Saturday 29 November 2014

No more Games Workshop?

Did that title feel like clikbait? It felt like clickbait. Sorry about the clickbait.

But here's something mildly interesting I saw this morning: I was in town and I thought I'd pop into my local Games Workshop, only to discover that it had been replaced by some new franchise...

Games Workshop store renamed 'Warhammer'
I'm already missing the red-and-gold signage. It looks like a Waterstones.
(a Waterhammerstone?)

Fortunately, this new outlet still sold fantastic miniatures at low, low prices. They'd kept the displays in the same place, the same staff, even the same website url on the window.

Unless I've been walking around with my eyes closed (I don't rule out that possibility), this is a relatively new development. I wonder if this is a local decision (can't be too flashy with signage in a World Heritage City, after all - although Krispy Kreme seem to manage it).

Or perhaps this is a harbinger of a wider rebranding (once The Hobbit franchise ends, GW will only have two products, both beginning with 'Warhammer' - why not call it 'The Warhammer Shop'?), They are, as they often state, a miniatures company, not a games one.

End Times indeed...

3 comments:

  1. I hear this is indeed a global rebranding, one that started with a test drive in Edinburgh I think. It leaves me in a sorry place, as for some time I have jokingly referred to myself and my nerdy habits as James Workshop, and Warhogger just isn't as catchy.

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    1. Ah yes, I now see that this is a trial scheme, with the pioneer stores being in Edinburgh, Bath, and that bastion of martial prowess, Chiswick.

      It still looks like a Waterstones sign to me (and isn't this the equivalent of Waterstones renaming themselves 'Books' - what happened to brand?)

      But it's nice to have something to complain about that doesn't involve prices or rules or chubby-looking gyrocopters.

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    2. 'James Workshop' hahahahaha

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