 |
 |
 |
|
Latest Reviews| Oregon |  | | Reviewed by: Ron McClung |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interview with John Stallard CEO of Games Workshop America
Page: 1/2
(2741 total words in this text)
(4999 Reads) 
Interview: John Stallard
Date: June 22 2003
by: Dave Gerardi |
 |
John Stallard worked his way up through Games Workshop beginning as a Mail Order Troll 20 years ago. Today he is CEO of Games Workshop USA. In this two part interview with GamingReport.com reporter Dave Gerardi, he talks about the Web sales edict, the future of the hobby and the Games Workshop "suits".
GamingReport:
You’ve just held the first Games Day in L.A. How did that go and can we expect to see you back next year?
John Stallard:
L.A. went great. We got a few more people than we hoped. It’s part of our plans to regionalize the business. People would tell me the distances they would travel to Games Day Baltimore. Now we have Baltimore, Chicago and L.A. The next one will probably be Atlanta. In addition, we will increase the number of Rogue Trader Tournaments and Grand Tournaments. We have a Battle Wagon for the northeast that offers products you don’t normally find at trade stores and ideally we want four of them (around the country).
GamingReport:
You’re kicking off the Eye of Terror campaign now, can we expect more summer campaigns in the future?
John Stallard:
Yes. The Eye of Terror campaign is very ambitious. It’s coinciding with the relaunch of Imperial Guard. Andy Chambers got behind it from the word go. The battle studio has sworn it will affect the future of 40K, but I can’t imagine it won’t have Space Marines. We would like to do one each year. I’d be nice to do Warhammer Fantasy for the next one. With the last one, Armageddon, there was an outrageous amount of cheating. Just extraordinary. People sending in 400 battle reports citing an overwhelming Ork victory, people trying to hack in to the Web site...extraordinary.
GamingReport:
With the explosive growth of the video game industry and the increase of the number of entertainment outlets (from the Internet to the rising number of cable channels), are you concerned that the consumers’ entertainment dollar is stretched too thin?
John Stallard:
We all play computer games, and they’re great; but they’re a pastime not a hobby. Games Workshop is a hobby and it’s not something you have a casual fling with, it’s a love affair.
GamingReport:
Any changes for White Dwarf?
John Stallard:
I would like White Dwarf distributed through new agents in the U.S. like we do everywhere else. But the costs are enormous because of the heavy paper we use to print it. I’d like to do a slightly more general magazine with a name that says exactly what it is. White Dwarf doesn’t mean anything unless you’re in the know. Model railroad magazines are called Model Railroader or something. I’d like to do a more general magazine to get people into the hobby.
GamingReport:
Would this be a general interest magazine that would cover other companies?
John Stallard:
Possibly.
GamingReport:
You’d be able to make up the costs with ad sales if you did.
John Stallard:
Yeah, we could. We talk about it internally all the time. I love the arguments. "We couldn’t possibly take advertising from other companies." Why not?
| Next page (2/2) 
[ Back to Interviews: | Sections index ] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
