I posted this in another thread but didn't get a reply...

I think the best bet for more SWM figures is a line that is marketed without a game, purely as a collector's item but the same size as SWM. Those types of collectibles could be higher quality, but would cost more. Because they're collectibles marketed to the hardcore SW fans, they could produce even the most obscure Star Wars characters. The virtual sets would provide stats for such minis. By being purely collectibles they wouldn't compete directly against the existing SWM figures but would carve out their own niche, while still appealing to SWM players who want more figures.

Another Star Wars minis game in any form would be a direct competitor to the SWM game we know. That means the new company would somehow have to convince SWM players to buy the new product... either being a new format (different size), or massive power creep to obsolete the old pieces.

I'm sure this would start out as a small business, but small business aren't classified by how much they cost to start-up or how much revenue they bring in, but by the employee size. Small businesses can range from only a few thousand dollars to start out of someone's house, to a few millions to get going.

The problem with minis is that they need to be produced in a factory most likely. One could attempt to set up a mini factroy in one's basement for much less than outsourcing to China. But if one were to outsource to China for short run business plan cycles, then one needs to be willing to produce enough to get the factory owner's attention to make a deal.

So, I'm always up for potentially profitable business ventures, but I always find it's good to know alot about the venture beforehand.

First thing to ask I would think would be how many minis are you looking to produce? How big is the target market you are looking to sell to? How many units did WOTC manage to sell last year?

I agree that it is unlikely that this venture would be able to succeed, but I think there is more going for it than you give credit.

I'm sure the community has people who are good artists for desging cards and sculpts, and then painting plastics. That's what custom mini makers do. Creating the metal molds for the sculpts is tough, then the actual producing of minis through the use of purchased plastic and heating it up in the molds is tough knowledge and experience to come by as well.

The marketing and establishing of distribution is tedious more than anything and requires alot of phone calls. Advertising would be done entirly via the internet and word of mouth I'm assuming as running ad campaigns gets quite expensive.

Licensing is going to be even tougher and quite expensive.

I don't see how this venture can even break even in the first two years, but if it's successful enough and the people managing the business experienced and lucky enough, it may be able to churn profit in a few years.

NickName thinks I am someone!!!

Who'da thunk it!!


But seriously, the enthusiasm is the great part about us gamers. We love to play...and we will continue to do so.

I for one am excited about what all the talent in our community can come up with to enhance SWM. I just am doutbful that that includes new "official" product in the near future. Unlike cardboard crack, plastic crack has by it's very nature a slim profit margin by comparison. But new character cards print close to free on my printer!

I'm just throwing this out there and then I'm going to shut up (hopefully). I've wondered for a while here as to how Wizards could make any money off of SWM for one simple fact:

They don't advertise worth jack.

Let's be honest. Anyone who knows anything about business knows that you should put around 10% of what you make into advertising. And with a name like star wars attached to a product it should be easy to advertise. Kids, adults, and people who can't read will buy this product if they see it for the simple fact of what it's associated with.

I love star wars and am in the know about certain things but I only found out about this product because I went out of my way to see if there was something like it. I'm just saying, Wizards should have made money off of this. It baffles me that they didn't do more.

Bigbro - You've almost hit on what I believe has happened. It isn't that SWMs wasn't profitable, or probably the margin was too low. In fact, I think the opposite is likely true, that Magic and D&D were suffering. As odd as it sounds to many of us with little business acumen, these decisions are rarely based on profit margins.

WotC is known for Magic the Gathering. That is THE Brand. In fact, WotC might as well be called, Magic. If Magic fails, then WotC fails, regardless of other games and any profit they bring, simply because that is what gives WotC their identity and respect in the industry. And those are not just meaninless things. The Magic resurgency of the last couple of years cost WotC a lot of resources. In fact, I would argue, that the ending of SWMs and DDM was not due to anything in and of those products themselves, but the investment WotC chose to make to maintain Magic and D&D. Our games were the cost of a successful Magic as it were.

Doesn't make sense? Well, get used to it, but it is what it is. WotC (made up almost exclusively by former Magic World Champion players and D&D vets) cannot let their core brands go. So everything peripheral goes instead. Remember Peter Lee as the final designer, where did he come from? He was a retention from the DDM staff kept on to oversee the end of SWMs. All SWs people, both of them, were let go or left last year. That's right, WotC had a massive staff of 2 people doing SWMs, and a few contracted people, and a couple of others who had SWMs as a minor duty among their many other roles. That's it.

As to support and advertising, well those were costing WotC almost nothing, as the little they were doing was tied into other things and costs. So their support for years has been close to 0 in terms of marketing, dci and so on.

WotC is not interested in renewing the license either, and it had nothing to do with it's cost. Hasbro offered WotC the option to come in under theirs last year. We assumed WotC agreed, obviously they did not. This too would have cost them next to nothing.

These types of decisions are made all the time in the business world, and they seldom have anything to do with actual cost or profit. WotC is worried about surviving at all, and not being folded by Hasbro completely. That is concern number 1. Worrying about a minor side project will not determine their future. Worrying solely about Magic and D&D will. And that's where this comes from.

Which also tells me that the future of another company picking up the game is quite possible. A smaller company can definately make a profit at SWMs, with a relatively small investment. And I believe, that is what the annoucement from LFL right after WotC's was in fact all about. Hasbro and LFL essencially do not believe in WotC's statement, and want their customers to know that they believe minis can work. Now, a lot of different outcomes are possible, so don't take my statements to mean I completely think SWMs will come back with set 15 in a little over a year. But I also don't believe cost has anything to do with it. What little I've garnered from insiders and so on over the years, tells me it wasn't.