Games Workshop’s revenue hit another record this year, but licensing, dividends, and staff bonuses all stumbled big time.
Games Workshop posted its best year ever on paper with profit before tax reached £275.7m, while the core miniatures business grew almost 11% to £626.8m. So GW isn’t in “trouble” in the traditional sense, as the plastic side of the business looks stronger than ever.
The weaker numbers sit around that core though, with licensing dropping hard after the Space Marine 2 surge, GW’s own stores losing ground to independent retailers, and employee profit sharing and dividends came down as well.
- Record on paper: Games Workshop posted a record £275.7m profit before tax, grew its core almost 11%, and set fresh launch records with Space Wolves and Cities of Ash.
- Soft underneath: Licensing revenue fell 37%, two licensees walked, the staff profit share and dividend both got cut, and stock provisions ticked up.
- The recovery bet: The next twelve months lean on Warhammer 40k 11th Edition landing this June to refill the tank Space Marine 2 left empty.
Another GW Record Year is Hiding a 37% Licensing Collapse
Licensing was the overall biggest drop in Games Workshop’s financials, as revenue fell from £52.5m to £32.9m, down 37%, while licensing profit slid from £49.5m to £29.9m.
GW says about 85% of its royalty income comes from PC and console games. So a hit like Space Marine 2 can lift the entire line for one year, then leave a large gap once the launch surge passes. Which should make a lot of sense to just about everyone reading this.
The suprsing part, thought is that GW said they also collected £5.9m in final payments from two unnamed licensees that had given notice and will not renew their licences. But that being said, four more licensed games and the Amazon Deathwatch series are still coming, but there’s no way to know yet whether any of them will match Space Marine 2 in terms of revenue.
That being said if anything could perhaps match the juggernaut that was Space Marine two, it could very well be Total War 40k, and Dawn of War 4 hitting in the same fisical year.
The Growth Is Coming From Stores GW Doesn’t Own
Another key insight from this report is that Independent retailers drove most of the core growth. GW’s Trade channel now makes up 65% of core revenue, up from 61%, despite this year’s price increases.
Trade revenue climbed 17.2% to £405.3m across 9,100 accounts in 71 countries. Asia Trade grew 38.3%. GW’s own channels slipped. Retail fell from 23% of core revenue to 21%, while Online dropped from 16% to 14%. Store sales were down 1.5% in North America, 0.5% in the UK, and 6.1% across ANZ.
GW also said that nearly all its stores remain profitable, but locations missing the company’s financial model are likely to close. So look for Independent shops to start carry more of the load heading into the 2026 release roadmap.
GW’s Core Line Had a Monster Year
Meanwhile the miniatures business delivered over the past year with the Space Wolves release setting a new GW record for launch sales.
Cities of Ash became the best-selling Age of Sigmar box outside an edition launch, while the Helsmiths of Hashut and the Cogfort also sold well.
A record 40k launch and a record Age of Sigmar box in the same year show just how strong the core hobby business remains, But it’s definitely worth noting that two out of these three products really weren’t allocated to retailers either. So that should speak volumes as to what the real bottlenecks are for GW’s revenue pipeline.
You don’t see Games Workshop touting how many copies of the new Defiler kit or Exodites they sold because they didn’t even meet a fraction of the demand for these products.
Record Profit, But Smaller Checks for Everyone Else
Shockingly during GW’s biggest profit yet, the Group Profit Share fell from £6,000 per employee to £5,000. The total pool dropped from £20.0m to £17.6m. GW says it needs the cash for Factory 4 and a new warehouse, which explains the decision, though record profits paired with a smaller staff payment is still an interesting look.
Also an intersting look is that CEO Kevin Rountree received his full maximum bonus of £1.5m, equal to 200% of his salary putting his pay ratio against the median employee at 58 to 1.
The overall shareholder dividend also fell from 520p per share to 485p, and the board chose not to declare another payment in April 2026. So, it seems like maybe the missing Space Marine 2 royalties hit shareholders too.
Boardroom Churn, a Late Flagship, and a Stock Wrinkle
GW created a new Chief Operating Officer position for Neil Tomlinson. Max Bottrill joined the board in December 2025 and returned to his previous role by May 2026, with the report blaming the short stint on a reorganisation.
Thier new Warhammer World store outside Washington, D.C. is slightly behind its agreed milestones and is now expected to open in summer 2027. GW wants the flagship to bring new players into its largest overseas market ahead of the next big Warhammer edition change.
Finally, stock provisions also rose from 10.6% of gross stock to 12.0%, which GW blamed on obsolete stock being cleared later than planned. Translated into “normal” speak they seem to have too much product sitting in the warehouse as they can’t seem to get forecasting right, and its becoming obsolete before it sells. That alone could mean a lot of things perhaps old Tenth Edition stock didn’t get thoroughly sold through, etc. It’s just really hard to say without all the details that Games Workshop always guards so closely.
Final Thoughts on Games Workshop Revenue and What’s Next for 40k
So overall, Games Workshop remains a healthy company on paper. The core business grew, Space Wolves set a launch record, and Cities of Ash became Age of Sigmar’s best-selling non-edition box ever.
The softer numbers came from licensing, GW’s own retail channels, staff profit sharing, and dividends. So, now, much of the next year now rests on Warhammer 40k 11th Edition, which launched in June and will ramp up with individual faction releases in the late summer or early fall timeline.
Fortunetly, a new edition gives GW growth it can control through starter sets, army releases, and renewed player interest. If 11th Edition continues to do well, the core can keep growing while licensing rebuilds. If it misses, the drop from last year’s Space Marine 2-fuelled peak may look much worse in 2027.
🔗 Related Reads:
- Warhammer 40k 11th Edition Rules: Release Date, Detachments and Every Change
- 40k 11th Edition Release Date Confirmed by Games Workshop
- Updated Warhammer 40k 2026 Roadmap and 11th Edition Release Schedule
- GW’s Biggest Profit Yet Comes With Serious Business Warnings
- Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2: Release Date and Game Details
- Warhammer 40k Space Wolves Army Set: Review and Value Breakdown
- New AoS Chaos Dwarfs Helsmiths of Hashut Army Set: Review
What do you think, is 11th Edition enough to refill the tank Space Marine 2 left empty for Games Workshop revenue?
