My point was that the fix to their "problem" is usually not as simple as "improve sales forecasting".

I am not proposing they fill warehouses with product, just produce enough that everybody who wants a product from the first printing gets one and stores can have a few on their shelves for future sales.

This is not rocket science (no pun intended) all companies deal with it. Most companies fail some of the time and while that is problematic it is understandable. It appears, at least with X-Wing product, that FFG fails every time. Companies should strive for a 100% OTD rating not a 0%. I totally get why they may have underestimated demand on the first printing of the core set and wave 1. They should have an understanding of the demand for their product by now and the ability to meet it. We can only theorize as to the why, but what we know is they continually fail to meet the demand for X-Wing product in a timely manner.

Not being able to meet the demand for your product is a good problem to have. Solving that problem is even better.

Correct, you need to manage your suppliers too.

Sure, but that is still one thing among a wide variety of variables that go into bringing a product to market. When it comes to X-Wing one thing we will likely never be privy to are the fees and terms associated with using the Star Wars license which could be a big reason for the size of the product runs.

It is easy for us to sit on the outside and say if they "did a" they wouldn't have "problem b", but the truth of the matter is there can be an entire alphabet of variables we don't know about when it comes to bringing their specific product line to market and if it were as easy to fix as "doing a", don't you think they would have done so by now.

Correct again, only FFG knows why they fail to meet demand on a regular basis for X-wing, and only FFG can fix it.

Supply and demand is something every company deals with, and of course solutions to the issues of supply and demand differs for different companies.

Even if it is an easy solution there is no guarantee a company will enact it. Sometimes companies can be slow to change their ways.

Even if it is a difficult fix they've had the better part of 2 years to get a handle on it. Many industries are not as forgiving to these issues, clearly the gaming industry and it's consumers are fairly forgiving or used to this problem.

As someone who has worked in the gaming industry (and still knows a few in the industry) the problem with producing games is that many of them are like fads or collectibles, sometimes demand for them goes up and sometimes demand goes down and sometimes it drops off completely (such as losing a major retail outlet would do or to the next big "thing") or it grows faster than you can predict with your current sales information. Not to mention the the number of comic/games stores (the primary outlet for many game companies) that seem to come and go in such a short period of time.

Game companies have to be careful how much product they make or they will get stuck with too much product they can't move, which would mean they have potential revenue sitting collecting dust. That is why the smart ones play it safe and usually only produce what the distributors think they can move, not how many consumers are going to buy it, that way any product that sits is a problem for the distributor and not the company that produced it. This also has the distributor coming back to them for more product when they run out of something that sells well.

I would not say the gaming industry and its consumers are "forgiving", I would say they are "understanding" since many of them have seen the number of games (and stores) that have come and gone and know how "fickle" the market can be.

The only problem I see here is someone trying to apply the methods of non-gaming industry standards to the gaming industry without knowledge of the gaming industry at all.

These issues are not unique to game companies.

My flgs store does not purchase SWXW direct from FFG, they purchase from a distributor.


This applies to manufacturing companies in general not just game companies.


How come the distributors can't get enough product to keep the game stores supplied?



Once again applies to other industries.

So how come other game companies do a better job meeting the demand for their product? I can go to any of my local stores that sell both Attack Wing and X-Wing and buy any ship off the shelf or order it and have it next week for AW but there are at least 4 products for SWXW I can't get and my FLGS can't tell me when I will be able to?

You keep saying FFG is failing. They probably don't think they are failing at all. They are making print runs with the intention of selling them out and knowing full well they will need to do a reprint. They are likely printing as many units as is feasible given the various variables and resources available to them. Assuming those resources do not increase, and the variables stay the same (same variables, no necessarily the same values/whatever) they will continue to print more of the game they know will sell.

I don't see that as failure at all. Failure would be them never printing it again. Failure would be them printing a miniscule amount compared to demand. I don't think they have done this.

Product on store shelves does not mean a company is "meeting demand". All that means is that product is available. Which could mean they are meeting demand, if the product sells within a certain time-frame, it could also mean they over-produced their product and we may find it on clearance or collecting dust, like a lot of other Wizkids products.

Wizkids is the worst company to use as an example for meeting demand, considering the number of products of theirs you can find on clearance or collecting duct. Why do you think they keep employing so many marketing ploys.

EDIT: Since you seem to know what you are talking about, why not take it up with FFG. Perhaps they'd appreciate your business savvy and help correcting their "problem".

He just doesn't want to admit that X-Wing is more popular than Attack Wing.

He likes X-Wing just fine. He likes FFG just fine.

He just wants to be able to walk into a store and buy some x-wing ships when wants them. I don't think that is asking much as a consumer of a retail item. It's not like I'm walking into a car dealer and trying to buy a car with obscure add ons.

Do you have kids? Any parent, who finds themselves searching for a toy, wants to be able to do the bolded.

Right now Elsa dolls are like gold.

Guys this is more of a marketing scheme than anything else, they have not "failed" to get enough not nor is it because they are worried about getting stuck with product because it is a "fad". This is simply good marketing skills. Right now people are searching it out quickly to get the ships before they "disappear". It is planned. If you had a product and you knew that each time you put it out you could sell it all then that is what you do. Then they tell you they are printing more, quiet for a time and then they hit again. People see them on the pegs and afraid to miss out they run and get all they can.

And then they are gone again. It goes on and on. I bet 90% of the Aces sold out right away with the other 10% going to venues like mine that get them but have little XW going on. If they were smart such stores would hit Ebay with them or something similar.


This is on purpose, it has said they have been doing it for two years and if it was a real "problem" they would fix it after all if it is a fad then you need to hit it quick. Sorry this smells like someone has a great plan and it is.

Wizkids could do this with one ship each Wave, short pack them so they sell out and when they come back in people will scoop them up kind of like the Enterprise.




But this about Dragons, you know big flying stomachs that breathe things, horde treasure and use magic.

Exactly. Where Cef64 sees failure, I see MASSIVE success. Yes, they could probably increase production and/or warehouse capacity to make sure they met all initial demand on first offering, but...why? Would it increase revenue? I doubt it. Most gamers who want X-Wing product will either pre-order it or wait until a resupply comes in if they miss the first wave.

To increase profit from the game in that scenario, FFG would need to churn out more new ships to keep the stream flowing, much like what WK does. While this means you as a player are more likely to be able to walk into your FLGS and buy off the shelf, it can result in overwhelming the customers because they don't feel like they can keep up.

This is not failure. This is setting up a constant stream of revenue without increasing costs and without fatiguing your customer base. If there is failure, it is in missing their release dates, but that is endemic to the gaming industry. I would not assume failed sales forecasts are the reason there are shortages on FFG's new releases.

Honestly, I'm willing to bet this is like the HWK situation in Wave 3. It ended up being more popular than initially thought (first EU ship, really don't NEED more than one, though I got three), so the initial batches sold out. And they were hard to acquire for a little bit, until the next batch arrived. I'm sure FFG has another shipment waiting to be sent out and sold. This also happened a bit with Wave 2, though that ended up still being extremely short on demand.

This is still a valid criticism of FFG. Their reprint policy does allow some period of a product being tough to acquire for people. This isn't just for X-wing. AGOT LCG players were quite annoyed because a cycle with 2 key packs wasn't getting reprinted until the whole cycle reached their reprint level. And this was when the game was growing due to the show. Although, given that they would be reprinting it in their new, even friendlier LCG format, I can see why the would want the stock as low as possible. I have watched their presentation from Gencon last year, and I get the impression that they really do want to meet demand.

EDIT: The dragons do look cool, though I'm not too sure about the Flight Path mechanics being a good fit for flying and ground forces.