GOG Enmey discontinued?

[The Jayster]

Methinks that they did away with the GOG brand altogether. They put up a new website, calling themselves the DLX Technology Group with 3 brands under that name: The Freak, Luxe and Shocker. No mention of the Enmey anywhere.

My theory is that the Emek pretty much killed the market for the .68 Enmey, whereas Tippmann did the same for 0.50 rentals.

[Axel]

Looks that way. I always assumed all the Gardner brands were basically one company with some kind of goofy severable corporate structure so the whole thing couldn't be taken down with one lawsuit like Smart Parts. But I have no idea.

[Daniel Tiger]

Why did I think they got bundled into the kore umbrella. Did the ever get mixed up in that?

Do the gardner’s still have a stake in dlx?

[fullofpaint]

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought they'd killed off the Enmey a long time ago and it was just back stock most stores were still selling.

[Ecapnation]

They were pretty miserable guns... Took long enough

[Psycho91]

People will hate just cause of what they did to other companies but tbh I never had a problem with any of their markers

An enmey is a cheap option for mech play if you cant or dont want to buy an emek

[TF_Aloha]

GoG, Shocker, and DLX are all housed in the same building in Loyalhana, Pennsylvania. They're all owned by the same Gardner Bros and they constantly overlap on things. Shockers and Luxes all include Freaks, which are made by GoG. Shockers and Luxes have many interchangeable parts, and their techs all service anything made by a Gardner brand. They're the same company.

The Enmey just doesn't really have a nich. GI and Valken make cheap Tippmann variants that fill the ultra-low niche and If someone can spend a tad more, PE makes the EMEK. Enmey just doesn't fit anywhere.

[Murph]

The Enmey was great for what it was until the Emek came out and completely outclassed it in everything the enmey tried to accomplish, and with 85% less jank. The only edge for the enmey is that it’s noticeably quieter out of the box using the right barrel system.

[The Hobbit]

That and beating the Emek to market by 4+ years. I may be wrong but I believe it was the first marker in what has become the modern mech segment.

[vijil]

Has anyone done a corporate ownership map for paintball, similar to what you see for car companies?

I'm aware that Kore basically bought everyone out with some ethically questionable business practices, and then pulled the handbrake on innovation and progression industry wide, but I'm not sure how that ties in to the Gardners etc.

As far as I know PE and Dye are still independent.

[fullofpaint]

Took a stab at it, I'm sure I'm missing some brands here.

Kore

• GI Sportz
  • KEE
    • NPS
      • Empire
      • BT Paintball
      • 32 Degrees
      • Odyssey/Halo
      • Invert
      • Psychoballistics
      • Redz (?)
    • PMI
      • RP Scherer (paintball brand only)
      • Evil
      • Extreme Rage
      • Pure Energy
      • Piranha
      • PCS
      • Direct Connect (Illustrator)
    • WGP
    • Brass Eagle
      • Viewloader
      • JT
    • Kingman
    • Smart Parts IP (Freak kit, Shocker Bolt design, maybe other things?)
  • Procaps/DXS
    • Draxxus
    • Diablo
    • V-Force
    • X-ball (?)
    • XO (?)
  • Tippmann Sports

Formerly Smart Parts

• DLX
• GoG
• Shocker Paintball

Stand alone Companies

• Planet Eclipse
• Dye
  • Proto
• Valken
  • Sly
  • Milsig (Just the NA distribution rights)
• Virtue
  • BunkerKings
• Field One (formerly BLAST)
• Azodin
• First Strike/Tiberius
  • Bought out by Renatus Group, not sure their relationship to the industry
• HK Army
  • Pinokio
• MacDev

I think that's most of the major brands? Left out the small stuff like Inception or Shocktech.

[vijil]

Looks about right. Nice work. I'd add in some of the adjacent bodies like leagues - the NXL are "completely separate" but obviously totally part of Kore when you look at board appointments etc.

[martix_agent]

wow that's all the brand that remain?

I guess Macdev still exists kinda.

[The Jayster]

And I think PE and DYE maintain cordial relations with each other, and PE, DYE and DLX whatever have a close relationship with the Kore group. OTOH I think there's no love lost between PE and DLX as the latter has used the Gamma Core as hum, 'inspiration' for the later generations of the Luxe and Shocker.

[The Inflicted]

The Enmey was great for what it was until the Emek came out and completely outclassed it in everything the enmey tried to accomplish, and with 85% less jank. The only edge for the enmey is that it’s noticeably quieter out of the box using the right barrel system.

I think you can still make a case for the eNMEy just because of how small in the hand it feels compared to the Emek. With its feedneck placed right above the trigger guard you get more of a mag/cocker feel with an eNMEy whereas the Emek is more stretched-out, Tippmann-like.

It's less important now, but a lot of people really appreciate the way the eNMEy uses standard ASAs, regulators, and .45 grips. I feel like the main reason it didn't make more of a splash on the market at the time is that it was arguably under-priced and not hyped up enough as it should have been- as the best mechanical gun available up to that point.

I'm sad that when Eclipse raised the Emek's prices by 50% there wasn't an effort to clean up the eNMEy design a little and offer it as a viable alternative. Maybe improve the stock feedneck and give it autococker threads (which the Tippmann Raider already did).

[vijil]

And I think PE and DYE maintain cordial relations with each other, and PE, DYE and DLX whatever have a close relationship with the Kore group. OTOH I think there's no love lost between PE and DLX as the latter has used the Gamma Core as hum, 'inspiration' for the later generations of the Luxe and Shocker.

I wonder if there are "arrangements" (price fixing, non-compete agreements in certain markets, agreeing not to start competitor leagues etc) going on. Wouldn't be at all surprised, but it's almost impossible to prove. Most of that would be very illegal here, but not sure what it's like in other places.

I just struggle otherwise to explain just how incredibly stagnant paintball has become over the last decade, even taking into account the rise in gaming, covid etc. etc. - the major companies have completely ceased innovating.

[TF_Aloha]

And I think PE and DYE maintain cordial relations with each other, and PE, DYE and DLX whatever have a close relationship with the Kore group. OTOH I think there's no love lost between PE and DLX as the latter has used the Gamma Core as hum, 'inspiration' for the later generations of the Luxe and Shocker.

PE, DYE, and Inception Designs all collaborated to make the PWR barrel system. They were were very open about having an ongoing collaborative relationship

Shockers/DLX uses the Gamma Core design because Jack never patented it. It's not anything shady on PE's side, it's just the Gardners doing their normal routine of avoiding innovation.

PE, DYE, and DLX are distributed by Kore and Valken. Not exclusively and many shops have direct accounts with them, but for many shops this relationship lets them get EMEKs from their paint supplier instead of trying to get additional dealer accounts. Kore and Valken like it because they're both trying to keep fields totally dependent on them. This lets them get away with worse and worse paint since the inconvenience of switching brands is heightened.

I wonder if there are "arrangements" (price fixing, non-compete agreements in certain markets, agreeing not to start competitor leagues etc) going on. Wouldn't be at all surprised, but it's almost impossible to prove. Most of that would be very illegal here, but not sure what it's like in other places.

I just struggle otherwise to explain just how incredibly stagnant paintball has become over the last decade, even taking into account the rise in gaming, covid etc. etc. - the major companies have completely ceased innovating.

The price fixing is pretty open, they use MAP (Minimum Advertised Pricing) for basically everything. It's legal and helps brick and mortar fields from getting crushed by ANSGear. When the Ion was released without MAP pricing, and with a sliding wholesale price scale, Action Village (now ANS) was selling Ions retail for about the same price as small fields could get them wholesale. It was ugly.

Many of the manufacturers openly create regional monopolies. They just won't approve new dealer accounts for fields too close to existing dealers. Excluded fields can still get basic stuff like EMEKs through Kore or Valken, but they're not going to be selling GEO 5's right when they get released.

I think that the stagnation in paintball is just a result of market homogenization. A few big companies that could leverage their scale and use Chinese manufacturing efficiently made paintball manufacturing so unprofitable for smaller guys that they were ready to retire and take a buy-out from NPS/KEE/Kore/whatever and be willing to sign a non-compete. Also, paintball tech used to be a lot worse, so there was plenty of room for smaller manufacturers to find a niche. Now, all of the aftermarket mods have been incorporated into mainstream designs so unless someone comes up with something truly revolutionary (and patentable) there's just no point in making anything for paintball. It's not a shady conspiracy, it's just late stage capitalism.

[vijil]

"Many of the manufacturers openly create regional monopolies. They just won't approve new dealer accounts for fields too close to existing dealers."

This is very illegal here in NZ. It's considered cartel behavior. 7 years jail for directors.

"It's legal and helps brick and mortar fields from getting crushed by ANSGear" - avoiding short term pain while creating long term pain as paintball itself dies off. I feel bad for small stores, but if the business model doesn't work, it doesn't work.

[TF_Aloha]

<QUOTE>"It's legal and helps brick and mortar fields from getting crushed by ANSGear" - avoiding short term pain while creating long term pain as paintball itself dies off. I feel bad for small stores, but if the business model doesn't work, it doesn't work.</QUOTE>

The problem is that manufacturers need fields and stores to carry their products, even though selling to a few massive online businesses is more profitable. If stores don't carry their products, especially guns, the stores won't service them either. If ANS is the only place to buy a gun, pissed off field owners will simply tell players to bring broken gear back to the store where they bought it. Oh, you bought it online? Have fun with that.

[vijil]

In which case the fields would hemorrhage customers, so they'd be forced to innovate. For example if they had any business sense, they'd include maintenance plans in field membership.

But, no joke, I'm not convinced 90% of field ops have any business sense (or imagination) whatsoever. In fact I'd go further: I question the intelligence and basic business sense of pretty much anyone involved in paintball, from field ops right up to the Kore C Suite.