Games Workshop pricing, just what are we paying for?

Well A huge amount of moaning is going on about GW pricing and yes people have a right to moan. We are paying a premium price for models. But as long as we continue to pay these prices then GW are going to continue to mark them up and push for more. its natural business.

But just lately GW pricing policy has been a bit to brash for peoples liking. For instance the Eldar release. 3 weeks ago you could buy 10 Dire Avengers for £23.50. And today you can buy the same Dire avengers just in a different box for £20.50. Only problem is that you are now only getting 5 in a box. So instead of paying £2.35 per model you are now paying £4.10 per model. For exactly the same model, no new sculpts or bits. just a different packaging box. there is no reason for the price hike at all. they have not had to pay any sculptors, or researchers or anything. just one guy at a computer designing new box art.

And then we have the release that has caused all the fuss and excitement. the WraithKnight A huge towering model much larger than the recent Tau Riptide release. And the Price £70. Now compared to some other GW pricing this could be considered a bargain. But lets look at it from a new prospective. What are we paying for. the plastic? The R&D?  No not any of them, although in GW own words the Wraith knight is a completely new concept for the 2013 Codex release. 

That's great if it wasn't for the fact it appeared to be a concept in 2006 :P. Now yes you could argue that that is merely just Eldar Titan in the back ground. But then all the WK is, is a scaled down Revenant Titan anyway. 
 So yes I suppose they have had to pay out for Sculptors, molds to be made etc But then the same things had to be done for these.

These are the Gunpla Models from Japan, The same amount of R&D and Sculpting went into these as the GW models. They are as big and in most cases bigger than the WK. Not to mention the fact they have 10 X the detail of any GW model. And you can purchase these Multi part Plastic kits for £15.
If it wasn't for GW's 75% policy on conversions and models I would be using Gunpla Models for my Tau army. they look amazing compared to the Crisis suits of the Tau, that lets face it, resemble kids dressed as robots using Cardboard boxes.

So if the £70 is not to cover the manufacturing of the WK what is it for. Well in all honestly all we are paying for is a Stat line in a Codex. They give us a Stat line that we want to use and hike the price up because they know players will buy into it, because they want a model with THAT stat line.