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.
Warhammer Preview Show at NoVA Shows Off Stormcast and Not Much Else
As we touched on last week on the roundup, over this past weekend Games Workshop held one of their preview events at NOVA. Usually, these previews are full to bursting with new model teases for the future of several Games Workshop games, but this time the preview was absent of almost any new reveals outside of a few exceptions.
The biggest set of reveals focused on the Stormcast Eternals, mirroring the Skaven reveals fans were shown after the conclusion of the Slaughter at Hel Crown campaign. Bolstering the Stormcast roster is a new cavalry unit and new Griffon-mounted hero, with both a unique and non-unique variant. Stormcast Eternals are also receiving new faction terrain that can teleport units around the board, as well as updates to several older heroes like the Lord-Celestant and Lord-Relictor.
Not to take all the model spotlight, Blood Bowl and Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game both received quick reveals. Blood Bowl players can look forward to seeing Chaos Dwarves join the pitch, and a new hero from the upcoming War of the Rohirrim animated film will be coming to MESBG.
Aside from these model reveals, the much-anticipated roadmaps Games Workshop previewed for its upcoming games were disappointing. Each of the roadmaps were united by a similar theme: That nothing was really coming in 2024 that we didn’t already know about, and Games Workshop isn’t quite ready to tell us much about 2025. There were a few interesting tidbits, like plastic Aspect Warriors and an expanded Krieg range, but compared to the big and bombastic previews we’re used to, this one at NOVA felt anemic.
Konflict ‘47 Adds Yet Another Tabletop Star to Its Development Team
After adding several big names to it’s development team for Konflict ‘47, one might expect Warlord Games to take a breath, dust off their hands and say “Yep, we’ve got our team together”. Apparently, Warlord Games isn’t one to rest when the getting is good, and announced that yet another big industry name is joining the Konflict ‘47 team: Gav Thorpe.
Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy fans are likely already familiar with Gav Thorpe, having been the writer for several rulebooks and black library novels for both games over the years. Outside Warhammer, Thorpe was also a designer on 2000AD for Warlord Games and a freelance designer for several other projects before joining the Konflict ‘47 team.
“Like many gamers of a certain vintage, I grew up with World War Two model kits, and my first ever homegrown simple rules set used old 1/72 scale figures, made up at a friend’s house when I was ten years old. I’ve played many WWII games of different scales and types ever since. I’m also a huge fan of esoteric knowledge and alternate history, both of which place Konflikt ’47 firmly in the ‘Loads of Fun to Write’ category,” Gav writes on the Warlord Games blog. “It’s a great crew to be a part of, and I think folks will really appreciate the variety of styles, inspirations and outlooks we’re bringing to the Konflikt ’47 setting.”
Brandon Sanderson TTRPG Becomes the Most Funded Tabletop Game in Crowdfunding History
The new tabletop roleplaying game based on the universe created by fantasy author Brandon Sanderson shattered the record for the most crowdfunded game in history with its recent Kickstarter campaign, raising over $15 million at the time of this writing.
The TTRPG, Cosmere, takes place in the collective universe that Sanderson’s novels are set, allowing for fans of his books to explore settings from books such as The Stormlight Archives, Mistborn, and more. It is being developed by Brotherwise Games, most famous for the Boss Monster series of games and Sanderson’s official partner for tabletop games developed based on his work.
Cosmere dethrones the previous owner of the most funded game ever crown, Frosthaven, which previously raised $13 million on Kickstarter. It’s also a major victory for Kickstarter in the tabletop space, as declining tabletop sales and the rise of competitors like Gamefound have cut into Kickstarter’s presence in the gaming space. This is not the first crowdfunding rodeo for Sanderson either, who’s made over $85 million on the platform.
Senior Executive at Bungie was Fired After Reports of Misconduct
Bloomberg’s top video games journalist, Jason Schreier, broke the news last week that the reason a senior executive at Bungie was let go earlier this year was due to multiple claims of misconduct by female employees.
Chris Barrett was a longtime team member at Bungie, joining in 1999 to help develop and provide art for games in the Halo and Destiny franchises. His work on these projects helped him climb the company ladder, and afforded him a position on Bungie’s board before it was bought by Sony entertainment. Barrett was also the senior director for the new Marathon title until last summer.
Earlier this spring Barrett was quietly fired from Bungie, and Bloomberg reports that after several women on the Bungie staff came forward that Barrett’s behavior towards his female coworkers was the catalyst for his termination. Bloomberg reports that at least eight separate investigations were conducted internally about Barrett’s misconduct.
Employees at Bungie were not told the reason for Barrett’s departure at the time, initially being informed that he was taking a sabbatical before it was later discovered his company accounts had been deactivated.
Bungie’s parent company, Sony, would not comment directly about the allegations against Barrett, but told Bloomberg that “all complaints of misconduct very seriously. It is our policy and practice to investigate every complaint promptly and take action based on the findings of our investigation.”
Popular Speedrunning Stream “Games Done Quick” Bought by New Owners
Games Done Quick (GDQ), an organization known for hosting speedrunning livestream events for charity, announced that it’s under new ownership.
The new owner of GDQ is Matt Merkle, the director of operations for the company. According to an interview given with NME.com last year, Merkle was always the first pick to take ownership of GDQ when founder Mike Uyama decided that he would step away from the company last year. However, Merkle was hospitalized with a leg infection soon after the announcement, which delayed the plans to transfer ownership.
Following Merkel’s recovery and proper preparations for his departure, Uyama officially passed the torch to Merkle last week.
“Stepping down from Games Done Quick has given me time to rest, recover, and reflect on my accomplishments and where I am in life.” Uyama said in a statement regarding his departure, “I’m confident that the rest of the staff will guide GDQ toward a successful future. My time is done, and now it’s time for others to take the helm.”
The next event for GDQ, Awesome Games Done Quick, is set to kick off in January 2025 in Pittsburg, PA, and will be the first GDQ event without Uyama at the helm.
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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