What would happen if SP won their bid for the world?

[Bolter]

Seriously, what do you think would happen after all the court cases and they actually won? (Only pretend, don't panic) Do you think some companies would go bust? Or drop out and make other things?

Your thoughts please (and yes this is another SP thread before you up your post count by saying "oh no not another SP thread" and not actually commenting)

[GA Devil]

I think a handful of smaller companies would go belly up, I can see prices raising again like they used to be to make up for the money sp gets. I can also see alot of the anti sp people turing die hard sp since sp will be the only 1's not having to raise prices to make up for the loss. Just my honest opinion.

[abunkerer]

someone else will find a better way to make a paintball gun work, and sue everyone (including SP) who tries to copy it.

[Mindflux]

I guess we'd all be shooting shockers or impys or playing airsoft.

[fallout11]

1) Smart parts will make a lot of "royalty" money from the sales of other companies E-markers. Plus what they make off their own stuff.

2) As a result, we'll see even more products developed and marketed by SP. Some will be good, some will be clunkers. But you can be sure they'll have even more advertising money to throw around, so 1/2 of paintball magazines will become SP ads.

3) Shockers will sell like hotcakes, since they'll be effectively at a "reduced" price compared to other e-guns, and all the great tourney teams will use them. Monkey see, monkey do.

4) Other companies will be forced to pass the royalty fees on to consumers, which in turn will hurt their sales, resulting in less R&D on new products, and fewer "new concepts".
Innovation will be stifled, at least for a while.

5) Some smaller companies will go belly up, as others have said.

6) Some players will feel that they can not afford, or will be unwilling to afford e-markers. Mechanicals, especially used ones, will gain slightly in market share and popularity. This may or may not result in a call for a "mechanical only" circuit. Electros will dissappear from the hands of rec ballers. Tippman will reap the rewards.

7) Some companies will drop their e-lines, and sell only mechanicals, to avoid the problems. Palmer Pursuit is a perfect example. Extra effort will be put into refining the finer points of mechanical markers (gas efficiency, ACE's, etc.) by these companies.

8) A "have" and "have not" attitude will begin to prevade the sport, fracturing it further.
SP vs. all the little guys, those who like or can afford Emarkers, and those who don't, rec/scenario players with their old mechanicals, vs. the tourney guys and their new toys.
This will initially hurt paintball, but in the long run who knows.

9) A precedent will be set.
Other companies may jump on the bandwagon, and patent everything they come up with. If they do, paintball will virtually die. If they don't, they risk having their concepts stolen and patented by others, or missing out on cashing in on their own developments.

[abunkerer]

brass eagle is a publicly traded stock who's value went up like 30% last year, they literally dominate the paintball world as far as corporations making money. Paintball is a huge industry, this is not a big deal.

[fallout11]

Brass Eagle and its subsidiaries will largely be unaffected by the lawsuits. They sell no electronic guns.

But their stock went up last year because they were about to (and were) acquired by K2 sports, a worldwide sporting goods consortium (makers of Rawlings and Worth sporting goods). Investors bought BE stock to get in on K2 cheaply.

Brass Eagle stock is no longer traded, as they are no longer a public company.
Even when they were, the whole company was only worth $77 million dollars. That's pocket change in the business world.

http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2003/12/19/WesleyBrown/95327.html

[Fatjon]

i think all gun prices will be raised including mechanicals

[Brophog]

Electros are not going away, like it or not. All of those whom think that their will be a mechanical revolution had better sit back down.

Just look at AO lately. We have well intentioned people arguing for insane ROF. Good natured people arguing that caps on markers shouldn't take place. People are arguing that a marker is "slow" if its below 12 BPS.

This is the marketplace we have created, and we have to live in it. How many mechanicals, true mechanicals, can get anywhere near that range? There are some yes, but there are an awful lot that aren't anywhere close.

Go to your field and look at whose using the blowbacks and lower end markers. A lot of them are new players (but certainly not all). If there is one thing that paintball is about, its about upgrading. People get addicted to the paintball, and they soon upgrade. Some upgrade their current marker, and a lot buy a new marker. You've all seen this happen with virtually every player.

Who else is using these lower end mechanicals? Fields. Ahh, but fewer and fewer people are renters these days. Fields don't need as many rentals on hand anymore, equally fewer mechanical sales.

I have nothing against those guns. I prefer to shoot them over electros, and they generally are less maintenance intensive. I'm just pointing out trends.

Then there is the cost of the electro and the effect of royalties. Anyone in this business can tell you, the higher the gun price the lower the markup. We're talking 10-15% markup for stores, even less than that for online stores. A couple of online stores are just flat out giving high end guns away. There's no money in high end guns. There is money in accessories though, big money. Paint, pods, regulators, aftermarket parts, clothing. That is where the money is at. That is why a cheap aftermarket bolt is running $50. That is where the money is at, not guns. How many people do you know that has a $300 gun and put $400 into it? I know several!

So far we haven't seen much of a price increase in the companies that have already settled with SP. The fact that the gun markup is so low suggests to me that some of the cost will be broken up in the system a little. Some to the manufacturer, some to the distributor, some to the store owner, some to the consumer. It may all go to the consumer, but with prices so low as it is, and people dying to get their specific product on the market, I don't anticipate anyone getting out of this price war. Remember, they all want to sell you the marker, so that you'll buy the overpriced accessories.

I tend to agree that the cash flow may give SP more liberties than other companies. However, the more I think about it, the more I'm supporting the idea that it will cripple other companies. Or atleast I don't think it will have quite as big of an overall effect.

[SlartyBartFast]

Originally posted by fallout11
Other companies may jump on the bandwagon, and patent everything they come up with. If they do, paintball will virtually die. If they don't, they risk having their concepts stolen and patented by others, or missing out on cashing in on their own developments.

[IWANTMOREMAGS]

AO will gather a very large sum of money from its loyal members. We will steal millions of impulses off the walls of proshops and steal them from SP lovers and pile them in my jet. We fly over Germany and drop them on SP after setting them on fire. Let them fall and light all of Germany on fire so everyone will hate Smart Parts for what they have done to Germany. Then the poisoness fumes from the burning impulses will kill every SP employee who ever lived. Then all the old impulse owners would buy Emags and realize they aren't pieces of poo but really they are UbEr1337!

[50 cal]

What's SP gonna do? Make us turn in our already paid for guns? NOT! They won't be able to.
Every one will still have the guns they own, companies will have to pay a royalty to SP for the switching technology, like switches haven't been around since who knows when.

Therein lies the rub, if some lawyer will look up the use of the switches in question, they will see that solenoid firing devices have been around since World War 2. Fighter aircraft used on-off solenoids for firing wing mounted machine guns. SP will be blown out of the water if some lawyer will get enough data together about on-off solenoids to fight them.

The other companies decided to roll over, giving legitimacy to SP claim. That is the worst thing they could have done. WE will all pay for it in the end with higher paintgun prices. SP won't have them stop production of their guns, just pay a royalty for use of the patent. They get paid for not having to lift a finger in the other companies production. That is the extent of their lawsuit. They get something for nothing.

[Brophog]

While true, that's not the question being posed....

[50 cal]

Got off on a tangent there.

But I think that yes, they will continue as usual, just paying the royalty to continue on while the cost is passed onto us.

[Athius]

NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!!!

I dont think that most paintball gun companies only live from making paintball guns only!!!

Like for example Tippmann makes some industrial machines and ICD make some machining stuff.

STOP *****IN WITH THIS SP THING LET THE OTHER COMPANIES HANDLE THEM NOT US!!



AND THAT'S ARE MY 2 F'n CENTS DAMMIT!!