Warhammer is mainstream. It has been for a while, but 2025 will be the year when it really reaches the big leagues. For starters, Games Workshop is expected to hit the FTSE 500 this year, making it one of the 500 biggest businesses across the globe. That alone will get investors and financial speculators to pay attention.
Then we’ve got the Amazon TV show, which Henry Cavill recently confirmed has been agreed upon, and that he is still attached to. If Cavill alone can get people to watch the unbearable Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, he can get people to tune into a grimdark sci-fi show about that thing that people have heard of.
The Rise And Rise Of Warhammer
Warhammer has been growing steadily for the best part of a decade now. This wave of popularity seemed to ride on the coattails of Dungeons & Dragons, itself seeing a surge in popularity thanks to featuring heavily in viral Netflix sensation Stranger Things, followed by the pandemic that gave lots of people enough free time to try it out for themselves. Like an Ork Boy clinging to the back of a Warbike, Games Workshop sped towards the battle of public consciousness, eager for a fight.
And fight it did. Shrewd business decisions that made the game more accessible for newcomers (see: Age of Sigmar, 9th edition Warhammer 40K) and more representative of the wide range of hobbyists who enjoy the game (see: female soldiers and miniatures of colour shown on box art) compounded this success.
This change in strategy, and the Stranger Things Effect, weaved into a recipe for success. The plucky grot of Games Workshop, perpetually seen as an underdog and an expensive passtime for niche hobbyists, had thrown a few punches, landed a lucky shot in a Carnifex’s eye, and had become a Nob.
Yes, that’s really what they’re called.
Then you’ve got the video games. Games Workshop has been licensing its IP to various developers for years. The results have been hit and miss, but recent years have had far more of the former than the latter. Boltgun, Rogue Trader, and Space Marine 2 have all penetrated the gaming sphere in their respective genres, with the latter becoming a bona fide hit.
I expect to see developers compound on this as Warhammer becomes more mainstream. More Space Marine 2 battle passes, more CRPGs based on the dustiest corners of the Imperium. Heck, I even think we’ll see Creative Assembly announce Total War: Warhammer 40K this year.
2025 Is The Year Of Warhammer
Warhammer is now building success on success, and the world is starting to take notice. This hobby hasn’t been considered niche for years now, but it’s never quite reached the biggest of zeitgeists either. 2025 promises to do that. While Cavill, Amazon, and the games will help keep it in the public consciousness, it’s Games Workshop’s entrance to the FTSE 500 that will really push Warhammer into the limelight.
With Games Workshop officially one of the 500 biggest businesses on the planet, news organisations are going to start reporting on Warhammer stories. The likes of the BBC or NBC will read one Codex and write about how the Drukhari are turning modern kids towards drugs and debauchery. You think that the mainstream media already misreports Warhammer players as smelly basement dwellers? It’s about to get a whole lot worse as they realise how big this hobby is and how much they can report on it.
It’s this treatment from the mainstream press that we’re not ready for. From misinformed politicians. From the older generations who read one antagonistic article in the Mail and believe that Warhammer is the devil’s work. It’s going to be nigh on unbearable.
But there is a bright side. More coverage means more players. More people joining our hobby, applying new creative processes to their miniatures, and becoming the lifeblood of our local gaming stores. I can’t wait to see what this injection of creativity will do to the conversion scene alone, and artists hopping over to miniature painting from other disciplines will undoubtedly excite and innovate.
Warhammer is no longer a niche hobby, and hasn’t been for a while. But we’re faced with an opportunity for it to join the likes of The Witcher, Game of Thrones, and Star Wars in the recognisability, and we need to represent it properly for those looking in. We can direct how the media sees Warhammer hobbyists. We can be welcoming for new players and painters. We can start Horus Heresy book clubs and explain why there’s half a Death Guard Space Marine on the Poxwalker sprue. We can show the world that this is a great hobby, that we’re a welcoming community open to new people and ideas, and that Warhammer is a force for good.
As Warhammer ascends from an ordinary Nob to become a Warboss duking it out with greenskin versions of Marvel and Star Wars (no, not Hulk and Yoda, stick with the metaphor), we are the Boyz backing it up, hoping for the Warboss to call a Waaagh!. We’re a creative outlet, a vessel for storytelling, a community that comes together over a shared love of little plastic toys.
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