Games Workshop has updated retailers in North America about the ban on placing restock orders, and things are looking better for local stores.
GW has had a lot of delays over the past few months (some due to weather, some not), lost a decent amount of talent, and has had issues with getting products out the door like Legions Imperialis. Fortunately, they prioritized Old World product shipments over normal product shipments to keep that release mostly on track. While GW’s warehouse had to take a step back to regroup, things are looking up for ordering now.
Games Workshop Updates Orders Ban In America
There was an estimated 7-10 day period when stores couldn’t order any restocks in North America, but things have turned around. From the stores and distributors we polled, they can place restock orders once again! It’s good the ban was so short, as GW initially gave an indefinite ban on orders with no time frame whatsoever. After all these issues, GW needed about five days to get things back on track, which isn’t as bad as it could have been. Plus, to their credit, Deathwing Assault orders arrived on time at stores in North America as well.
Still, this delay was scary for stores as it’s already heading into a slow time for retail. Without much info or notification, they were left in the dark with product invoices paid and no way to recoup the spent cash for weeks in some cases. Either way, stores in North America can place restock orders once again, and let’s hope GW takes some measures to stop this from happening again and not always be behind when it comes to restocks.
GW Announced Ban On Ordering Warhammer In America
Let’s look at the issues that led to this ban on ordering in late January 2023.
GW communicated verbally to their trade partners (in late January/ Early Feburary 2023) that restocks would be delayed in North America indefinitely. Also, we spoke with a group of retailers trying to contact the head of the US Trade Sales department only to find their phone had been disconnected, and no emails were being returned.
Considerable trouble was also brewing in Memphis as another order surge due to the expected price increase announcement looms, again threatening to bury them in orders. However, with a ban on restocking orders to stores, they may get the breathing room they need to catch up, dispatch new release orders, and catch back up with general fulfillment. At this point, they didn’t give trade partners an end date, but let’s hope it isn’t too long…
As we said, they couldn’t do anything about the Arctic temperatures and snow in Memphis, but they were having long before that and The Old World delays. If they can get caught back up and get things on track, this isn’t the worst move. However, if they don’t allow trade partners to order before the rumored price increases, then that will be a serious problem. Not to mention the lack of contact from the head of the US trade sales, as a troubled division may be leaderless in these challenging times.
GW Announces More Shipping Delays & Some Good News Too
Here is the latest from Games Workshop on the shipping delays in North America before the latest ban to retailers.
Retailers had heard about the issues leading up to the launch of the Old World. However, this is Games Workshop’s first announcement to the general public. While many were probably hoping for some more promising info, GW can’t really do anything about the weather.
The good news is that the email they sent to retailers indicated they are prioritizing Old World product shipments over normal sales and other pre-orders. So, if you ordered Old World, this is good news, as they are trying to ship those products to both consumers and retailers. However, if you ordered something else, it’s not as good, and you might have to wait a bit longer now.
Bad weather conditions are causing significant delays for orders shipped from our North American warehouse. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Delays Turn Severe For Games Workshop Webstore Orders…
So, this was the initial announcement from GW for customers in the UK, but this is apparently just scratching the surface, as they recently sent out another email highlighting the issues.
This is an email GW sent out:
Greetings Rogue Traders.
We are reaching out to you today regarding your recent mail order due to recent improvements being made with our logistics facilities, we are experiencing a few delays beyond those that were advertised on our web store. Please don’t worry, your order is safe in our system and will be processed again once the improvements have been completed. We thank you for your continued patience and ask that you keep an eye out on your emails for a dispatch confirmation to follow over the next few weeks. If you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to ask.
Best regards.
This is pretty crazy, as they are not only saying they are moving systems, they said it is worse than they initially advertised. This means this could be another 2+ weeks in shipping delays. This also lines up with them barely releasing anything for the past few weeks. However, the issues with their disruption networks have lasted months and months and seem to be a bit severe now.
Either way, this sets them back a couple of weeks (beyond the initial plans) and may even make sense as to why the Legions Imperialis starter is being pushed back. Games Workshop also said something curious in their recent financial report that seems to indicate that, perhaps, a lot of these stock issues are, in fact, on purpose.
To continue to be fair to our 6,500 trade partners and to ensure our stock allocation is
appropriate, we don’t carry high quantities of new release products on our own online store – so it will nearly always sell out
Legions Imperialis Starter Box & Game Delayed
The latest Legions Imperialis Starter Box and game update come from Warhammer Community.
While we had initially hoped to release Legions Imperialis in August, the release date will now be a little later in the year. Don’t worry – you’ll be commanding a tiny legion of troops to victory very soon.
As we said, they don’t give an exact date for release, but it’s still the beginning of August, so at this point, we have at least a month, but we’ll have to see if it actually drops in September or if this will get pushed back to the Fall. While this is disappointing, it might also push back Old World, as we don’t expect them to drop two games in the same month. As they have said, they want to drop Old World this year.
So let’s hope this comes out in September so it doesn’t push back other releases like the new 10th Edition Space Marines and Tyranids codex books…
GW Warehouse is Even More Clogged As Skynet Takes Over
Image From Hikrobotics
We first heard about the robot takeover in 2019, and this fumbled first attempt at a rollout of an automated system for Games Workshop happened in December of 2021 at the height of the holiday shipping season!
According to an Industry Insider from back then, these IRL robots are part of GW’s new automation system and warehouse expansion.
Games Workshop has been growing. Now they’re making things more automated with IRL robots. It’s called something like a Hikrobot– a smart machine that can pull orders from shelves and recharge itself (like a Roomba).
Now we have full proof that the robots are online; the main issue is that it seems the people who work there can’t make any changes to the automation or what’s happening, and the automation seems to be making many mistakes currently. It also seems from the responses customers and retailers alike are receiving that orders can not be canceled once placed, as that would somehow mess with the automation.
While Games Workshops logistics eventually worked it out in the first quarter of 2022, this was highly disappointing to both hobbyists and LGS locations in the 2021 holiday season.
Games Workshop’s CFO Departure
Here is the latest on the departure of Games Workshop’s Chief Financial Officer.
Also, after 27 years with the Group and nine years on the board, Rachel Tongue has informed the board that she does not propose to offer herself for re-election as chief financial officer at the next AGM in September 2024. Rachel will continue in her role, working as an integral part of my team to ensure a smooth transfer of responsibilities to her successor. Rachel is amazing and she will be missed enormously.
We thank Rachel for championing our business model and our culture, her incredible hard work and dedication and her endless commitment to ensuring we continue to improve every year. She has played a huge part in helping to deliver our ongoing success, we all wish her well for the future.
Rachel will step down from the board at the 2024 AGM and will leave the Group in January 2025. We will be commencing a search for her successor immediately.
The good news for GW is she will be staying until 2025, which means they will have some time to find a replacement, but this is another blow to GW’s talent pool. Their financials have definitely looked good over the past few years, with giant growth basically year over year. However, they seem to still be struggling with scaling those sales.
Games Workshop seems to have been producing either way too much or way too little. Since early 2023, it looks to be the latter, sadly. Worse yet, they can’t seem to get products out to anyone in any meaningful quantity right now. While a CFO might not directly contribute to the distribution issues, having your CFO leave amid so many personnel and distribution issues probably isn’t great.
Artists & Talented Staff Leaving Games Workshop at an Alarming Rate
Games Workshop has been losing talented staff at an alarming rate, from content creators to the artists who made them great! This may be even more alarming as we’ve already seen creators like Duncan, Peachy, and Louise Sugden, among other presenters, leave along with crucial art personnel in 2023. That year alone, Paul Dainton, Phil Moss, and Thomas Elliot left Games Workshop, with Dainton illustrating for over 20 years there.
CMON is thrilled to announce the addition of Paul Dainton, an internationally acclaimed artist, to its illustrious team. Dainton will assume the role of Senior Artist, contributing his exceptional artistic vision and boundless creativity to CMON’s projects.
Paul has been an artist most of his life, starting out early with drawing comic characters. In college, he studied art, learning many different styles. After college, he worked as a freelance artist for several years before joining the ranks at Games Workshop, where he’s lent his artistic vision to games like Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar, amassing over 20 years’ experience with the company. In the last 5 years, he had become the head of the Warhammer 40,000 art team.
Not only did Paul have over 20 years of experience, but he was also the head of the Warhammer 40k art team! He also left back in August, so there’s a big chance he still worked on most of the 10th Edition books, but probably not all of them.
The ban on restocking orders to stores seemed to help GW catch up and dispatch new release orders, but lack of contact from the head of the US trade sales may be a problem. It turned out to be only five days without orders, but losing so many vital components of your company in one year can’t be good…
What are your thoughts on Games Workshop stopping restock orders for retailers in North America?
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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.
