Warhammer profits surge for Online games Workshop irrespective of store closures

Sales of the fantasy function-enjoying match Warhammer surged in the six months to November as folks continued to invest extra on their hobbies in lockdown.

Online games Workshop, which helps make the tabletop miniature game, saw product sales strike a document £186.8m in the time period, up 26%.

This was irrespective of most of the Nottingham firm’s 529 shops getting restricted or shut because of to Covid policies.

It follows robust performances from other games and pastime firms in lockdown these as design coach maker Hornby.

Developed in 1983, Warhammer is a fantasy theme video game in which players simulate battles among armies working with plastic miniatures.

Games Workshop, which sells Warhammer and other miniature wargames around the planet, said its online income were up 90% in Could to November though revenue greater by a 3rd.

Some 4.7 million folks now use the Warhammer local community web site, it said, an increase of 200,000 on the same time period last calendar year.

Manager Kevin Rountree claimed the organization ongoing to create on the “wonderful development and lucrative expansion we have been consistently providing above the very last five many years”.

The FTSE-stated agency has claimed no fiscal aid or subsidies from the governing administration all through the pandemic, regardless of the prolonged closures of its outlets.

“I would like to thank our enthusiastic and loyal supporter foundation who share our adore for the Warhammer passion and the fantastical options, people and narratives that make up our mental property,” Mr Rountree additional.

‘An escape’

In Oct, Geek Retreat, which specialises in comics, memorabilia and tabletop game titles, said it would open another 100 stores in the British isles following gross sales surged in the pandemic.

And Hornby, which also tends to make Corgi autos and Scalextric racing kits, documented a 33% rise in earnings for the six months to the stop of September partly pushed by lockdown.

At the time Manager Lyndon Davies told the BBC prospects experienced been searching for convenience from uncertainty in solutions “they know and like”, as perfectly an escape from boredom.

“Folks want to do points, they you should not want to sit there seeing the Tv set for the day,” he reported.