Will competitive Warhammer die out?

GW has dropped their support for events. Here is a thread from dakkadakka that details it alittle more. What are yall's thoughts? Honestly, I think its a stupid move for them, but the indy circuit will survive.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/439521.page

I'm sure they will probably theoryhammer why they dropped the whole competitive, but in the end it I don't think it will change competition Warhammer.

The IndyGTs will survive, although to represent less prize support they may make cuts in other areas (i.e. venues).

I think this is a time for the shops to band together tho. What this could be the end of is the local RTTs. If shops are getting no support from GW and only 5-6 people are showing up to attend, I don't see them continuing to provide support for the smaller tournaments.

Are they cutting skull of thrones? It could be a move back to more support of their old GW GTs. However I doubt that. I think as 6th is about to drop they are attempting to set the stage for more hobbyist based 40k. Which honestly bores the hell out of me.

My issue is this: it is undeniable that GW benefits from a healthy tournament circuit. I currently have 3 full armies, and I doubt I would if I didn't play in tournaments. They motivate me to build, paint, and play. I know this isn't everyone's thing, but I would say that it is an integral part of GW's player-base. So, I don't think they can claim any sort of economic justification.

So, to me this is just a big PR screw-up. It is simply saying that they are no longer willing to support one element of their player base. The GTs will go on, but this garners them nothing but negativity.

I don't think GW owes its players anything, but I do think this is a ridiculous choice on their part.

That's where I stand also. One of the posts in the dakkadakka thread said it really well. GW gives $500 support which amounts to around $100 real money out of pocket. Events average around 40-60 people. All that GW has to do to make their money back is have 4-5 people buy new armies for ANY one of those events. They had to of been making bookoos of money. My guess is they underestimated the amount they were actually making off tournament incentive.

I don't think it is a stupid idea for GW to cut support. The lack of GW sanctioned events and prize support will not effect the hobby as a whole. Since the indy GT will survive I don't see a point for GW to help out. Because GW does not advertise, they rely mostly on word of mouth for the hobby to expand, and that has worked very well for them for decades. Every year they bring in new players and expand profits with price increases. The prize support was always pretty meaningless. From all the people I have talked at tournaments over the years, most only come to play with old friends, have a weekend of no wife and lots of beer, or come to win and/or gain notoriety from their peers. And, those that come to win/gain notoriety will keep the tournament scene and the local scene competitive. I know I still want to be competitive against the Central Arkansas guys, because I know they are better at Fantasy than us NWA guys. I also know that, regardless of prize support, many (at least of the local guys) strive to be better just because of Jeremy's success at 40k. I assume these ideas are probably universal throughout the hobby and across the world.

I don't disagree with you Fethos. The Indy GT circuit will continue, but to me the incentive for GW is to generate a positive attitude from its players. It costs them little to nothing and promotes their game..

As you said, the game grows primarily due to word of mouth, and positive word of mouth comes from interacting with your players in a positive way. This decision is the opposite of that. It generates unnecessary negative feelings. That's a poor decision in my book.

I can see GW's side on this issue to a point. The tournament circuit was supposed to be for gaming groups only, no stores or store run events. The events also had to be approved and only so many of them could be included. My rep had explained to me that there were a lot of abuses of the system going on and they had little to no way of monitoring or controling them. The only reason our store was allowed to hold events in the circuit and get support was we were doing tournaments that predated the system so we were grandfathered in. GW has decided that they would like to focus more on their own stores and local stockists that will put product on shelves and promote their company instead of supporting tournaments with Terrain and GCs for the top 3, the only support they were giving to tournaments, that may or may not require use of GW miniatures. The Indy GT circuit will go on, although some changes may occur. The real hit will be taken by the small local tournaments. However, from what I am told, a lot of stores were submitting for prize support that was never given out, it instead was used to bolster their own stock levels and their own pocketbooks. I have always prided myself and our store on running good events, not always great but good, that had fair prize support. I will continue to do so as long as I am in business. GW is still offering support for their stores that stock their product. Albeit not as much as they used to, but in tough economic times did we really expect it to stay the same?
As to the bigger tournaments, they lose out on about $450 in prize support. This means that either ticket prices will go up ($5-$10), Venues will be reexamined, prize support will diminish some, new sponsors will be sought after or a combination of all of the above. At any rate not many, if any at all, of the big tournaments will shut down.

I did notice that Bugeater had major support from companies outside of GW before this even happened. I could definitely see a shift in the way sponsoring is done for indy tournaments. Maybe some of those vendors will throw in.

It's the way podcasts get their money. They go to people like Battlefoam and Gale Force 9 and get sponsorship. May be the future.