What if......GW collapsed

There was an article on Bell of Lost Souls site which asked the question, if Games-Workshop collapsed, would it be the end of miniature wargaming. Their answer was 'YES'. It was basically a path of destruction which would spell the end of miniature wargaming......and it was BS.

I'm sorry, but I don't believe it. First off, if GW was to collapse, it would most likely be the end of it's miniature range, as I'm sure the IP is still quite valuable in various forms of media. Games, books and heck, even visual media like movies of video series can still be made. They are already well learned in how to sell their product in those medias (hell, GW video games have a strong market) so even with that collapse, I see the company's IP lasting much longer.

As for the end of miniature wargaming? First off, many non-GW brick and mortar stores only sell a small amount of GW products, with the rest coming from other miniature companies. Indeed, one such person (who copped a flaming by others) pointed out that out of their local stores total products, GW only makes up a tenth of it and it rarely sells compared to the other games. As such, were GW to collapse, it would make very little (if any) dent in the stores profit.

Another point is the debacle between the ending of Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. See, when Fantasy ended, people panicked as to what would happen, but all felt they would wait to see what 9th Edition would bring. It never came. Instead, Age of Sigmar appeared and it outraged many. A majority of those who played Fantasy Battle left GW in search of something to fill the void. Many thought it was the end. Instead, those who left suddenly found a world of multiple games and it wasn't long before many found new games to play.

The result, that there are other games out there and if GW did collapse, many would eventually move on to find other games. From the ashes of GW, other companies could rise up. Many are already jumping onto the market with games to suit all types of players. Star Wars X-wing, Infinity, Malifaux etc are already gaining popularity, and then there are those players who never bothered with GW, mostly those who played historical type games (like Flames of War etc).

My conclusion to all this? I doubt GW will collapse anytime soon, though it no longer has the kind of power that it once did. Many of those who agreed with that article are probably the type of people who refuse to believe GW would send 40K down the same rules path as Age of Sigmar (I don't know if GW will, but they already have established lore wise that 40K will have it's End Times soon). The fact is, if they were to collapse then I see miniature wargaming will take a blow, but it won't be that which ends it for good.