Is our sports fading a little???

[jsdatjsd]

I think part is that it got to big and technical. Nobody wants to spend that kind of money for a simple hobby, especially if they're up against pre-teens with rich parents, a $1500 gun shooting 2 cases or more of paint. When my friends and I were younger, without families in the early 90's we could afford it, now some weeks it's hard to get even an extra $30 to spend. I'm seeing now, slowly but surely, a return to the game being fun and people starting to play pump games. I think the weekend hobbyists are starting to reject the "bigness" that paintball has become.

It could be just me though. lol

Mebbe i should drop my plans for a mag and get a stock phantom instead.......

[paullus99]

The industry is beginning to mature - so we've hit a bit of a plateau . The numbers of players coming into the sport is not growing as much as it used to, but always remember, 75% of players don't play on organized paintball fields. You'll never see the vast majority of players out there, so it can be very hard to judge total participation.

Also, with the introduction of the ION (the new Model-T of paintball markers) SmartParts is changing the entire paintball industry. Prices are starting to come down, across the board, so I think you'll see another culling out of paintball companies - some who will die off and others that will adapt or find that niche market that will keep them in the game.

The days of the $1500.00 ubermarkers are over - they will continue to be the Corvettes or Ferraris of the sport, but no longer have the presence they did just a couple of years ago. Why buy a DMC when you can get a second-hand DM4 or better yet, an ION, for a fraction of the price.

The next few years will be extremely interesting. AGD might not have done a bad thing keeping their heads down & waiting to see where the market went. If they had waited & came out with another high-end $1000.00+ electro now, it wouldn't make much business sense.....

[REDRT]

The next few years will be extremely interesting. AGD might not have done a bad thing keeping their heads down & waiting to see where the market went. If they had waited & came out with another high-end $1000.00+ electro now, it wouldn't make much business sense.....

Them not doing much of anything hasn't made much sense to me. People buy what they want or think they want. Price is not a concern. People are maxing out their credit everyday to buy the flashyest toys money can buy. AGD or any other company either needs to become a trend setter or hop on the band wagon and follow suit. Maybe stepping on some toes along the way, but you can't sit at idle and hope for the best! Being the nice guy doesn't make money or anything positive really. All it does is make you look weak amonst your peers and allows people/industry take advantage of you. High time for AGD to give the rest of the industry a one fingure solute and start taking back some of what they partly created and advance themselves like they used to.

[Aslan]

disagree

I've actually seen it growing. With the popularity of the A-5 and the Ion...I've seen a ton of new players enter the fields and outback circuit.

Now, the economy thing is a problem...and will continue to be. Gas prices affect things a great deal more than we'd like to think.

Where the negative does seem to appear is with field owners and paintball stores. Fields are struggling to adjust to the increase in competition. Back when paintball was small, fields could charge alot, charge a ton for paint, require memberships, etc... Now, fields are trying to adjust by offering lower priced paint, free all day air, lower registration fees, etc... and still make money. And the stores are really in trouble...mainly due to the huge internet storefront. Paintball stores were already getting pinched by the big box stores, and now they are just getting murdered by online stores.

[robnix]

And the stores are really in trouble...mainly due to the huge internet storefront. Paintball stores were already getting pinched by the big box stores, and now they are just getting murdered by online stores.

I hate to say this, but my local store is at least 25% higher than what I would pay online. They have a website and a field, but no online sales.

[tolley]

Ok

Well, it sounds like you guys pretty much agree with me, and seem to think it is only a healthy fluctuation that you might observe in any sport over the years. That's what I had hoped. Thanks.

And as far as shops and store sales of gear, I wholeheartedly agree with most of you. I have purchased easily $3000 in stuff in the last 5 years and at least 80%of that was done online.