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Hi everyone!
I hope that you're all off to a good start in 2019!
For us here at GMT, the New Year started off busy, as we were in the midst of shipping out the new Deluxe Edition of Paths of Glory. Then our office and warehouse folks barely had time to come up for air before they were shipping the new printing of SPQR Deluxe, and the new release Panzer: Expansion 4: France 1940. We are wrapping up those shipments this week, and getting ready to start shipping five more items this coming Friday, January 25th. So it's been wall-to-wall busy for us so far this year, but we are not complaining. Busy means jobs for our employees. Busy means loyal customers get cool games to enjoy. Busy means royalties and the joy of seeing their creations in the hands of players for designers. Busy means more opportunities for our teams to learn and grow, honing their skills at their crafts. Busy is good! So I want to say "Thank You" to all of you who buy and enjoy our games for helping us stay engaged, improving, and busy!
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PoG Card Update Coming Next Month. For you new owners of the Deluxe Edition of Paths of Glory, note that we'll be sending you an 8-card update kit sometime in mid-February. Please see the "News You Can Use" section, below, for details.
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Harold Buchanan's Latest "Harold on Games" Podcast Interview - with ME. I rarely do interviews, but Harold does such a classy job with his Harold on Games Interviews that I couldn't say no when he asked me if I'd sit down with him at this past Fall's Weekend at the Warehouse. Harold has a unique way of framing his interviews. Ours started over scrambled eggs and informal breakfast conversation, included some real-time exchanges with designers and friends on the floor of the Weekend's gaming area, and concluded with some really good questions in the studio about the work I do and the motivations I have for how I do that work at GMT.
Harold is releasing the interview in two parts. Here's a link to Part 1. I like how it turned out (to be fair, my mom thought it was riveting and my wife fell asleep about half way through, so YMMV!), so I hope you'll find it an interesting listen. Stay tuned to Harold's social media channels for a heads-up on when (I think it should be up in a week or two) Part 2 will go live.
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Lunchtime Games Expanded. When I set up the "Lunchtime Games" department on our site, something that is only loosely a "series," it was driven by Mark Herman's excellent 2-player Card-Driven Game (CDG), Fort Sumter. I was thinking that "series" would encompass Fort Sumter and all 20-60 minute CDGs to follow. But several customers and designers have asked me over the past months why I would limit the series to CDGs. Why not just put any of our strategy games that you can play in that timeframe into that department to help our customers who like short but challenging strategy games easily find those games in our line and on our website?
That question/argument makes sense to me. So, from here on, we are not going to limit the Lunchtime series to CDGs. Beginning with Volko's Hunt for Blackbeard, a tense strategy game that plays in 30-45 minutes, I'll start adding non-CDG strategy games that fit the time requirement to this series as well. I just want to let you all know in advance, so you don't think that every game in the Lunchtime Games series will use the same systems.
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Systems Progress. I think "We're not yet where we want to be, but thank goodness we're not where we used to be" just about covers our systems progress over the past 6-9 months. We have made incremental improvements throughout, and everything is now working SO much better than it did 9 months ago. But there are still some areas that we want to improve. A few areas to note:
Website.
1. We are still not getting auto-notification emails for USPS packages, but the shipping info (including tracking #) IS now showing up in your MY ACCOUNT area on the website when a game ships. So for now, check there. And if you need auto-notifications, while ours are still a work in progress, please remember that there is a free USPS service you can sign up for that will allow you to preview and manage any deliveries coming to your home. It's called Informed Delivery. Just click on the link to go to the sign up page that has more info.
2. We've just added PayPal functionality for all non-P500 orders. We can't (yet, and maybe not ever) use it for P500 orders due to PayPal's policies on time between ordering and fulfillment. W will continue to talk with them about ways to address or get around this, but for now, at least you can use PayPal for non-P500 orders. See the "News You Can Use" section for more details.
3. We've upgraded the site so that now when you change your address, that new address will populate to all of your outstanding P500 orders. This has been a nagging problem for a long time, and should take care of some of those frustrating situations where part of our system (the order database) kept an old address on file long after you'd given us a change of address.
4. Wish Lists are now enabled on our website. See the "News You Can Use" section for details.
5. Our % of declined cards on our P500 Auto-charges has decreased from over 30% in early December to now about 10%, mostly due to us getting the word out and our customers updating their CC field on our site. We are going to be continuing our work to improve the Auto charge and Recharge process as we move forward, but overall, it's working much better now.
Email Issues. Mitch has been carefully monitoring our office email issues, both inbound and outbound. It looks now like our email is flowing smoothly, even to/from overseas customers!
I know this doesn't make the frustration of the past months any better, and I apologize to any of you who have experienced non-response from us. It's been a frustrating situation all around, and I appreciate, despite your frustrations, that you have been in the main very courteous and kind to our office folks as they've tried to work through and around our systems problems.
So, if you have an unresolved issue with an order, if you can't use our chat function (which is still the BEST way to resolve issues quickly with our office) please drop an email to gmtoffice@gmtgames.com or use the contact form on our website. And if you don't get a response within 24-48 hours, please let Mitch know at webmaster@gmtgames.com so he can track the emails and figure out why it didn't come through. Thanks for your patience as we continue to monitor this to make sure it's working correctly now.
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Game Sites and Online Tournaments. I love that so many of our games garner long-term gamer popularity and support. In terms of sales for us, these games have "legs" - they sell well year after year. And it's very important for us to have many games that sell well over long periods so we don't have worry about the "publish or perish" problem - having to churn out new games constantly or die.
But it's great from the customer side, as well, to have games that garner so much support over time that communities sprout up around them. It's great to see online forums and sometimes even whole websites (like Lee's Wingleader site, the Panzer Pusher site, or those great sites for Commands & Colors Ancients and C&C Napoleonics), often with tons of player-created content devoted to our games! And it's nice to have tournament communities where lots of players can play their favorite games online year-round.
This time, I want to highlight and make you aware of a couple of online tournaments for two of our long-time best-selling games, Paths of Glory and Combat Commander.
I hope you guys enjoy these sites and tournaments!
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That's it from me for this time. I hope you enjoy the rest of this update. Thanks, as always, for your support! - Gene
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Keep up with GMT Online
Virtually every day, we announce new information or show off upcoming products or give you a peek under the hood of our new designs in our various online sites and forums. For you guys looking to keep up with us online, here's where you can find us. Drop in and start a conversation!
GMT Games Website
InsideGMT blog
GMT Facebook Page
GMT's Twitter Feed
GMT on Instagram
GMT on BoardGame Geek
GMT YouTube Channel
GMT on Consimworld
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We are doing our best to segment this update so it's easier for you all to read. Here is what you'll find in the rest of today's update:
- P500 Additions
- News You Can Use
- InsideGMT
- Digital Games
- Charge and Shipping Update
- Production Outlook
- Coming Events
- Project Updates and Sample Art
Thanks, as always, for your support of GMT Games! Enjoy the games! - Gene
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