nothing new eh?

[Duke Togo]

Wow, I've taken a break from the airsoft scene for about 8 months and in all the time I've been gone not a single big release. It looks like clones really screwed the industry since everything is now cheaper (in every sense) and even big sellers like WGC now stock the knock-offs. No big releases other than a crummy AEP Skorpion. TM and others now have no reason to release new product since some Taiwan hack outfit will copy it 3 months later for half the price and 1/5 the quality, but everyone will buy it.

 

You reap what you sow people, enjoy the second death of airsoft.

[Jagdraben]

lol, wut?

 

kum agin?

[evilliboba]

BTW it is Chinese hack outfit.

 

Edit:

I wouldn't call it 1/5 the quality but more like 4/5.

 

Now if someone cloned a working and quality BV mech, what would you say to that?

[Marlowe]

I'm not sure who closed this thread originally, but they were certainly correct to do so. Such ill-founded fear-mongering will only breed contempt.

 

You appear to be under the delusion that airsoft should be an elitist sport in which on a select few can participate. Sadly this appears to be a misnomer shared by a few classic airsoft enthusiasts.

 

Airsofting is a hobby. Any hobby dies when its userbase dries up. The continuing success of cheap airsoft replicas despite their dubious quality is because there is a genuine demand for such replicas. Demand prompts supply; from supply future innovation will, after the major players adjust their business plans, emerge.

 

Whether you are happy with the situation or not, plowing headlong with new rifles will only last you so long if your userbase dwindles. The cheap replicas have ensured that the userbase in airsoft has not only been sustained, but grown. Future players will buy clones, and with time will demand new rifles. These new rifles will come, be it from the major players (TM, CA etc) or from the 'knock-off' companies.

 

I have heard of quite a few new budget rifles being released soon that are not readily available as anything other than kits from the major manufacturers. Should these rifles indeed materialise, I think you'll see that we are not facing the second death of airsoft, but its second renaissance.