Games Workshop: Amazon buys rights to Warhammer 40K
Amazon is set to launch a series of films and television shows based on Games Workshop’s hit game Warhammer 40,000.
In a stock exchange notice this morning, Games Workshop said it had agreed “creative guidelines” and reached a deal with Amazon for it to adapt the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe into films and television series.
The deal also included associated merchandising rights for any film or television show produced by Amazon.
“This update was largely expected, but it is the important final step in bringing Warhammer to a global audience,” Peel Hunt analysts Charles Hall and Andrew Ford said.
Games Workshop, which is set to join the FTSE 100 later this month, has a significant library of intellectual property that has only begun to be commercialised.
In the firm’s latest results, licencing revenue increased by 150 per cent year-on-year to £30m, far ahead of analyst estimates and boosting profitability.
“This push into licensing is a big part of the company’s future growth strategy,” Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, told City PM.
Under the terms of the agreement announced today, exclusive rights have been granted to Amazon for any Warhammer 40,000 film or television show.
Amazon also has the option to licence equivalent rights in the Warhammer fantasy universe following the release of an initial Warhammer 40,000 film or television show.
“Production processes in respect of films and television series may take a number of years,” Games Workshop added in its stock exchange notice, stating that it has not made any changes for its forecast in the year to June.
“There is no set timeline for delivery, and productions of this scale take a number of years to bring to fruition,” added the Peel Hunt analysts. “Lord of the Rings (Rings of Power) took five years from conception, albeit this was delayed due to Covid.”