No amount of good-will is going to prevent GW's business model from being seriously affected by consumer-level 3d printers.
Thankfully for them, we're still a few years away from this being a concern. My guess? 3-4 or whenever the UV resin-baseds take off. The Repraps and higher-quality extruders still aren't ready for your average consumer in price, time, and finish.
Sure, a loved and respected brand could pivot to selling printer schematics and printing materials/paints that are tested and guaranteed to work well together. Set up local branches that have printers so you can go into the store, buy some schematics and print them off (at a markup) there in the store directly.
You eliminate all your manufacturing and packaging costs and get to keep your fanbase engaged. You could really go for the gold and offer a subscription that gets you recurring access to new schematics, and then you can pivot the business towards designing new units and since you no longer have a manufacturing concern to maintain, you can churn out tons more units.
Thankfully for them, we're still a few years away from this being a concern. My guess? 3-4 or whenever the UV resin-baseds take off. The Repraps and higher-quality extruders still aren't ready for your average consumer in price, time, and finish.