2023
A BIG YEAR AHEAD FOR WARHAMMER LICENSING The past few years have seen the company go through a period of exceptional growth, profits saw a 70% jump in their last full financial year and it has been one of the most watched and talked about shares on the London Stock Exchange for many years. But it’s not just financial analysts that have been paying attention and thanks to celebrity fans such as Ed Sheeran and a particularly vocal Henry Cavil, Warhammer has been making headlines a lot of late. With over 520 stores world wide Warhammer has been a staple of high streets and malls for decades but it was best known with hobbyists who collect, paint and play with ‘the best fantasy miniatures in the world’ or read one of the numerous novels published by inhouse division Black Library. Warhammer magazine White Dwarf has also been bucking the downward trend of magazine sales, showing strong circulation gains and even trials in Walmart and Target in the US. The IP is truly global with stores and fans all around the world, particularly in Europe and North America, but is also seeing a growing number of new fans across Asia and beyond. Although some of this success can be seen as
part of the general trend of scifi and fantasy becoming more mainstream over recent years - over 70% of adults in the UK and US now identify as fans of the genres - Warhammer’s growth must be down to something more. With its various settings - from the high fantasy of The Age of Sigmar to the dark dystopia and grim dark of Warhammer 40,000 - the IP offers many different worlds for fans of scifi and fantasy to immerse themselves in. And there’s plenty to get immersed in - with settings as big if not bigger than genre rivals such as Middle Earth, Star War and Marvel. One of the things fans cite for their love of the IP is that it scratches so many itches. If you want some great fantastical stories, it’s got those, if you want some cool models, it’s got those, if you want to have a tactical game, you can do. It’s also a great creative outlet, as fans can write stories for their armies and paint them in pretty much any way they like. And even more ways to engage with the IP are on the way - with two major new licensed products launching this year. The first Warhammer Panini sticker album ‘Warhammer 40,000: Warriors of the Emperor Sticker Collection’ launched in the UK in April bringing
the IP into supermarkets and convenience stores country-wide with international launches already planned. And later in the year will see a major collaboration with Wizards of the Coast as Warhammer 40,000 becomes the first major IP, not part of the Hasbro family, to partner with Magic the Gathering with a worldwide launch of co-branded cards.
Warhammer may have once been the biggest thing a lot of people had never heard of, but the past few years has seen it enter mainstream consciousness.
One area that has seen strong growth over the past few years is video games, all of which are licensed. There are
Parent company Games Workshop was founded in the UK nearly 50 years ago and has been well known to millions of passionate fans since.
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