The first is the motto of Warhammer 40,000: “In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there is only war.” In other words Games Workshop is a serious business, but it is not to be taken seriously. Asmodee, a global board-game publisher based in France, was sold to a private equity firm in July for €1.2bn (£1.1bn).īut Warhammer’s success stands out, and to understand why this is, there are a few things you need to know.Ī Warhammer collectible. On Kickstarter, which has taken an influential role in the industry, the category was up 20% in 2018 year on year, raising a total of $165m (£128m). Tabletop gaming in general is doing better than ever. The rise in “actual play” podcasts such as the Adventure Zone and Critical Role has also helped, as has a focus on attracting new players for its fifth edition. Dungeons & Dragons, the venerable role-playing game, has had its own resurgence since 2014, thanks to depictions in TV shows such as Community and Stranger Things. If this sounds surprising, it is worth noting that Games Workshop isn’t the only part of nerd culture to experience a recent rush of interest. In 2017, the same company was the publicly traded British stock that outperformed every other: Games Workshop, a high-street retailer of science fiction and fantasy miniatures, now carries a market capitalisation of more than £1bn.īut how did a company founded 40 years ago with one shop in Hammersmith, west London, become so successful? The answer lies in Warhammer 40,000 – 40k, as it is usually known a sprawling tabletop conflict game in which two players fight with collectible armies, including the space marines of the fascist human Imperium and the ancient fallen angels of the Eldar, using rules found in a library of 30 or so source books. But one retailer beat this trend, reporting profits of £40m in the final six months of the year. Debenhams closed 50 shops, Toys R Us, Maplin and Poundworld went into administration, and more retail space was lost than in any year since 2008, with 1.9m sq metres closing, according to the property analysts EG. L ast year saw a bloodbath on the high street.
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