GW News: BIG N' SMALL WAAAGH! COMIN'

The day of reckoning is approaching!

 

It’s only a matter of time before GW get with the program

 

Wargames Atlantic already have with their Atlantic Digital line... next up GW will release a 'Warhammer Print' line of STLs, probably locked behind Warhammer+ and still costing about £20 each for the STL file of a single model

 

Even at £20 a model we could all buy one each then share it,

 

they would try and I can guarantee they would fail, the 3D printing community do not stand for such bullshit

 

I mean, that's kind of the reason you're unlikely to see big companies like GW giving out STLs any time soon. It's kinda impossible to keep control of the STL and prevent people from just sharing it. Even if you'd somehow lock it to a single printing device, nothing is stopping Timmy from just printing models for his friends. And unlike videogames, there aren't a whole lot of reasons not to simply pirate it once you've got access to a halfway decent printer. And GW is big enough that they're not going to be happy with selling a 1000 STL's when they could've sold 10.000 boxes of models.

 

I would suggest their days are numbered. It’s going to be a slow transition but it won’t be too long until a 3D printer is as common as an airbrush in most hobbyists toolbox.

 

Agreed.

• GW can only stave off 3D printing for so long. Eventually they have to embrace it or become outdated and obsolete.
• Once GW adopts 3D printing, they can't charge such insane prices for their miniatures. Doing so will only drive more people to piracy.

I wonder if this development will change the way that GW approaches their games and miniatures. Back in 8th edition WHFB times, they could sell you 5 boxes of Witch Elves to build your 50 strong horde. With 3D printing, you can simply print as many as you like. Maybe GW will focus on smaller but more varied + numerous units. That way they can sell you more STL files of different sculpts/models.

 

I can see them going modular with it, you buy the basic model STL with no arms/head and then you buy the options you want in STL format.

really it makes more sense from a business perspective, less outlay for them, no waste in terms of churning out kits with options people won’t use etc… The only difficulty is ensuring growth as a business, what do you do when everyone has the files they want? No reason they couldn’t continue to produce kits alongside files.

they could even offer the print service themselves for people who don’t own a 3D printer as another revenue source.

 

Elegoo tried to make Chitubox software proprietary to use their Mars 3 printer. They eventually caved and it now will accept files from any slicer due to the outcry.

never underestimate the power of the people!

 

Honestly I doubt that. Not unless high quality 3D printers actually find some use outside of hobbies which will drive the prize down and actually allow to become a common-ish.

Good printers need to become a hell of a lot cheaper before GW will be seriously threatened by them.

The only model I've seen that might work for an multinational company would be a fairly expensive subscription based model with a couple of STLs each month, and then hope people forget to cancel their subscription. Though even then, if people start sharing the STLs with friends at their FLGS pretty much any model quickly falls apart for a multinational.

Honestly, if 3D printing does ever become commonplace it wouldn't surprise me if GW simply stops making models themselves, aside from maybe special event models or something, and instead just gives out licenses for small third party studios to make some models while GW maintains the lore & rules. Bonus points if they can organize a marketplace and get a cut of each STL sold. Those small studios don't need to sell as much to keep the lights on.

 

Just thinking about it, I believe that GW is in a decent spot... for themselves. They sell mostly great-looking plastic models (sometimes resin) for their games as well as battletomes, support books, and novels. They currently require only their official models and battletomes in order to play at sanctioned events. The casual player has regularly proxied models, be they different minis or bottle caps. I know that 3D is the new wave, but I'm not savvy enough to think of a way GW could maintain control of their models and still profit. Others have mentioned some possibilities already.

Obviously, what I think will really affect GW is if their dominance as the "best/most popular" tabletop wargame company slips. Perhaps, if mini prices or a lack of 3D models shifts the majority of players to another game, GW will consider that. But, right now, they're in the driver's seat.

 

Define high qaulity.

You can buy an Elegoo Mars 3 4K for the price GW are selling 15 heavy intercessors, or 5 (5!!!) single space marine captain models.

How much cheaper do you want them to be?

 

I think they will be selling physical models for a long time to come. 3D printing still has to come a long way until it is mainstream enough to force GW into a change. That change will eventually happen, but not for a while. Not enough people have 3D printers and owning one has its downsides (toxic chemicals, cleanup, need for proper ventilation and upfront costs).

An interesting thought. You never know... but creating models on their own doesn't require that much investment when they are simply selling STLs. Why outsource it?

Just wait until AI can be used by an everyday person to sculpt 3d models with ease.

 

The issue isn't the price of a printer relative to GW models, the issue is that 150-200 is a pretty significant sum to drop on what is essentially a toy.
And on top of that, 3D printing is still scary and exotic to most people.And it's probably going to stay that way forever since 3D printing doesn't seem to have much of a use at home outside of hobbies like this. Which means they'll remain rare, unknown technology to most people. Which makes people hesitant to try it out.

Plus, even if they have experience with 3D printing, for example cuz they got to print something in science class at school, it's probably with an old, cheap model, which comes nowhere close to GW quality. Which makes them even less likely to try it out for the hobby.

Not to mentions the issues of needing enough space, a ventilated room, etc.

It's a fairly complicated tool for normal people.

In comparison I found a cheap airbursh set for 50, and even those are already viewed as "expensive & exotic" advanced tools for a hobbiest, where the average person has no idea what constitutes a "good" airbrush and is hesitant to try it out. And a 3D printer is vastly more expensive, and vastly more advanced/exotic/unknown to the average person than an airbrush, which means the average person is going to be super hesitant to try and buy one.

Which means only the diehard hobbiest will buy them, and that won't threaten GW any time soon.

Also, minor sidenote, the printer you mention is only 15 intercessors if you buy nothing else. If you buy the other stuff the site tells you you will need you're basicly doubling the price.

Spoiler

STLs aren't going to sell as well, as they can be re-used and shared.
On top of that, if 3D printing at home becomes the standard, GW will suddenly be in direct competition with everyone who can use blender. Whereas now the only ones who can compete with GW are companies with access to high-end printers.

Plus, people making upgrade sprues would be hugely problematic for "special" models that look similar to the regular model (e.g. space marine captains v.s. normal marines). How is GW going to sell you a space marine captain STL if you can just buy the space marine STL and download a fancy helmet and powersword from thingiverse?

So selling STLs would most likely massivly tank their income. And keeping on a crew of fulltime artists is expensive.
Maybe they'll switch to only selling STLs of super duper fancy dioramic models (e.g. primarchs, Ghaz-khull, be'lakor,).

Not going to happen any time soon. Or at least, they're not going to sculpt new models. Stealing/ripping off existing models is doable though

 

Knowing how the quality of AIs as they're currently developed get worse the more AI-generated content there is for it to draw from, I'm pretty confident that we won't be departing from manual labour when it comes to digital sculpting any time soon. Most of the time it's just tinkering with pre-existing assets anyway.