Whether you are a content creator, coach, influencer, or whatever really, it may not be worth working with Games Workshop. While it might seem nice to get minis, books, and perks early, when you tie your entire career to what Games Workshop decided to give you, as a few influencers found out recently, things may not go so well.
There seems to be a huge ask on GW’s part, with generally low return for a content creator who basically becomes a GW influencer whether they realize it. These folks can easily run into conflicts of interests and afoul of GW’s zero-tolerance IP policy, not the mention that potentially predatory NDA agreement that we ourselves have read.
It’s Not Worth Working With Games Workshop
Midwinter Minis doesn’t work for Games Workshop, so it’s not like he ever left the company. However, because of his community outreach from his videos, GW “partnered” with him to give him content before the official release date.
They entered an NDA, which allowed him to get content ahead of time while certain legal implications would occur if he leaked anything important at the wrong time.
You’d think that some sensitive information would be handed out with an agreement like that. However, Midwinter Minis said otherwise.
He said he was told virtually nothing and got models only two days before they would go up for pre-order. His goal was to have them painted and do a showcase video on them the same day they went up for pre-order.
However, he felt rushed and overwhelmed after only getting 48 hours to assemble, paint, shoot, and edit videos before their pre-order date. He would also get shipments of minis he already had, which he didn’t really know what to do with them. So, he turned them into some prize giveaways to help support the channel.
He said over the course of a year, he got about 200 GBP worth of content and no information. Everything he was told was already, at the time, posted on the Warhammer Community site despite his channel being one of the main 40k content channels on the platform.
The Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back
The deciding factor for Midwinter Minis to cancel his NDA was that he was told absolutely nothing on the new Edition of 40k. He’s not walking away from GW and said that everyone he’s talked to from the company was great.
A Conflict of Interest With Coaches & Fans
A recent event (which apparently has legal action pending) brought up the issue of influencers who have coaching services and playing in tournaments while technically working for both GW and themselves. It has been alleged that this individual may have gotten preferential treatment in his pairings to avoid certain armies in an attempt to win overall.
The second and most simple issue is if you are planning on playing events and get early access to a new codex, you can hone your army and get all the needed models (before they all sell out as well) and be far ahead of the curve. That being said, most of these coaches are already really good, so how much “ahead of the curve” they are is probably negligible. However, to us, it is still a conflict of interest.
But here’s the thing, you’re supposed to be helping people hone their own skills, but since they are also playing and bound by an NDA, they can’t actually give the info they know. That creates an even more complex set of interactions altogether.
While this seems like a good thing to some people, we can also see how early access to such information can indeed provide both a monetary and strategic advantage. It can also be a big conflict of interest that can even put event organizers in a weird place if they or any of their staff provide preferential treatment to these influencers.
A Lack of Correspondence With Stores
Pallets of Written Off Copies of Dominion Box Sets
We won’t spend too long on this, but there are a lot of examples where Games Workshop is also not good with thier retail “partner” stores. Just look at something like Cursed City or Dominion, for example. With Cursed City, they were very limited on how many they could order, but they all thought it would come back, so most weren’t worried.
They had no idea it was never going to come back for anything other than an online exclusive (so far). Then, there’s something like Dominion. Games Workshop initially told them they could only order a very small amount of boxes; according to some, when GW realized it wasn’t going to sell as well as they thought, they told dealers they could order more.
This is bad in two ways; one, a potential; lack of communication-based on FOMO, then it’s kind of scummy because they realized people weren’t that interested, they tried to pawn off the extra copies in stores.
To a possibly bigger issue, they can terminate your retailer policy with only correspondence via a legal department email address. This means you cannot really do anything about it as they have no accountability to even respond to stores there from the sources we have spoken with.
So, according to all the retailers we have polled, GW’s trade sales in North America have a lack of communication that facilitates FOMO and a completely arbitrary set of rules to adhere to, or your store’s account will be revoked at any time.
Don’t take our word for it; ask your local retailer to read the fine print on the back of their GW invoice or let you read it. That shit is wild, and it is only the beginning…
Games Workshop Seems to Play Favorites
Taking a look at the recent Horus Heresy Open, basically, everyone there seemed to be younger Games Workshop influencers for the most part.
Remember, a lot of content creators have painted themselves into a corner by following the carrot that GW has dangled in front of them. In some cases, without even getting paid by them, they have potentially jeopardized their production cycle, opinions, and overall credibility.
In essence, they have become influencers for Games Workshop and are no longer pure content creators for a few free baubles and trinkets.
To some, the lineup of Influencers at Warhammer World really felt like an attempt by Games Workshop to try and onboard those younger audience(s), just in time to sell the rumored 100,000 copies of Horus Heresy they produced.
Business-wise it’s smart, sure, but it alienates other influencers who may also “work” for GW. We could also see where it could upset other content creators who would love that opportunity and would not tell their audiences things like, “I’m not even into Space Marines or the Horus Heresy, but hey, it was a free trip to GW HQ so why not”.
Bold, yes, but unfortunately, something like that was recently said by a Games Workshop Influencer.
However, as we’ve seen time and time again, the favor can switch in a second if you base your business model on what GW will give you.
Allegedly at that same event, an influencer posted some pictures early of the new Horus Heresy models accidentally, was kicked out of the open, and may not receive any more support from Games Workshop.
Plus, perhaps worse, that influencer may not even be able to create content containing Games Workshop IP anymore.
This just goes back to their crazy NDAs and the fact that if you do something they don’t like, they seem to have no problem brushing you aside in an instant!
So what’s the point of all this?
The point of all this is directed toward all of the other content creators out there. If you’re growing in community support and are looking at trying to get GW to give you an “upper hand” on releases, you may not want to break your back trying to enter an NDA with them.
It seems simply not worth the back-breaking work and all the possible negatives to your character and business model from the outside looking in.
Obviously, we cover plenty of Games Workshop things, but we do not get anything early access from them, nor do we (or will we ever have) any official relationship with Games Workshop.
We’re not saying don’t cover wargames, just rely more on your own content and not what GW will hand you.
Above all, forge your own hobby, be yourself, and your audience will reward you.
What do you think about the issues of working with Games Workshop? Do you want to be a content creator or a defacto influencer for GW?
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
