House of Warhammer: The Inner Workings of Games Workshop

Games Workshop is by far the world's largest and most successful hobby miniatures company. But while you may not have heard of the company, chances are higher that you might recognize their flagship IP: Warhammer. What started as small miniatures built for tabletop battles has turned into a fully-fledged ecosystem of books, video games, TV shows, and highly lucrative licensing deals. Join us as we tell the story of how Games Workshop went from a small mail-order business in a London bedroom to a public company with a market cap of roughly £4 billion with exceptionally high margins, and a fanatical customer base.

• Founded as a passion project: Games Workshop was initially started as a passion project between three friends with a shared love for board games.

• Stellar returns: Since its IPO in 1994, the company has returned roughly 350x.

• Licensing: Games Workshop's licensing business is of growing importance, expanding revenue streams beyond just the sale of miniatures.

• The Great Master Plan: Between 2013 and 2016, the company went through a significant restructuring and refocusing effort aimed at building a more efficient company.

• Distinctive retail strategy: Games Workshop employs a very unique retail strategy, focused primarily on recruiting new Warhammer fans than trying to sell as much merchandise as possible.

• Culture is key: Tom Kirby, former CEO, and Kevin Rountree, the person currently at the helm of Games Workshop both emphasize culture as one of the most important factors of the company's success.

Before we dive into the history, operations, and reasons behind why the modern Games Workshop is so fascinating to study from a business perspective, we’re going to give you a visualization of the three “phases” of Games Workshop as a public company. Since its IPO on the LSE in 1994 it has undergone three distinct phases, with their own narratives, which are all clearly identifiable when looking at the visual below.

A visualization of Games Workshop's three phases as a public company.

A visualization of Games Workshop's three phases as a public company.

When looking at the story of how Games Workshop came to be, it's more reminiscent of the founding of an indie band than that of a multi-billion dollar company. What has gone on to become the world's leading manufacturer of hobby miniatures was started by Steve Jackson, John Peake, and Ian Livingstone. The three met while they were in school, and bonded over their shared love of board games.

Following the end of their higher education, they moved into a shared apartment in the London borough of Shepherd's Bush. Here the three continued to play board games well into the night regularly, and it was during one of these gaming sessions that an idea started to take hold: why shouldn't the three of them start their own company? They certainly had the passion and knowledge about the subject matter required, but for several months it remained as something more akin to a fun idea rather than an actual plan.

But in January of 1975, the trio decided to go for it. After brainstorming up a name for what was planned as a fun passion project that might be able to make them some beer money, the three decided to call their newly founded company Games Workshop. It narrowly beat out “Games Garage” as the top contender for the name of the newly founded company, which was now operating exclusively out of Peake's bedroom.

During the first weeks and months following the company's founding, the trio produced handmade versions of classic boardgames which they sold to stores in the local area. This saw some early success but was still more of a passion project rather than a business venture designed to grow.

Just one month after the company had been founded the first issue of their very own newsletter, Owl & Weasel, was released. In the newsletter, the founders would write reviews, articles, and similar pieces on everything that was happening in the board gaming industry. Owl & Weasel would be released in 25 issues over the coming two years but was soon replaced with the now iconic White Dwarf magazine (which we'll discuss later on).

When Jackson and Livingstone attended a gaming convention in the early summer of 1975, though we haven't been able to ask them personally, it feels safe to say that neither of them had any idea of what the visit would mean for their young company. While strolling around the convention, the pair saw a group of people playing a game that looked nothing like anything they’d ever seen before.

Sat around a table was a group of people playing an early version of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), a tabletop role-playing game where players create characters and embark on adventures in a fictional world. The two were so fascinated that they researched everything they could about the game, and dedicated the next issue of Owl & Weasel entirely to D&D. They were, to put it mildly, very keen on trying out the game for themselves.

A couple of weeks after the special issue had been released, a package arrived at the trios' shared apartment on Bolingbroke Road in London. Included was a short card asking if they would be so kind as to review the sender's new game. Intrigued, they opened the package and found an early version of D&D, personally sent to them by one of the game's creators.

Jackson and Livingstone immediately became huge fans of the game, ordered copies for redistribution in the UK, and wrote a highly positive review which they published in Owl & Weasel. The company, which still operated out of a bedroom in a residential part of London, was about to take off in earnest.

But the trio was about to become a duo. John Peake wasn't nearly as big of a fan of roleplaying games as the other two and preferred classic games. So, instead of continuing to work on something with which he had little passion, he decided to leave the company in 1976. This was a decision that wasn't taken out of anger, Peake departed from Games Workshop with no bad blood between him and his two friends.

Although the company had effectively lost 33% of its workforce, things were about to get serious. Following the review in Owl & Weasel, orders started pouring in, and D&D's publishers back in the U.S. saw no reason to not continue building the relationship that had already been established with Games Workshop.

An agreement was drawn up, and soon the company was the exclusive publisher of D&D in Europe. Orders were starting to pile in from all across the continent, and things were suddenly looking increasingly positive for the little company founded by three friends just a couple of months before.

The orders continued pouring in, and Games Workshop had very quickly made a name for themselves. The company continued to build its reputation partly through selling the latest and greatest game, but also by hosting several gaming conventions across London. Bolstered by the success and the cash flow their distribution of D&D brought, the company would go on to open its own store in Hammersmith in 1978.

Although Livingstone and Jackson didn't know it at the time, this would be the first location of what would eventually grow into a retail empire. Around the same time, Owl & Weasel was replaced with the aforementioned White Dwarf magazine.

White Dwarf was more or less an immediate success, despite the fact that Games Workshop was now charging its readers for the privilege of taking part in the latest news and stories from the tabletop gaming world. Through the newly established magazine Games Workshop, among many other things, sold the predecessor of what eventually went on to allow the company to spread across the world: miniature models.

These minis (as they're most often affectionately called) came with a number of different fantasy-inspired designs, with everything from witches to goblins being available. These were made out of cast iron and sold unpainted, allowing the customer to customize and design their own models which were then to be used in roleplaying games (most often D&D) to represent the players' characters.

In 1978, Livingstone and Jackson met with the owner of Asgard Miniatures, a Nottingham-based producer whose products were being sold through White Dwarf. Asgard would go on to produce exclusive miniatures for Games Workshop, a venture that saw massive success from the get-go and got the two founders thinking. Why couldn't they themselves produce these miniatures, allowing them greater control over the process while also eliminating a lot of unnecessary costs.

After a lot of negotiation with the owner of Asgard, Bryan Ansell, a deal was struck. The three would go on to found Citadel Miniatures, and with the combined capital they could produce miniatures at a far larger scale than Asgard had been capable of, selling both D&D and models to go with the rulesets for the game which continued to pick up interest from the masses.

But there was trouble brewing on the horizon. TSR, the company that owned the D&D IP, had posed what was more or less an ultimatum: Games Workshop could merge with TSR and continue with business as usual, or their exclusive distribution rights would not be renewed. After negotiations and a meeting in London, Games Workshop declined the offer, and soon enough weren't the only ones offering D&D on the European market.

But this, as we know, didn't spell the end of the company. Their market share was still high and most consumers still associated Games Workshop with D&D on a very intimate level. While exclusivity was gone, most consumers still turned to Games Workshop to get their rulesets (and oftentimes a couple of models to go with them) and Livingstone and Jackson knew they had to come up with a contingency plan as their market share of D&D was inevitably going to start getting chipped away.

Between 1978 and 1982, Games Workshop opened up a number of new retail locations across England and would go on to produce a number of board games alongside their distribution of miniatures and D&D. But in order to continue to grow the company they needed something new and fresh that they themselves had full control over.

The solution to this would come when Bryan Ansell together with two war game developers would start working on what would eventually become Warhammer (or Warhammer Fantasy Battle if you want to get specific). The first version of the game was released in 1983, and while there were some complaints regarding the game's design, sales were spectacular. Players would control miniature fantasy armies and battle against each other, needing to employ strategies and tactical thinking to win.

During the 1980s, both Livingstone and Jackson continued to work on the day-to-day operations of Games Workshop while also working on several side projects including video games and books (the latter seeing immense success). Running a large company had never been their end goal, and both found much more joy and satisfaction in working on creative projects.

In order to stop working upwards of 16-hour days the two decided to step down from Games Workshop and hand over the keys to the kingdom to Bryan Ansell in 1986. The founding pair stayed on as advisors and members of the board, while Games Workshop doubled down on Warhammer.

Throughout the rest of this article, we have purposefully avoided falling down into the rabbit hole of Warhammer worldbuilding and all the different playable factions that Games Workshop has crafted over the last decades.

This is due to the simple fact that the scope of everything is so massive and intricate. We are, after all, here to shine a light on an incredibly fascinating and unique business, not to go over the millennia of intergalactic wars that have been waged in the name of the Emperor of Mankind.

But we must stray slightly from this in order to tell the story in full. Warhammer 40.000 (often shortened to 40k) is set in the 41st millennium and is a science fiction-based miniature wargame, similar to Warhammer Fantasy Battle but with different themes. This is by far the most popular line of Warhammer, and what gets the most attention and focus from both Games Workshop and fans alike.

The first edition was released in 1987, and its rules have since been updated ten times, with new factions and model lines continuously being released. With the introduction of Warhammer 40k, the world first got to meet what has become the most legendary Warhammer troop type, and a symbol of the hobby itself: the Space Marine.

A painted Space Marine miniature.

A painted Space Marine miniature.

In 1991, arguably the most important thing to ever happen to Games Workshop from a business perspective took place. Tom Kirby took over from Bryan Ansell, and led a management buyout (MBO) of the company, buying all remaining shares from Livingstone and Jackson. As part of this, Citadel was absorbed into Games Workshop, and today acts as a fully owned subsidiary.

This in many ways marked the transition from a small company to something more akin to a corporation. The focus on Warhammer was intensified and an effort to broaden the company's customer base was employed. This in turn boosted sales but left some fans disgruntled with the new direction of Games Workshop.

Both of these things (boosted sales and dissatisfied fans) would become a recurring theme throughout Kirby's tenure. After having been acquired by a PE firm, Games Workshop went public in 1994, and three years later all operations were moved to Nottingham where they remain to this day.

The continued focus on sales and improving operations continued into the new Millennium, with stores opening across the world at an impressive pace. For the sake of time, and because the current day operations of Games Workshop are so incredibly fascinating, we're now going to fast forward.

During this time-hop we're taking, Games Workshop continued to expand its operations with new releases (including miniatures for Lord of the Rings) and slowly but surely opened up more and more retail locations globally. However, sales were starting to slow and profits decreased. In response to this, Games Workshop started a long and complex process of restructuring and refining its product lines, with Kirby continuing with a hyperfocus on increasing profitability and sales.

Dissatisfaction with his leadership among customers and the continued disconnect from fans also increased throughout this period. Games Workshop was increasingly isolating itself from its customers, cutting down on communication and engagement and in the eyes of many enthusiasts: focusing more on selling as much as possible rather than providing what fans wanted.

It is however worth noting that this is from the view of those that live and breathe Warhammer, and if you were to ask Tom Kirby directly he would more than likely have a much different view on the events and happenings at the time.

When reading through the annual reports from this time, one gets the impression that Kirby was a CEO who cared deeply about his company and employees and took great pride in his work.

But it is famously very difficult to appease shareholders and customers at the same time, and it is highly likely that although fans were at times far from happy during this time, Kirby acted in a way he believed was the best for the company in the long term.

We’ve now arrived at one of the most critical time periods in the company's history: The Great Master Plan. This initiative was launched in 2013, and when boiled down to its core components consisted of making Games Workshop more efficient and profitable. This was done through the cutting of unnecessary expenses and streamlining operations to boost overall efficiency.

Departments were redesigned, a web store was opened, the retail structure was overhauled to focus on smaller crews, expenses were cut, and similar initiatives were conducted with one goal: a more efficient, cost-effective company that prioritized a high return on investment.

In 2015, Tom Kirby stepped down and the role of CEO was passed on to Kevin Rountree, a veteran of the company who has been with Games Workshop since the late 90s. During his first year, he finished the work that Kirby had started with The Great Master Plan. He stayed with the mission to make the company more efficient while also continuing to double down on what worked well, and cutting out model lines that weren't profitable.

In 2016, as part of trying to reconnect with fans and start a concerted effort aimed at building up a proper community, a new Warhammer website was launched. Warhammer Fantasy was discontinued and a new model line, Age of Sigmar was introduced with great reception.

One of the key differences in Kevin Rountree's leadership when compared to that of Kirby’s is his focus on the community interaction side of the company. He has made it one of the focus points of his leadership and the Games Workshop of today has, at large, a very good connection to its customers and fans.

His leadership and the philosophy of the company at large are summarized incredibly well by this quote from the Strategic Report from the 2024 annual report (sourced with Quartr Pro).

This has been the introduction to all strategic reports for years, and it was Tom Kirby who first coined this mission statement. However, Rountree has added one section to Kirby's statement – to engage and inspire our customers.

With only six words, Rountree shows how he has taken ownership of a plan and business strategy that has worked for decades, while simultaneously improving on an area he has identified as key: good relationships with the enthusiast community.

While we do love a well-run company with a good backstory, it would be disingenuous of us to claim that it was the only reason we decided to take a closer look at Games Workshop.

In reality, what got us interested in the company from the get-go was its eye-popping returns. Especially the stock performance since 2016 when The Great Master Plan was concluded, as made evident by this visual we've created:

Games Workshop's eye-popping shareholder returns.

Games Workshop's eye-popping shareholder returns.

Since the IPO in 1994, the company has returned ~354x (including dividends) at the time of writing with a CAGR of 21.6%. During this EPS has increased by ~4,200% at a CAGR of 13.4%. At the same time Games Workshop has only had two fiscal years with recorded net losses: 2007 and 2008, at a time when the world was going through its worst economic crisis since The Great Depression.

One of the most impressive outcomes of The Great Master Plan is the impact it has had on the company’s EBIT. Re-focusing and trimming off model lines and initiatives that were performing poorly, the efficiency initiatives, providing products that were aligned with what customers wanted, as well as licensing deals with high gross margins, has propelled EBIT from 14% in FY 2015, to 38% in FY 2024.

We’re now going to move into the second part of this story. This part is one with fewer dragon-filled dungeons, gaming conventions, and the air of a small company run by friends who started their business looking to share their hobby with the world.

Instead, we're going to be uncovering a corporation that has managed to identify what it does well and improve upon these things, while also eliminating and cutting out things that weren't overwhelmingly positive for the business.

Methodically, and with a clear vision in mind, Games Workshop has become an incredibly impressive organization with vertically integrated production, high margins, lucrative licensing deals, and an independent retail empire – all with a focus on the long-term success of the company.

Instead of focusing on short-term gains, the company invests heavily in sustaining high margins over time. Whether it's improving product quality, engaging the fan community, or expanding licensing partnerships, each decision aligns with building and reinforcing the Warhammer brand's longevity.

The company has been a darling to investors on the LSE for several years now, due to the fact that it has delivered stellar returns and an impressive gross margin (69.4% for the fiscal year 2024).

The high margins are a result of several business strategies coming together to form a well-functioning and highly profitable company. From operational control to pricing and licensing, taking a closer look at these approaches (as we're about to do) offers insight into how Games Workshop has built such a lucrative model.

The company's products are positioned as premium offerings, and its pricing strategy reflects this. Games Workshop places a lot of emphasis and pride in the craftsmanship, detail, and quality of its miniatures, in turn justifying a higher price point. In effect, it has built a brand identity around high-quality miniatures, which of course can only be bought from Games Workshop.

While this might be stating something that is glaringly obvious, it's still worth hammering home: Games Workshop produces products for an extremely niche market. This is something that Tom Kirby touched upon in the 2003 Annual Report and what it means for the company as a whole.

We’re going to be discussing what this means for the relationship between customer and company further on in the article, but his reasoning is something that is worth keeping in mind as we explore the business strategy of the present-day Games Workshop.

In essence, the meaning of a niche market and how it pertains to Games Workshop is as follows: it appeals to a small percentage of the population that has an interest in the Warhammer hobby. Kirby goes on to explain how this comes with certain benefits: the company is naturally protected from macroeconomic factors, customers are extremely loyal, and are less price sensitive than the general public.

But it also comes with consequences and things to be mindful of: customers demand high quality in both products and services, and the company needs to work with intention and specialization in order to succeed. While the company has changed much since 2003, due to the nature of its business, these factors are something that will continue to be frameworks which Games Workshop must operate within.

Unlike many companies that contract out significant parts of their manufacturing process to third parties, Games Workshop controls nearly every aspect of production – from initial concept to finished product distribution. Its core products (plastic miniatures) are conceptualized, designed, and manufactured exclusively by the company itself.

From its design studios and corporate headquarters in Nottingham, where a team of creatives produces character concepts and lore, to its in-house manufacturing facilities that bring these designs to life in physical form, Games Workshop is a tightly knit production system. By managing every stage of production, the company maintains direct control over quality, timing, and branding while also benefiting from higher profit margins.

One of the unique advantages of vertical integration is Games Workshop's ability to quickly respond to fluctuations in market demand. This control over production allows the company to ramp up production for popular models or slow down production for items that may not be performing as well. This flexibility has been particularly beneficial during periods of heightened demand, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, when interest in Warhammer surged.

During the years of Tom Kirby, Games Workshop employed a very simple rule of thumb in regards to marketing: no advertising. But this doesn't mean that the company spends nothing on marketing and that they consider it completely irrelevant.

While marketing has expanded since 2016 and is now conducted through things such as events and live streams, nothing is specifically tailored toward getting people to purchase the latest and greatest model set. Instead, it's focused on (you guessed it) community and fan engagement.

Recruiting fans and having them spread Warhammer through word of mouth is considered a far more effective use of both time and capital. Instead of mass advertising causing a surge of people to the stores who can't be properly introduced to the hobby, Games Workshop would rather spend that money on opening new retail locations.

The most valuable customers are Warhammer enthusiasts and are the ones who are going to be coming back for years to purchase more models. To recruit these into the hobby, they need a proper introduction at retail locations, something we'll be discussing in detail shortly.

In more recent years, the focus of the marketing department has been on working closely with both sales and product teams to identify and act as a bridge between the relevant parties. The focus is on gathering customer feedback while organizing and assisting in events, tournaments, and clubs, while working closely with the licensing side of the business.

As previously mentioned, Games Workshop's retail strategy is based primarily on providing positive experiences and community building over mass accessibility. The company's approach is characterized by a selective retail footprint, a focus on direct-to-consumer sales, and an emphasis on welcoming new fans while fostering long-standing relationships with enthusiasts.

The company operates a network of around 500 stores worldwide, but these locations are typically small and staffed by small, passionate crews. This allows the company to maintain smaller locations with lower operational costs, enabling it to operate many stores with minimal overhead.

Each Games Workshop store is designed to foster a sense of community and create a memorable brand experience, rather than to sell as much product as possible. Store clerks, who almost exclusively are all fans of Warhammer long before they become employees, act as both retail associates and community ambassadors, introducing new customers to the Warhammer universe while building relationships with existing fans.

In-store events, such as painting workshops, gaming nights, and miniature-building tutorials, are a core part of these retail locations' operations. These events allow customers to engage with the product in a hands-on way, offering an immersive experience that's impossible to replicate online.

For example, providing that there's space and a retail associate has the time, it's commonplace for customers who are visiting a retail location for the first time to be offered the opportunity to paint a miniature for themselves, free of charge and with instructions from a staff member.

Games Workshop's retail strategy heavily emphasizes direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales through both its physical stores and online channels. By prioritizing direct sales over third-party retailers, Games Workshop can retain control over pricing, brand messaging, and customer experience while also keeping all of the revenue for themselves.

While Games Workshop maintains a primarily DTC model, it does work with a limited number of third-party retailers. However, the company places strict guidelines on these partners to maintain consistent pricing and brand representation.

This approach ensures that Games Workshop's products are presented in a way that aligns with its brand standards while making sure that customers who might not have a local Games Workshop store in their town can still discover Warhammer and the world of miniatures.

After the company went public, a major focus has been on increasing the amount of stores globally. In this visual, we've highlighted the growth of stores from 25 stores in 1990 to where they are in 2024, with nearly 550 stores globally.

How Games Workshop's retail footprint has expanded from the early 90s to today.

How Games Workshop's retail footprint has expanded from the early 90s to today.

While we could go on and on about the philosophy and strategy surrounding the company's retail strategy, we took inspiration from Peter Lynch and visited our local Warhammer store ourselves. A stone's throw from our office in Stockholm, we got to see firsthand how Games Workshop's retail strategy plays out in practice.

After admiring the painted models in the windows, we stepped inside and were immediately greeted by a friendly and welcoming staff member who was keen to show us around. I, the author of this article together with my colleague who acted as the photographer for our excursion, both used to dabble a bit with Warhammer in our younger years and were quickly shown all of the new model lines and products that we've missed over the last decade.

After telling the employee why we had come to visit (and politely declining the offer to try our hand at painting a free model ourselves), he was more than happy to tell us about the philosophy and methodology they have based their operations on for the last years.

First and foremost we were told that the focus was not on trying to sell as much merchandise as possible to as many people as possible. The focus is on creating a positive first experience for someone completely new to the hobby by being available to answer questions, help with painting a model, and play a short game against a staff member to see whether or not the hobby is something a customer might see themselves doing.

We were explicitly told that a “nightmare scenario” for them would be to sell an expensive and complicated set to someone, for them to go home and find that they weren’t enjoying themselves. Instead, they would much rather invest the time in properly introducing someone to Warhammer and recruit someone into the hobby who’ll eventually become a fan and long-term recurring customer.

To quote the store employee directly: “Our most valuable customers are those who are hardcore fans of Warhammer, have been so for years, and will continue to come back for many years to come. The only way to get them to become fans in the first place is to give them a proper introduction to the Warhammer universe.”

The Warhammer store in central Stockholm.

The Warhammer store in central Stockholm.

While the store in Stockholm had several employees due to the fact that it's in a major city with a high amount of visitors, we were also told that locations in smaller towns typically only have one employee running the show. After some more friendly chat about the world of Warhammer, we were told that we were always welcome back to try our hand at painting a Space Marine or to ask more questions.

What struck us both was how incredibly friendly and genuinely passionate he was about Warhammer and the hobby and while we only visited one store, we both left with the feeling that Games Workshop's retail philosophy is applied extremely well in practice.

One of the most interesting things about Games Workshop when looking at it strictly from a business perspective is how the company's niche makes it relatively unique in terms of its customers relations. Its customers are devout hobbyists who can only purchase what they need to pursue their interests from one singular supplier.

This in turn creates an incredibly interesting dynamic between Games Workshop and its customers, as they're both dependent on each other. The company needs its customers to generate revenue and continue to operate, while the customers need to return to Games Workshop in order to buy the products they need to continue enjoying their hobby.

Now, at face value, this might not seem like something that is terribly unique. But what makes this dynamic so interesting is the fact that Games Workshop has practically no competition within its field. If a customer wants Warhammer models, there is only one place to go. But this also presents its challenges and is something that has been touched upon several times in annual reports: fan engagement and satisfaction are of the utmost importance.

But this can also mean that management from time to time is forced to make uncomfortable and sometimes highly criticized decisions. For example: the discontinuation of a line of models might be the right decision from a business perspective given the underlying data, but can also risk upsetting a group of very dedicated fans.

These will in turn then voice their opinion loudly on forums and social media. This can then create a negative feedback loop where a small contingent of fans are upset and dissatisfied and as in almost any field: someone who is unhappy is far more likely to leave a scathing review or come with criticism.

This pressure can at times become severe, and being able to drown out the noise and realize what is feedback that should be considered closely and what is a loud minority will more than likely always be a challenge for the company.

Around the same time as the first Games Workshop store opened up, the Jackson and Livingstone decided to rework and monetize their newsletter under a new name. Owl & Weasel had been immensely popular at the time; both of the remaining founders felt that the magazine had run its course and that the concept could be expanded upon.

The alternative they came up with was to be named White Dwarf magazine, and would unlike its predecessor come with a cost to purchase. The first issue of White Dwarf was launched in June 1977, with all copies being sold to enthusiastic gaming fans.

The first issue of White Dwarf (June 1977) next to the latest (#505, October 2024).

The first issue of White Dwarf (June 1977) next to the latest (#505, October 2024).

White Dwarf magazine has been central to Games Workshop’s development as a company and has served as a vital link between Games Workshop and its fan base since the magazine's inception.

The magazine provided fans with insights into lore, rules, and strategies, while also offering hobbyists painting guides, model showcases, and exclusive scenarios that players couldn't find elsewhere. By continually introducing readers to new aspects of the Warhammer universe, White Dwarf created a sense of community that has been an instrumental part in the company's success.

The magazine still comes out with paper issues and is an important part of the company's DNA, but the role and impact that it used to have has partly been moved to Warhammer+. Through this service, enthusiasts can access a plethora of content about the world of Warhammer, hobby, and things such as painting and gameplay tutorials.

The service also includes the Warhammer Vault, an extensive digital archive where subscribers can access a growing library of back issues of White Dwarf, rulebooks, and lore-filled publications.

Games Workshop’s licensing approach involves partnering with third-party companies to develop products based on its IP across different formats. These partners bring expertise in their respective markets, enabling Games Workshop to tap into new areas without needing to invest heavily in infrastructure or development. The company negotiates licensing agreements that outline terms, royalties, and rights while retaining creative control to protect the brand's integrity and ensure consistency in how its IP is represented.

The licensing model is relatively straightforward: Games Workshop grants rights to its IP for a specific format (e.g., video games, novels, merchandise), and in return, it receives royalties based on performance. Most licensing agreements also include upfront payments, milestone payments, and bonuses tied to performance targets.

Currently, the revenue from licensing only represents roughly 5% of the company's topline. However, the importance of licensing and expanding the Warhammer franchise away from tabletops and into the mainstream media cannot be understated.

There is a significant discrepancy between the amount of fans interested in purchasing, painting, and playing with miniatures and the swathes of sci-fi fans and those interested in taking part in the world and lore of Warhammer. The barrier to entry between taking the step of starting to paint models and picking up a book about the adventures of a Space Marine is night and day, and the long-term brand-building and fan recruitment of these licensing deals are incredibly valuable.

By carefully selecting partners, maintaining creative control, and expanding into mainstream media, Games Workshop has transformed its brand from a niche tabletop franchise to a more widely recognized cultural entity. This strategy not only generates supplementary revenue but also broadens the fanbase and enhances overall brand value, positioning Games Workshop for growth in an era where multimedia IP franchises are increasingly dominant in the entertainment industry.

Some of the more notable licensing deals have been with Netflix and Amazon Prime, and the video game Space Marine 2 (released in September 2024) which was met with acclaim from both critics and fans.

When doing research for this article, there was one thing that was continuously taking center stage in the company's annual reports: culture. This is something that both Tom Kirby and Kevin Rountree emphasize as one of the key factors behind Games Workshop's current and future successes.

Games Workshop and the products they produce are inherently niche, and there are two criteria that need to be filled for someone looking to work for the company: they need to have an interest in the products, but more importantly, they need to have the right attitude.

In the preambles for annual reports written under Kirby's tenure (which we highly recommend you read), one thing was repeated over and over again: Games Workshop hires for attitude, not for skills. Writing a good and convincing personal letter was the most important factor in landing in interview, and a good resume was of little importance.

This is something that has continued under Rountree’s leadership, and is something that he continuously mentions throughout annual reports in the last couple of years. Someone looking to work at Games Workshop needs the right attitude, a willingness to work hard, and a passion for Warhammer. If a candidate or employee fails to show these qualities, there is an abundance of others who would love to take their spot.

The company has also made it a habit to recruit for senior and management roles from within. While we could explain the reasoning behind this, it's better you hear it directly from the CEO. These excerpts from the 2024 annual report paint a perfect picture of the culture at Games Workshop, and the reasoning behind looking within for talent.

Games Workshop in many ways exemplifies a business that on the surface can appear somewhat boring and unassuming. But peel away the outer layers and what first meets the eye, you’re left with is an incredibly well run company that is well aware of its strengths, but also the razors edge that they have to navigate the complexities of operating in such a niche market. But the people at Games Workshop are well aware of what they're doing, and they're very good at it.

Following the completion of The Great Master Plan and making the company leaner and meaner, combined with an increase in focus on lucrative licensing agreements, Games Workshop appears to be well poised for the future. As both Kirby and Rountree worded it: the company makes the best miniatures out there, they engage with their customers, and they sell their products globally at a profit – and they intend to do so forever.