in the 80′s or 90′s, but now it’s an AOL.
You know what, rather than take a meaningful stance, I’m going to have to agree and simultaneously disagree with you. While I agree that there are definitely some similarities between Apple and GW (especially in the making shit that people don’t need department. I’m looking at you dreadfleet) and that they charge a premium for what other people make for cheapz. I have to disagree because I think GW has something that apple is missing and that is the lore/background. GW has built a brand that not only has certain characteristics (in terms of design, art etc. Just like apply products) but also has a storied background that can’t really be compared to a producer of computer/electronics products. I think that in relation to what GW does to protect their IP it’s not only from a money standpoint (because it is) but also because they want to have control over the way that their world exists and they want to be the ones to shape it. What this has to do with the whole super secretive thing is that they probably feel like they need to keep things under wraps so that people are still excited about their newest products and haven’t number crunched everything and proxied it all before it even comes out. However, I agree with the idea that they should be a little more forward thinking about the internet though, and utilize it a little better than they have been. Remember what Black Gobbo was supposed to be? I think they need to get back to that. Crazy scenarios, campaign ideas, hobby articles, Bring back chapter approved etc. /endmindlessrant
Apple tried to build itself a mythic background, like that famous dystopian commercial during the 1984 olympics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8
They successfully portrayed IPM / PC as monolithic and inhuman while pretending Apple made “friendly” computers (also inhuman machines, but who’s counting?)
The difference is Apple’s tyranny always come with a little compassion.
“Now that we are not getting really any reliable kernels of information, it has allowed for all the bat shit crazy rumors to propagate and spread. ”
I would say the opposite is true: What used to pass for a rumour from “a reliable source”/red shirt/store manager etc and which could indeed contain grains of truth is now immediately blown out of the water. Everyone with an inkling of interest in GW rumours already knew how unreliable such rumours where but now we also know that they are in fact false and simply educated guesses or raw speculation.