Games Workshop’s biannual business update has revealed some interesting information about the company. It’s a big, beefy document full of dry numbers and even drier corporate speak, but if you can suffer through all that, it contains some insightful tidbits about the latter half of 2023 and howGames Workshopis operating. Luckily for you, we suffered through it so you don’t have to.
Generally, it’s been a good six months, withWarhammerprofits increasing in nearly every aspect. As well as “core revenue growth in all channels” and crucial information about theforthcoming Amazon show, Games Workshop details how much the controversial new website cost and just how much of a failure 2023’s video games were.
CEO Kevin Rountree and CFO Rachel Tongue begin thereportby talking about the power of licensing, and make it clear that this will be a big focus for the company in 2024. “We own what we believe is some of the best under exploited intellectual property (‘IP’) globally,” they write. “In the period reported, we have continued to patiently seek partners that can help us fulfil this potential. We will continue to grant licences to carefully chosen partners that respect the need for us to have complete ownership of our unique IP, to ensure no harm is done to the core business: a key risk we highlight every year.”
Games Workshop is being patient with its IP and choosing its partners, such as Amazon, carefully. This is refreshing in an era when huge, beloved properties like The Lord of the Rings are sold to the highest bidder, and the quantity of adaptations shoots sky high with complete disregard for the quality.
Games Workshop later explained just how careful it’s being with its creative partners, like Amazon. “Games Workshop and Amazon will work together for a period of 12 months to agree creative guidelines for the films and television series to be developed by Amazon,” says the half-yearly report. “The agreement will only proceed once the creative guidelines are mutually agreed between Games Workshop and Amazon.”
This means that production on the show, which of course has famous Warhammer fan Henry Cavill attached, won’t start for at least a year. With no script writing, no pre-production, and no casting bar Cavill, this exciting project is still a long time away.
There was not one mention of the Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game in the report, adding fuel to the fire thatGames Workshop has forgotten about the game.
One of Games Workshop’s most controversial decisions this year was the introduction of the new website. The site had all manner of issues from broken images to unusable menus, and many fans still feel it’s worse than the old site. However, the company believes “there were some teething issues but no showstoppers”. The document also revealed that the redesign cost £10.8 million in total.
However, licensing revenue is down, thanks to poor performance from Warhammer video games during the last six months.Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of RuinandWarhammer 40,000: Warpforgeare the two releases in this period, and Games Workshop has been veryopen about the underperformanceof the former. As it stands, the reported income of £12.1 million (down £2.2 million) is split thus: “47% PC and console games, 33% mobile and 20% other”. The “other” could be cloud gaming or VR, but it’s unclear exactly what this refers to at present. Despite this underperformance, Games Workshop seems happy with the continued revenue from established games, mentioningDarktide, Tacticus, andTotal War: Warhammer 3by name. Perhaps Games Workshop needs to be as choosy with its video game partners as it is with its TV and film licensees, and maybe there’s suddenly a lot of pressure riding onSpace Marine 2.
The final notable mention in the report is grimdark artist andWarhammer pioneer John Blanche, who retired from the company this year. “We’ve not had many people retire from Games Workshop,” it says. “During the period, John Blanche stepped down from his job as art director in our design studio. He is a creative genius, and we thank him for sharing his enormous talents and enthusiasm with us for nearly 40 years. We all wish him well. He leaves us with a well invested and talented Warhammer Studio.”
Blanche is an irreplaceable talent, but every Warhammer fan will thank him for his service and wish him the best in his retirement. His ideas will continue to permeate the Warhammer universe for decades to come, and his artwork is iconic and immortal. We just have to hope that one of the creative guidelines of the Amazon show is that it embodies the grimdarkness of Blanche’s artwork and takes his designs as gospel. If that’s the case, then we can all look forward to something great.
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