Games Workshop “Unveil” Plans For Animations & Warhammer+
May 24, 2021 by brennon
Games Workshop held another of their preview events over the weekend that took another look at the animations they have planned alongside a fairly vast array of creators. They also teased all of this is going to be available through Warhammer+.
Warhammer Animations: What's Coming? // Games Workshop
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As you can see, this is a pretty vast array of different shows for us to dive into. It seems like the majority of these are going to animated series rather than full movies. If they're anything like the animations we see on the likes of Prime or Netflix I'd expect them to come in around the ten to fifteen minute per episode.
- Hammer And Bolter -An anthology of animated stories, featuring characters and factions from across the worlds of Warhammer, Hammer and Bolter has something for every Warhammer fan.
- Angels of Death - Battered by warp storms, a small band of Blood Angels find safe harbour above an isolated world. All is not as it seems though, and soon the scions of Sanguinius have fresh foes to contend with.
- The Exodite -In the midst of a brutal conflict, a T’au Stealth Team must undertake a critical mission against the armies of the Imperium. But the T’au aren’t the only force vying for dominion here, and powers far older and more mysterious are at play…
- Iron Within -When beleaguered Astra Militarum forces face annihilation, they must turn to salvation from a most unlikely source. Is the enemy of your enemy really your friend?
- Altar of Wrath - After a grinding war of attrition, the last Black Templars of a Crusade seek to strike a final, decisive blow against the Necrons to end the battle for good.
- Blacktalon -A notorious hunter is unleashed to slay Sigmar’s most grievous foes – but the secrets of Neave Blacktalon’s past follow wherever she treads, even beyond death.
- Interrogator -This tale of crime and heresy in an Imperial hive city explores the tragedy and horror that haunts the servants of the Inquisition. Interrogator blurs the lines between right and wrong… can the ends ever justify the means?
- Broken Lance -Towering war machines stride the battlefield in a drama that sees the survivors of a once-noble house of Imperial Knights facing the sins of their predecessors.
- Pariah Nexus -Explore silence and death in the darkest corners of the galaxy. As the Indomitus Crusade reaches the Pariah Nexus, strength and faith will be tested to the limit.
- High Lords - Politics and treachery abound in the Imperial Palace. For ten thousand years, the High Lords have governed the Imperium in the Emperor’s stead. Such power brings corruption, intrigue, and danger to all who would grasp it.
- Astartes II -Witness the forces of the Space Marines in unrelenting action as they take the fight to the enemies of Mankind.
Of all of the shows that they have lined up I am most intrigued by Hammer And Bolter as that anthology of shorts. I like the breadth of the grimdark that they are seeking to cover with that and the animation style appeals to me a lot.
It's neat that we're seeing Age Of Sigmar getting a look in with Blacktalon but I'm also hoping for more. I would imagine a lot of folks are also very excited to see what Astartes II ends up looking like. High Lords also sounds like a neat alternative since it's looking at the (even) more sinister side to the Imperium. The same goes for Interrogator.
I could take or leave Angels Of Death (even after the seven-minute preview). I just don't like that style of CGI animation. It all feels really clunky but I appreciate that it will be right up a lot of people's streets.
We also got this sizzle reel showing the animations that they have in the works...
Warhammer Animations Sizzle Reel // Games Workshop
Again, very impressive. We got a look at the opening cinematic for Warhammer 40,000 which is going to be turned into the Pariah Nexus series. Plus, did you notice the little snippet of what we assume is going to be the new introductory cinematic for the next edition of Age Of Sigmar too?
Warhammer+
All of this is going to be available through what they are labelling as Warhammer+.
Warhammer+ // Games Workshop
I would say that we have more information on this but we really don't. We're going to have to wait until 23rd June for the full reveal of exactly what Warhammer+ is. This is what they did say as part of a smaller preview over the weekend...
"Animations are just the start. There’s a whole heap of stuff coming, from more exclusive content to special-access areas, and dedicated offers and rewards. There might even be some exclusive miniatures in the offing…"
I guess we can speculate here a little bit. I would imagine this is going to be a new subscription service that will be set up alongside the likes of My Warhammer and the likes of their Warhammer 40,000 App. You'll then be able to access the animations through their own dedicated Warhammer+ space alongside the other content they highlighted above.
As I mentioned, I am very interested in what Games Workshop has planned but it comes down to price and the content they're offering. People don't have infinite wellsprings of cash and they are probably going to have to dump one subscription to sign up for this. So, you'd have to hope that the offerings from Warhammer+ exceed what they're getting elsewhere.
I'm still somewhat baffled that this wasn't revealed at some project alongside the likes of Netflix or Prime but I guess we shall wait and see what they have to say in June.
Are you interested in these plans from Games Workshop?
"I guess we shall wait and see what they have to say in June..."
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Another subscription service it seems like, last thing we need (in my view), its bad enough with, amazon, netflix, disney and thats before you get onto the likes of pateron, twitch etc. Actually took stock of all the subscriptions I had and was suprised how quickly things add up, that “its only £5” mentality quickly starts to become £20-30-40 quite easily. That being said theres plenty of content planned by the looks of it and potentially a bit of something for everyone in various styles. Equally a bit baffled why it it wasnt annouced alongside Netflix or Prime, seems a… Read more »
Aye, I like the array of shows they have sorted. Even if some of them aren’t for me, they will be for someone in the Warhammer sphere.
It sure looking that way.
I heard they made a “Cursed City” cartoon, but they will only show it when your PC is not switched on… Giggles
A new brand of “dream-cast” television
A subscription service with very little content. You’ll probably be able to just pay for a month and binge watch everything within that month. They’d have been better adding that content to an already existing subscription service.
I’m hopping for some great video’s from this collection.
They are going to have to get the pricing of this dead right, there isn’t a lot of content so far and what there is is probably going to be drip fed instead of a big bang release. With some of the animations clocking in at a whopping 10 mins per episode, I cannot see many people stumping up a tenner a month for this. A couple of quid perhaps, but it doesn’t seem worth it for more than that. I am with @brennon surely partnering up with Netflix or Amazon would have made more sense? They could have then… Read more »
I’ll make judgement when they tell us the price… until then I remain sceptical.
Seems like depending on price these might not be worth it.
I love how the description of Interrogator looks like it was written by someone who has never read a single piece of 40k lore or literature:
Interrogator -This tale of crime and heresy in an Imperial hive city explores the tragedy and horror that haunts the servants of the Inquisition. Interrogator blurs the lines between right and wrong… can the ends ever justify the means? … Yes. Always. Next question
I just do not see this working out. They would need to put out at least three to four new “shows” a month (one a week) to even remotely try and justify a subscription service. Little 10 min animations just aren’t going to cut it either. Can they do that? I just do not think so. We shall see. My prediction is it will go 6 months, give or take a month. Then subscription numbers will drop to below sustainable levels, because they aren’t keeping up enough content to justify GW prices, and the whole thing will get shelved.
Well, it’s not just the animations. They are also saying Warhammer+ will have other rewards for joining up. Again, I’m treating this like it will be a subscription service – it could be something different, I doubt it, but they’ve got to have some monthly tick over to keep people going.
Maybe offers for Warhammer+ members each month for their webstore, a free miniature sent out (or something like that), and perhaps digital content like Codexes and Battletomes uploaded there too.
Either way – if it’s just the animations, it’s going to be a tough sell.
I think it may be a way of GW future proofing their business. Are the younger generation that will buy EV cars, wants to reduce their carbon footprint, etc, going to want to buy products that have a lot of waste (ie the sprues) and are made from a petroleum based substance? It could be a way for GW to get into 3D print release, if there are some licensing controls over how many prints the subscriber can make. If the price of oil climbs, due to reduction in demand – fewer petrol cars, people taking more trains than planes,… Read more »
The answer is no, they don’t. Something like 80% of their revenue comes from selling overpriced plastic.
As for “reducing carbon footprint”, model kits are such a non-blip on the radar it’s not even funny.
Plus, to my knowledge isn’t the army builder app of theirs a pay to use app… and its still crap??
I guess it all depends on price. Would I pay £10 a Month for it? Based off that content, no. £5? Maybe. I am not really keen on paying for yet another streaming service but I might for the right price
The question I always ask myself, of this type of decision, is why? Why Warhammer+? Getting this in front of more eyes, via Netflix or Amazon, even on a temporary basis, might be a form of recruitment, to get more people interested in their main products. I have it on good authority that the LotR partworks that came out many moons ago, got people from the newsagents into the local GW stockist. But that was in New Zealand, so their may have been some locality bias involved. I don’t know the effects of other GW partworks, I don’t think we… Read more »
One reason might be creative control, another might be because these animations, as 15 minute shorts, simply aren’t what Netflix is looking for. Maybe this is a proving ground for smaller animation studios to put some ideas forward that may or may not get picked up by a larger streaming service later
Seems very short sighted by GW, if the Angels of Death trailer is the quality of the rest of the animations then its not worth a subscription fee. As others have said they should have just sold the license to Netflix or Amazon. They would reach a wider audience and maybe attract new people to their games.
Hmmmm, got a gut feeling one of the benefits of Warhammer+ is going to be able to exclusively “pre-order the pre-orders” (as they keep running out of stock after 10 mins). So now you’ll probably have to pay to be able to spend your money at GW.
Now it’s probably me being paranoid, but even if it’s not the case I bet you it got discussed by the boys in marketing 😀
I think you’re bang on the money.
If subscribers get first access to pre-orders, as well as the extra content, that will bring the money. And of course it’ll be direct sales rather than through FLGS or distributors, so all the profit and a monthly sub. Genius.
I’m glad that there was no talking in the Astartes II trailer as i take it as a good sign that they are, for the most part, giving the original creator creative control because a lack of ‘filler talk’ was one of the things that was good in Astartes. I’m hoping that Games Workshop doesn’t push the creators in the direction of producing ‘adverts’ and graphics that are in line with the (scale and proportions and look of the) miniatures that Games Workshop now produce.
I saw the short clip where two admech robots walk by a building that is exact 1:1 replica of the wall/building they sell and I have little doubt about it being glorified commercials the way GI Joe and Transformers were for people in the 40+ demographic
Some of those snippets had the look of product placement commercials to me, but then some of the animations that were around before Games Workshop took on these animators were a bit like that anyway. Not all of them were though and i hope it stays that way.
Im going to wait and see what a subscription will cost and what benefits it will bring before getting hyped or being too cynical about it. That said the Astartes fan videos were fantastic so I’m hoping for more on that level of quality.
10 minute episodes, marines blasting their load everywhere, seems perfect for your average 40k enjoyer. I expect no less than 10 quid a month.
Felt like I would weigh in, since I see a lot of people asking why this won’t end up on one of the streamers. Firstly, the days of Netflix scrambling to pick up content are long gone. They are far more interested in developing things in-house, or more specifically buying out a project in development and slapping the “Netflix Original” label onto it. Secondly, someone like Netflix offers a flat fee, paid out over 3 or so years. No marketing, no back-end. For World, GW might get a $300-500k offer on this. I have a hard enough time convincing producers… Read more »
@beastsofwar I have seen many people around the internet talking over “dissenters” saying that of course GW needs to protect their IP because of UK legal requirements. This is true GW does need to protect their IP under UK law or risk losing it. However, the “silencing” of creators on YouTube and the creation of a bespoke steaming service is, well, idiotic, unless they also have a deal with a major streaming service. There are more details to be released so this is possible, however unlikely it seems. I have to say though, that even if this is the case.… Read more »