Games Workshop, maker of Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar miniatures games, lost around $2.4 million USD / £2 million GBP “in net revenue from trade sales in Russia”, during the first half of financial year 2022-23. The firm has not sold products into Russia since March 2022, a decision made in response to the country’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Covid-19 continues to impact Games Workshop’s operations in many countries, with Japan and China highlighted in the report for their ongoing, stricter safety measures. GW estimates lost sales to China at around $1.2 million USD / £1 million GBP, though it says that’s “not as bad as we forecast.”
The firm adds that extra costs from Britain’s exit from the EU are “the new cost of doing business”. The difficulty of recruiting multilingual staff for the UK-based European Sales Team after Brexit has caused Games Workshop to open a new trade sales office in Barcelona. Meanwhile, the firm reports that some $14.6 million USD / £12 million GBP of VAT receivable is held up with French authorities.
The United Nations Office of the Human Rights Commissioner reports that, between February 24 December 19 2022, 6,826 civilians have been recorded killed by fighting in Ukraine, plus 10,769 injured, but notes actual figures may be much higher. These casualties are mostly caused by explosive rounds.
The figures don’t reflect other deaths and general hardship caused by destruction to Ukrainian infrastructure. We reported on one Ukrainian Warhammer 40k Space Marine fan who built an amazing papercraft Land Raider to keep himself occupied during power blackouts.
We’ve reported on several other stories that have emerged from GW’s half-year report. The firm has pledged that the Warhammer 40k Amazon film deal won’t harm its IP; the Warhammer Plus streaming service is making profit but has 115,000 subscribers; and the firm has spent $6 million on a new Warhammer webstore which might open in Summer 2023.