Games Workshop 2021-22 financial summary is in, with one saving grace, but it’s not miniatures OR Warhammer+ as their profits slow to a crawl…
The Games Workshop Investor page just released a deep financial summary breakdown of revenue, costs, and profits for their fiscal year, which ended May 29th, 2022.
However, this also shouldn’t be a shocker as the COVID boom is slowing, and things are returning to pre-COVID numbers and trends. Well, amid a general feeling of contempt by their customer base for years of broken promises, price increases, and paywalls.
Let’s first check out the insane jumps from last year, then check out the newest report.
GW Profits & Revenue (2021)
The revenue in 2019-20 went up an insane amount, as with most gaming companies! In 2020-21 the revenue increased by 40 million pounds (about 54 million USD), which is quite impressive- followed by an increase of nearly 84 million pounds (about 116 million USD), which is just wild.
The profit for the year also followed suit, hitting an impressive 60 million increase, so they did increase costs some, but man, that is some serious profit. The earnings per share also went up by about 85%. So, all in all, quite the two-year run for GW.
Now, let’s look at the newest numbers.
It’s Official, Games Workshop Profits Slow to a Crawl…
Here are some highlights:
- Licensing deals once again doubled (nearly). They doubled last year from 8 million to 16 million, this year to 28 million.
- Their overall profit only increased by £6m. wow- when you compare this to the increase in licensing deals, they are actually way down in miniatures and other revenue. Especially when the two previous years they increased by over £30 million.
- Overall sales only increased 30m. compared to the last few years, this is basically nothing. Their online webstore sales were down nearly 2m this year as well, which is a problem as other companies like Wizards are crushing direct sales.
- It looks like license deals saved their bacon again. If the licensing hadn’t risen so much, GW would have been down compared to last year’s profits.
- Earnings per share went up 20p when compared to the last jump of over 100p.
- Online sales declined slightly by 3% compared to last year’s period. This is to be expected as people shop more in stores and less online. This really isn’t anything too crazy with how the world is going.
Reading through the packet, there are some other pretty big insights:
After a record performance last year, Black Library, our novel publishing division, struggled in the face of global supply disruption with many key new releases arriving later than planned. Underlying sales continue to grow, especially in the digital space, with sales of electronic and audio books exceeding those of physical for the first time ever.
The sales for Black Library are actually down by £.7 million, which is a big deal when the previous year’s revenue was only £2.3 million.
- They didn’t give specific numbers for Warhammer + and still say it’s in a very early development stage, so there is no hard and fast data on how much this is making or losing them. My Warhammer is up by 140%, but they do not say if this is Warhammer + in any fashion. A curious omission of any mention of Warhammer+ stats-wise, perhaps meaning the platform has floundered.
- Horus Heresy is now included in the core business, meaning they really are adding it as a core game.
- Inventory provision of £10.6m has been added due to a failure to get the product where it’s needed. This is very interesting, and looks like they are having a very hard time getting stock where it needs to be, but not necessarily from shipping issues around the world. It seems be instead that they are having issues within their warehouses internally. Perhaps the rollout of their warehouse automation robots during peak volume was not a good idea at all.
- They actually lost GW retail locations this year:
As you can see, the number of stores went down in the UK by three; however, many businesses also experienced similar closings in 2022.
Is Games Workshop Stock Worth it Now?
It is no shocker that they couldn’t keep up the insane growth from the previous years, but the slowdown seems to be official (and quite possibly permanent) now.
Luxury limited offerings from Black Library seem not to be consumed as much now; no official update on Warhammer plus seems pretty suspicious. Sales growth has also slowed to a crawl as big-ticket box sets sit on store shelves months after release.
With all the macroeconomic indicators saying we may be headed into bad times financially and pressure from 3d printing and competitors’ gains around them, the outlook for Games Workshop in both the near and short term is not very good if they keep going about things the same way…
True, that can be said for many companies out there, but as we have shown almost weekly here, Games Workshop’s constant missteps have created a lot of ill-will from the public and their customers.
Will Games Workshop Survive This Downturn?
Well, sure. It just feels like Games Workshop needs some sort of reset on the rules bloat (for 40k especially) and price, or all these other games and companies will keep creeping closer and taking more of Games Workshop’s precious market share…
Other game systems with well-rounded rules, popular IP, and low barriers to entry are taking players away from Games Workshop’s properties.
Slow growth can be fixed if Games Workshop pivots and changes how they do business, specifically with its product mix and apps that have been plagued by mismanagement and technical issues since the beginning.
Here are more articles on the issues that Games Workshop is facing now as its profits and revenue are slowing to a crawl, and investors have taken notice:
- Everything You Need To Know About Warhammer Plus
- Games Workshop NDA Leak More Damaging Than Their IP Policy
- YouTubers Have Started Attacking Warhammer TV
- Boycotts Don’t Work, Do This Instead to Games Workshop
- Lookout YouTube, GW Just Updated Their IP Guidelines
- Where GW Fan Creativity Ends & IP Infringement Starts
- 3D Printing isn’t the Only Threat to Games Workshop
Are you surprised at all by the Games Workshop profits and revenue numbers from this 2021-22 financial summary?
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
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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.
