On the heels of the focus on Organized Play by companies at the GAMA Trade Show comes an announcement by Privateer Press that the company would be cracking down on what it referred to as "free riders," stores that sell its product at a deep discount, typically online, but did nothing to grow play or sales of Privateer Press product, such as offering play space, hosting the aforementioned Organized Play, or teaching newcomers how to play Privateer Press games such as Hordes, Warmachine or the Iron Kingdoms RPG. This is welcome news to a number of retailers I know, as what were once robust Warmachine and Hordes sales have dwindled to next to nothing, to the point that several stores that strongly supported the games in the past have opted to discontinue supporting it, clearancing out their stock to make room for product with higher turn rates.
Unfortunately, the nature of that crackdown, or even what Privateer Press will classify as a "free rider" is pretty vaguely worded and targets distributors, where the company appears to think free riders get their product from, rather than the "free riding" retailer. Quoting from the letter, "…should a distributor choose to sell any Privateer Press product to any party that Privateer has identified as a free rider, the ramifications of that decision will affect the future of our partnership with that distributor." That's a pretty general statement regarding the effects of selling to a free rider. Further in the letter, the ramifications are a little more clearly spelled out as distributors who sell products to retailers on Privateer's free rider list will have their shipments delayed. Not canceled or refused, just delayed. No indication as to how long the delay will last, although the confidential free rider list going to distributors today may have more information.
The question, of course, is what defines a free rider and even more importantly, how will Privateer Press define one? Online only stores are a pretty easy given to appear on the list, as by their nature it is impossible for them to grow the PP market through the sorts of in store initiatives noted by Privateer in the company's letter. Where it becomes dicey is determining what constitutes growing the community in the eyes of Privateer and how does Privateer plan to determine this? Wizards of the Coast, Asmodee NA, Mayfair Games, even Games Workshop all have fairly specific policies regarding online sales, discounting or both but community growth is not a factor in whether you can carry their games. If a store sets up a card table with four unpainted Privateer figures on it and calls it a "demo table," does that qualify as growing the community? Will a store with multiple tables dedicated to gaming and shelves of terrain be counted equal to one with one table and a Press Ganger in regular attendance? In research terms, the other companies are using quantities standards to measure performance, while Privateer wants to incorporate qualitative ones as well. 'Twill be interesting to see what happens after April 4th.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
