Free to follow every thread. No paywall, no dead ends.
Games Workshop: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Common questions
When was Games Workshop founded and who were the founders?
Games Workshop was founded in 1975 by John Peake, Ian Livingstone, and Steve Jackson. The three men started the company in a small London flat as a mail-order operation selling wooden boards for traditional games.
Where is the headquarters of Games Workshop located today?
Games Workshop relocated all UK operations to Lenton, Nottingham, in 1997. This location serves as the headquarters and has become the heart of the wargaming industry in the East Midlands.
What year did Games Workshop release Warhammer 40,000?
Games Workshop launched Warhammer 40,000 in 1987. This release shifted the company's focus entirely to miniature wargames and left behind the role-playing games that had once been their bread and butter.
When did Games Workshop change its intellectual property guidelines to a zero tolerance stance?
Games Workshop made changes to their IP guidelines in July 2021. The company adopted a zero tolerance stance towards fan-made games, videos and animations, drawing criticism from fans who felt the company was becoming too controlling.
What year did the Black Library publish the magazine INFERNO?
The Black Library published INFERNO! from 1997 to 2005. This magazine featured short stories, artwork, and other features set in the various fictional universes of Games Workshop.
Which band released the album Realm of Chaos featuring Warhammer 40,000 artwork?
Games Workshop
In 1975, three young men named John Peake, Ian Livingstone, and Steve Jackson turned a small London flat into the seed of a global entertainment empire, yet their first product was not a fantasy army or a space opera. They were selling wooden boards for traditional games like backgammon and mancala, a humble beginning that would soon pivot into the importation of Dungeons and Dragons and the creation of a new kind of hobby. The company started as a bedroom mail-order operation, relying on the newsletter Owl and Weasel to build a community before even selling a single miniature. This was not a corporate boardroom decision but a grassroots movement that grew from a shared passion for progressive games and the desire to create a space where gamers could meet and trade news. The founders were not just businessmen; they were enthusiasts who saw a gap in the market for a dedicated games club and a source of news that did not exist in the UK at the time. The loss of John Peake in early 1976, who preferred traditional games over the computer and role-playing trends the others embraced, nearly sank the fledgling company, but the acquisition of official distribution rights for Dungeons and Dragons saved them. By April 1978, they opened their first physical shop in Hammersmith, London, marking the transition from a mail-order hobby to a retail powerhouse. The company would eventually relocate all UK operations to Lenton, Nottingham, in 1997, establishing a headquarters that would become the heart of the wargaming industry in the East Midlands.
The Metal Miniatures Revolution
The true turning point for Games Workshop came not from selling books or boards, but from the decision to manufacture metal miniatures under the name Citadel Miniatures in late 1978. This move transformed the company from a distributor of American role-playing games into a creator of its own universe, producing the very figures that would define a generation of tabletop gaming. The name Citadel became synonymous with Games Workshop miniatures, a trademarked brand that outlived the original Citadel company itself. In 1983, the release of Warhammer Fantasy Battle and the 1987 launch of Warhammer 40,000 shifted the company's focus entirely to miniature wargames, leaving behind the role-playing games that had once been their bread and butter. The change of ownership and direction when Bryan Ansell became managing director and majority owner in the mid-1980s signaled a new era of commercial ambition. The company grew significantly in the late 1980s, employing over 250 people by 1990, and began to expand its reach into Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia. The retail chain refocused on a younger, more family-oriented market, a decision that brought growing profits but also alienated some of the original fan base. A breakaway group of two company employees even tried to publish Fantasy Warlord in competition with Games Workshop, but the new company met with little success and closed in 1993. The company's ability to pivot from a niche hobby to a global brand was driven by the quality and detail of their miniatures, which became the centerpiece of their business model.
The death metal band Bolt Thrower released the album Realm of Chaos in the late 1980s. The album cover featured Warhammer 40,000 artwork and the band wrote lyrics dedicated to the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
The company's aggressive protection of its intellectual property in the 21st century sparked a fierce backlash from its own community, turning fans into adversaries. In late 2009, Games Workshop issued a succession of cease and desist orders against various Internet sites it accused of violating its intellectual property, generating anger and disappointment from its fan community. The tension escalated on the 16th of May 2011, when the company revised the terms and conditions of their trade agreement with independent stockists in the UK, restricting the sale of all Games Workshop products to within the European Economic Area. This move was followed by further changes to the trade agreement with UK-based independent stockists on the 16th of June 2013, further isolating the company from its traditional retail partners. In July 2021, Games Workshop made changes to their IP guidelines, adopting a zero tolerance stance towards fan-made games, videos and animations, drawing criticism from fans who felt the company was becoming too controlling. The presence of Games Workshop in the East Midlands has led the region to become the centre of the wargames industry in the UK, known as the lead belt, with numerous other companies founded by former employees in the area. The company's legal battles extended to the point where they issued a trademark complaint against retailer Amazon, specifically relating to the novel Spots the Space Marine, claiming it violated their European space marine trademark. Commentators such as Cory Doctorow and digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation questioned the right of Games Workshop to trademark the term, but the company issued no further legal action after the novel reappeared on Amazon on the 8th of February 2013. These actions marked a shift from a community-focused hobby to a corporate entity that prioritized control over its intellectual property above all else.
The Black Library And The Fictional Universe
Games Workshop expanded its influence beyond the tabletop by creating the Black Library, a publishing arm dedicated to fiction, board games, and role-playing games that would flesh out the lore of their miniature universes. The company diversified by acquiring Sabretooth Games and working with THQ on computer games, but the Black Library became the heart of their narrative expansion. From 1997 to 2005, Black Library published INFERNO!, a magazine of short stories, artwork, and other features set in the various fictional universes of Games Workshop, and regularly featuring that of Warhammer 40,000. Since 2010, Black Library has produced a monthly eBook called Hammer and Bolter, with the focus on short stories set in the different Games Workshop universes. The company also published novels, comics, and graphic novels, with illustrators like Adrian Smith, Ian Miller, and John Blanche creating artbooks covering parts of their commissioned work. The Black Library's role in expanding the Warhammer universe was crucial, as it provided the backstory and depth that made the miniatures more than just toys. The company's ability to create a rich, immersive world through literature and art helped to build a dedicated fan base that went beyond the hobbyists who played the games. The Black Library also published role-playing games, with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay first published in 1986 and a second edition appearing in 2005 published by Black Industries, part of GW's fiction imprint BL Publishing. In 2018, a 4th edition was published by Cubicle 7, showing the company's willingness to adapt and evolve its products over time.
The Music And The Media Empire
Games Workshop's influence extended far beyond the tabletop, permeating the music and film industries in ways that few companies could have imagined. In the late 1980s, the death metal band Bolt Thrower wrote lyrics dedicated to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and used Warhammer 40,000 artwork on the cover of their second album, Realm of Chaos. In the early 1990s, Games Workshop created its own short-lived record company, Warhammer Records, which released albums by bands like D-Rok, Wraith, and Rich Rags. The label was folded in 1993, but the music it produced became a part of the Warhammer 40,000 lore, with a fragment of one of the album's tracks, Get Out of My Way, used in the computer game Space Hulk, published by Electronic Arts in 1992. The company also produced a 12 part soundtrack vinyl series followed by three CD compilations in the early 2000s, with the task for the artists involved in this project being to conduct a theme for a species from the Warhammer 40.000 universe. In 2009, the Singaporean death metal band, Deus Ex Machina, released I, Human, which makes numerous references to the Warhammer 40,000 universe, particularly the Adeptus Mechanicus faction. In 2007 and 2015, the German death metal band Debauchery released several songs about the Chaos God Khorne, Praise the Blood God, True To The Skull Throne And Bound To Kill, and Blood For The Blood God. The company also announced that Exile Studios would produce a CGI movie based upon the Bloodquest graphic novel, a trailer was released, but the project was discontinued and Exile Studios disbanded. In 2010, Games Workshop, with Codex Pictures, released a 70-minute downloadable film called Ultramarines, with the screenplay written by Black Library author Dan Abnett and voice acting by Terence Stamp, Sean Pertwee and John Hurt. These ventures showed the company's ambition to create a multimedia empire that extended far beyond the tabletop.