2024 Games Workshop / Warhammer Price Increase Controversy

Overview

The 2024 Games Workshop Price Increase Controversy or 2024 Warhammer Price Update refers to the planned increase of several Games Workshop products (including Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar and Fantasy / The Old World) after June 10th, which sparked controversy online following the social media and blog post announcing it in early May 2024. Due to already being labeled an expensive hobby and a high barrier to entry by many, the announced price changes, estimated to be between 3 to 5 percent of the total price of the item in most countries, created fan backlash as many started to talk about 3D printing or switching to other table-top games.

Background

On May 7th, 2024, the official X / Twitter account for Games Workshop^[1] posted an update to the company's pricing guidelines, along with a link to the official Warhammer community site for more information. The post, which received over 242,000 views in eight hours, was quickly inundated with responses from fans asking for specific reasons for the price increases, as well as seeking confirmation as to which products would be seeing these increases (original post shown below, left, reply shown below, right).

Online Reactions

Fans, many of whom were already unhappy with Games Workshop due to the then-recent Females Custodes controversy and still using Everything Is Canon memes against the company, as well as price hikes over the last few years, did not respond positively to the news of the price increase.

For example, on May 7th, 2024, X user @idioticsynergy^[2] uploaded a voice-over dub of the Black Templars reacting to the news of the price increase, poking holes in the company's reasoning and accumulating over 23,000 views and 880 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

Later that day, Redditor u/Arch_Magos_Remus^[3] uploaded a variation of the George Bush Learning About 9/11 meme in which the aide is informing President George Bush about Games Workshop increasing its prices once again, as the company had recently increased its pricing just last year (shown below). The meme gathered over 1,500 upvotes and 180 comments in 24 hours.

As word of the price increase began to spread, several Warhammer content creators began to dig into the news, with different ones uploading videos the same day explaining the post and the price increase. On May 7th, 2024, YouTuber Auspex Tactics^[4] uploaded an in-depth and thorough video going over multiple different points regarding British inflation and the different price increases over the years while talking about 3D printing as an alternative, receiving over 39,000 views in one day (shown below).

Search Interest

External References