AoS is potentially GW's Cadillac Cimarron.
Noted automotive journalist Dan Neil panned the Cimarron in his 2007 list of Worst Cars of all Time, saying "everything that was wrong, venal, lazy, and mendacious about GM in the 1980s was crystallized in this flagrant insult to the good name and fine customers of Cadillac."[9] He added that the Cimarron "nearly killed Cadillac and remains its biggest shame." (from wikipedia)
at least, those of us who worry about such things, and feel alienated by their disregard for veteran players in order to potentially attract new blood (without putting in the effort needed to retain said new blood in a few years), feel similarly toward it.
a guy burned an easy 3000 points of Dark Elves in a ragequit video, and posted it to youtube. that's the canary in the coal mine. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=487&v=plUPJ0inN4c to see it). and while he might be a bit of a histrionic d-bag or a righteous protester depending on your stance, that's a lot of time and money and the like invested in a product that he just destroyed. people do not do such things lightly.
my bigger worry, though, is that this is the first step to more fundamental changes.
the internet is uncertain about another new release -- the potential HH/30k plastics. the current consensus seems to be that this will be a part of a boxed set game, much like Execution Force or Space Hulk, that will play on its own bu fit into the world. there have been two leading matchups (which might in fact imply two separate releases, or a change in the production midway... the first could be an indicator of hopeful futures, the latter a warning of AoS-style sloppiness).
either it will be a ship-to-sip attacker/defending game, almost like Zone Mortalis meets Descent, and featuring Iron Warriors vs Imperial fists... or it will be a ground-troop skirmish game featuring Ultramarines vs Word Bearers, almost like a Necromunda reboot.
what if this is their real plan?
what if they are sick of the market they are in, and instead want to make specialized board game style releases... campaign books and new models to boost them for their two main lines (sadly that includes AoS), and strictly board game style releases for 30k?
there was speculation years ago about the "GW is planning to make themselves appealing for a buyout" kind of corporate actions. what if this is the next step in that progression: building concrete one-off purchase games, that an established games company can appreciate, in order to sweeten the pot?
i'm not an armchair economist, nor do i have much respect for the repetitions of most of them, so i don't know if this is in line with expectations... but it isn't something that those who tended to make such wide speculations in the past have brought up recently.
are we seeing a deliberate move here, that will in fact affect the future of our gaming and of the company?
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