Games Workshop, the Nottingham, UK based maker of the globally popular Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Age of Sigmar tabletop wargames (among many other related products) has announced it’s “suspending all sales of Warhammer products into Russia” in order to “stand with those suffering” as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement published on GW’s Warhammer Community website and its social media channels on Wednesday, the firm said it was “terribly saddened by the horrific events taking place in Ukraine” adding that its “heartfelt thoughts go out to all those affected by Russia’s actions”.
“We didn’t take this decision lightly”, says GW, adding that “there are many Russian hobbyists who don’t condone the war”. The decision makes GW the latest in a growing list of Western multinational companies to stop trading in Russia since the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine on February 24. It joins food brands McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo (as well as various digital and tabletop games companies, after Ukrainian deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov made a deliberate call for support from the game industry on March 2).
Warhammer 40k has long been reputed to be highly popular in Russia, though it’s not immediately possible to estimate meaningfully how much of a financial loss GW can expect from suspending sales there.
Read our statement here: https://t.co/SEcR1dFjYq
— WarhammerCommunity (@WarComTeam) March 16, 2022
The firm has not yet said how long it expects the embargo will last, or under what conditions it will resume sales in Russia.