On Thursday, Games Workshop dropped a coy trading update onto its corporate website, giving investors a heads-up about the business' profits for the first half of the financial year ahead of the report it plans to publish in January. There is some predictable bad news - in 2024 and 2025, the explosive launch of Space Marine 2 gave the firm its highest licensing revenue ever, but now almost all of that tailwind has gone, and licensing revenues have fallen by almost 50% year on year. Yet core sales of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 have more than picked up the slack, and GW is, once again, on track to deliver record-breaking profits.
The trading update covers the six months from June to the end of November 2025, and predicts that the firm's pre-tax profit for the period will be at least $176.3 (£135.0) million, up from $165.7 (£126.8) million for the same period in financial year 2024/25. $10.9 million in extra profit is respectable, but compared to 2024/25's explosive growth for the first half of the year - a leap of $31.2 (£23.9) million over 2023/24- it may seem underwhelming.
But 2024/25 was an abnormal year: the release of Space Marine 2 drove licensing revenues up to an all-time high of $39.3 (£30.1) million in the first half of 2024/25. That launch buzz is well and truly over: licensing revenue fell back to $20.9 (£16.0) million in the first half of 2025/26.
But core revenue from sales of Warhammer 40k and other miniature games has handily picked up the slack. GW cleared $404.9 (£310.0) million in core revenue in the first half of 2025/265, up from $351.9 (£269.4) million for the same period in 2024/25. That's a growth in core sales of 15%, and it's happened in a year without a new edition of Warhammer 40,000, the typical catalyst for the firm's periodic growth spurts.
Space Marine 2's massive sales success reflects genuine quality: it's the best Warhammer 40k game ever made. While the initial frenzy of excitement is past, as a live-service game with committed players it's still contributing to the licensing bottom line through sales of battle passes. It's also a huge brand ambassador for Warhammer 40,000, attracting over four million players, particularly among parts of the core videogamer demographic who may not be familiar with the Warhammer 40k IP. It's reasonable to assume that many new customers bought their first Space Marine miniatures because they played Space Marine 2.
Games Workshop is already capitalizing on Space Marine 2 as a recruitment tool. During the recent World Championships of Warhammer the firm revealed a shiny new model kit for the hero of Space Marine 2, Demetrian Titus. The firm has also placed Titus center stage of the next major narrative expansion to Warhammer 40k. Gamers who came to Warhammer 40k via Space Marine 2 are being given more reasons to stay.
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