FarEast’s has posted some of his thoughts after a chat with the guys at TM. You can find the full thread in the forum, but here’s the bulk of the text:
Feeling the Pressure. In recent months the Airsoft community has seen the rise of a new challenger for title of Manufacture King when it comes to the release of wanted replicas, G&G seems to have its finger right on the pulse of the Airsoft community while the old favourites Tokyo Marui seem to be letting things slip.
I found out recently from a member of the Tokyo Marui staff that the M14 has actually been in production for the last 2 years and wasnt the 3 month wonder that everyone thought it was. In a way Im saddened by the fact as this dashes a lot of hopes of Tokyo Marui producing anything new before the supposed VCR bill goes through in the UK. Especially the L85A1/2.
So what is the future going to look like? Well G&G although being smaller really seems to have a management team that can get the gears turning and the products on the shelves, yes there have been a few teething problems with the UMG (Tappet plate) and the M14 (Heavy Trigger) but the amazing thing is that G&G is willing to rectify these problems for free! Unlike Tokyo Marui that expect the customer to fork out for the necessary upgrades or replacements of parts regardless if its a design fault or not. G&G also have one serious Ace up their sleeves, a fast manufacturing turn around, thus being able to actually make the guns to meet the demands of the customers within a short period of time while keeping the price reasonable.
So what is so wrong with Tokyo Marui? Well for one, its a one man ship, having the CEO (Owner, Director) making the choices of guns made on his preference rather than listening to the market research and the Airsoft community (there must be hundreds of signed petitions for various guns) is a real bad thing as it shows a lack of vision by a company and its leadership for the future of the sport, also the fact that Tokyo Marui really doesnt have a good relationship with the press is another issue, rather than give factual and positive press releases to the Airsoft community it is left to speculate and rumourmonger about the future releases of this giant within the Airsoft world thus leaving a lot of disappointed and disgruntled people when the replicas fail to materialise.
So is it all bad? Not really. The rise of G&G and other even smaller Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong based manufactures seems to have a bee in Tokyo Maruis bonnet. When I last spoke to the guys at Tokyo Marui they were very interested in my views of the competition and the future of their company. It seems very likely that they will move away from the plastic bodies and follow G&G with the lightweight metal bodies; also it seems that they are thinking of moving into the upgrade department too, gears, springs and motors to name just a few.
But is this too much to late for Tokyo Marui, or is it still the wrong direction for them? In my opinion yes it is, there are so many companies out there that produce excellent upgrades for our sport, Systema, Phoenix to name just a few and to be honest I think they do it much better. Another reason is it still doesnt address the problem of what the customer actually wants, to quote Neo; We need guns. Lots of guns and thats the fact of the matter. The Airsoft community looks to Tokyo Marui for the production of cheap good quality guns regardless of what materials are used, thats what 3rd party manufactures are for!
So where is this going to lead us? It looks like the future is firmly in the hands of central Asia. The economic Boom of China is having a very positive impact on our sport, mainly in the cost of production and materials. Also the general public having more money to spend on their hobbies is causing a price war among retailers in the battle to take customers cash, thus driving down the prices of their products, while also providing a relatively good customer service (Most places in Asia only provide a 30 day money back warranty as this is all that is required by law) for over seas customers.
So can Japan compete with this? Not really, Japans economy has been stagnant for the past 10 years with consumers reluctant to spend their hard earned cash also with the artificial land prices and the fact that Japan needs to import all its resources, factories need to charge more for the products they make to actually make a profit.
Japan could do much better to move their manufacturing plants to central Asia to take advantage of the lower overheads, but will they do this? Not really Japanese industries tend to be very xenophobic when it comes to central Asia (KSC is a classic example of this having to different names for its products, one for Japan *KSC* and another for the rest of world, of course the KSC in Japan costs more than the overseas versions!)
So what is my prediction? Unless Tokyo Marui can adapt to this fast changing market and either keep pace or set a new one with its mainland challengers in Asia I really think Tokyo Marui is going to fall within the next few years as they like the rest of the Japanese economy stagnate and flounder due to leadership problems and lack of vision. China on the other hand is showing a very healthy boom in both hobbies and economy with companies showing strong leadership and the willingness to listen to the community that purchase their products while also having the power to produce high quality items at a fair price within a short period of time . And lets face it G&G has produce 3 high quality replicas in the past 3 months, M14, UMP and the GR300 (LR300) which proves they are very serious about taking the Manufacture King title. FarEast, (site forums)
