Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is here with the scoop.
Skaven Beat Out Stormcast in Age of Sigmar Global Campaign
The Slaughter at Hel Crown Global Campaign for Age of Sigmar ended last week, pitching the Skaven and Stormcast Eternals against one another in a battle that could determine the fate of the realm.
The global campaign was launched in conjunction with the Skaventide box set for Age of Sigmar’s new edition. Participants could follow the link provided in the box set to the campaign website, and log the results of their games played to support either the Stormcast or Skaven. Whichever side won this vote would get an entire reveal stream dedicated to showing off many of the new models coming for their respective range.
When the dust settled on the campaign, the Skaven emerged victorious with a commanding 62% of the vote.
Now that the Skaven have overrun the defenses of Grand Alliance Order and sent the Stormcast running for the hills, they’ve got plenty of time to show off new models releasing in the coming months.
The models shown off are a mix of returning classics with sorely needed updates to their sculpt, such as the Stormvermin and Doom Flayers, as well as new Skaven models like Acolyte Globadiers and Krittok Foulblade. The star of the reveal is Vizzik Skour, Prophet of the Horned Rat, a towering new centerpiece model for the Skaven with plenty of adorable little rats tagging along for good measure.
The WarCom post also teases the release of a new battletome for Skaven, as well as the individual releases of several kits found exclusively in Skaventide. As for the Stormcast, the post confirms that reinforcements are coming for Sigmar’s finest in the near future.
“Hi-Fi Rush” Studio Brought Back from the Dead by Korean Publisher
Following its sudden and shocking closure in May of this year, Japanese game development studio Tango Gameworks has been acquired and re-opened by Korean publisher Krafton, with the full cooperation of former Tango owners Microsoft and Zenimax.
While the fact Tango Gameworks was founded by the creator of the Resident Evil series and created the successful Evil Within franchise brought the company some success, Tango didn’t receive mainstream popularity until 2023’s Hi-Fi Rush. The rhythm-based character action game brought Tango Gameworks massive critical and commercial success in 2023, but success could not save the studio from shutdown by Microsoft. Tango completed it’s planned patches for Hi-Fi Rush and shut its doors, presumably for good.
Krafton, a Korean studio behind international super-hit Players Unknown Battlegrounds, or PUBG, saved Tango from it’s doom earlier this week with the announcement that it’s acquired the studio with the full cooperation and support of it’s former owners. Krafton stated that buying Tango Gameworks represents the companies growing interest in the Japanese market, and that they are excited to further develop the Hi-Fi Rush IP, which Krafton also acquired in the deal.
Former employees of Tango have been welcomed back into the fold by Krafton, though further updates on whats next for Tango and Krafton’s new partnership are unknown.
Lancer Releases Sequel to First Adventure Module
Mecha TTRPG Lancer released a follow up to it’s very first adventure module with it’s newest release, Operation: Winter Scar.
Released by Massif Press, Operation: Winter Scar takes players back to the storyline started in Operation: Solstice Rain, in which a squad of elite mecha pilots fighting for the Union find themselves in the middle of a peace negotiation gone very wrong. In Winter Scar, these Union pilots find themselves embroiled in a bitter civil war, and take on a dangerous secret mission to prevent the power-hungry Sovereignty from deploying a mysterious but potentially devastating superweapon.
Along with a new story that takes players from license level 2 to level 4, Winter Scar introduces new content for use in any Lancer campaign. These include a new frame, the resilient Gilgamesh, several new alternate frames, and the introduction of main battle tanks as an enemy archetype for GM use. The book also features several pieces of new art, including art by Peyton Gee that, if I may editorialize a bit, goes incredibly hard.
Gen Con 2024 Breaks Attendance Records
Gen Con wrapped up its 2024 event earlier this August, and as the dust settles a report by Boardgamewire states that this year’s Gen Con is the largest in the event’s history.
Gen Con, which can trace its roots back to a small gathering run by Gary Gyax in 1967, has grown tremendously since the start of the new millennium, going from between 20-30 thousand attendees to over 70 thousand attendees in its last pre-covid year. Following an off year in 2020 and a diminished attendance in 2021, the convention has once again surged in population. Five years after it’s previous record attendance of 70 thousand, Gen Con reached a new peak attendance this year with over 71 thousand attendees.
This is despite a small drop in vendors from 2023 to 2024, as well as little changes to the space in Indianapolis where Gen Con is being held. While many vendors didn’t mind the crowd and enjoyed the additional sales it brought, others had concerns about the space not being large enough to accommodate that many people, as well as health concerns of such a large gathering.
“Gen Con 2024 was a rousing success and we are once again humbled by the passion of our attendees and the hospitality of Indianapolis.” Gen Con president David Hoppe told Boardgamewire, “We were proud to join with our attendees on the historic occasion of the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons to celebrate how much D&D and Gen Con have each grown in scale and cultural influence over the past five decades.”
New Edition of Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game Announced
Games Workshop announced last week that its cult favorite specialist game, Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, is getting more than just a refresh, it’s getting a whole new edition.
Games Workshop hasn’t shared many exact details on what we can expect from this new edition, but it did tease that there will be a ruleset for both the Armies of The Lord of the Rings and Armies of the Hobbit to accompany the new edition. According to the post on WarCom, “Every profile has been reworked so that units and characters’ actions and on-screen presence are even better represented on the tabletop, and your adventures in Middle-earth feel exactly as they should.”
WarCom also teased a tie-in for the new animation set in the universe of Middle Earth, War of the Rohirrim, scheduled for release in December of this year.
While we don’t know yet if these models are being released with the new edition in mind, Games Workshop also revealed new models for Middle Earth at ArdaCon, the largest event for fans of the Games system. Some of the models shown off include warriors of Angmar, Werewolves, and new Hill Troll models.
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
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