Okay, clearly a question that arouses some passion, and some interesting comments.
First, thanks for responding, but as I go on, I'm going to have remnind people that Games Workshop is a business, one that's floated on the stock market, meaning their first and foremost responsibility is to the shareholders, who want to see a return on their investment.
Consequently they have to do everything they can to boost profits. This means cutting costs where possible, promoting those things that do well, such as Space Marines and Orks, as well as timing releases in such a way as to generate guaranteed sales.
At the same time they're affected by what happens in the market and other factors such as how the Government decides to manage the economy. Now much as we'd all like Games Workshop to be unsullied by the petty needs of finance, and become something that caters solely to their fans, the reality is they aren't, and aren't going to be that if they want to stay in buisness.
I'm not saying I like everything they do, particularly price rises, but they're far from the only ones having, not wanting to, not thinking it's a good idea, but having to raise prices. Tesco's and other big companies are having to do the same, and I'm sure this is true for companies around the world. It's simply a reflection of the world we live in today.
Should the government raise VAT tomorrow, and there's a good chance they will, expect Games Workshop to have to raise prices again. True they could decide against price raises, but this would eat into their profits, something guranteed to put off potential investors, and dissaude existing ones from further investing their money. Ultimately this would result in smaller profits, and less money spent on developing their armies, which would bode ill for we fans.
