Warhammer creator Games Workshop is paying all its staff a £2500/$3145 bonus in December as part of its profit share scheme, the company has announced. Following the news, which came in the company’s half year trading update on December 7, GW’s share price has dropped 15%. This is despite trading falling “in line with expectations” according to the company’s management.
The bonus is a pretty significant £1000/$1260 more than employees received last year, as Warhammer 40k company Games Workshop is splitting a $9.4m bonus pool, up from the $5.6 million it paid last year. The cash will reach employees this December, during a cost-of-living crisis in the UK (where GW is based) as the prices of essentials like food and energy rise faster than people’s incomes.
Games Workshop’s trading update shows increased year-on-year revenue in the last six months, and profits are also up from $108m to $118m. However, despite this growth, investors were clearly left unhappy by the update, and Games Workshop’s share prices have dropped by 15%.
Shares Magazine reports that this is because the company has experienced a slowdown in growth when compared to the first quarter of 2023, when profits grew by a whopping 43%.
It’s also worth noting that while the core business has seen growth, licensing profits have fallen 14%. This likely won’t be helped in the coming months by the mixed response to recent release Realms of Ruin.
On November 27, that game’s developer Frontier Development gave its own trading report, stating that RoR sales to date were “lower than expected”. That’s a shame, as we think Realms of Ruin doesn’t deserve the hate – check out our Realms of Ruin review here.
Games Workshop’s half-year trading report only gives an overview of the Warhammer company’s performance. The company will give a more detailed breakdown in its half yearly report, coming January 9, 2024.
There’s another Warhammer 40k game just released, which may have a better shot at boosting GW’s licensing revenue. Read our Rogue Trader review-in-progress, to see what we thought of the new Warhammer CRPG.