Just 115,000 users subscribe to the Warhammer+ streaming service, according to Games Workshop’s half-yearly report. The report, published on the firm’s investor relations portal on December 10, explains how different elements of the business have performed in the first half of financial year 2022-23.
According to GW’s stats, Warhammer+ is making a profit, but has 115,000 subscribers. That’s a pretty low number when compared to established streaming services: Statista.com reports that Netflix has around 220 million global subscribers, while Disney Plus has 164 million.
Nevertheless, the report states that “Warhammer+ shows and animations have now been viewed over 5 million times”, and the platform is making a profit, accruing revenue of $3.6 million USD / £3.0 million GBP against development costs of $2.9 million USD / £2.4 million GBP.
Warhammer TV is one part of the Warhammer+ subscription service, containing original animations and video content, and featured prominently in advertising for the platform prior to its launch in August 2021. Fans have criticised the extremely limited content selection. Not including media already available elsewhere, the platform has four original animation series, battle-reports for five different game systems, a series of guides for painting miniatures, and a series of lore videos about various Warhammer 40k factions and Warhammer Age of Sigmar armies.
The popular Space Marine animation Astartes, also available on Warhammer TV, was originally a fan created work hosted on YouTube. The creator was one of several fan creators to remove their work from YouTube in July 2021, after Games Workshop updated its policies around fan content.
Warhammer+ costs $6 USD / £4.99 GBP per month or $60 USD / £49.99 GBP per year. As well as Warhammer TV it contains the Warhammer Vault (a collection of digital books with narrative content and art from older rulebooks and White Dwarf magazines), plus subscriptions to the Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Age of Sigmar app for building armies. As part of the package, annual subscribers receive a choice of special edition miniature – these become available to other customers later for $38 / £24.
The half-year report also reveals how GW plans to protect the integrity of its intellectual property in the potential Warhammer 40k Amazon film deal, set to star king of the nerds and fan of Warhammer 40k Henry Cavill.
Source: Wargamer
