Slitherine links with Games Workshop® on new licensing agreement

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**reds8n**

You wait ages for GW games and then they come along like buses..

next to no specific details but...

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/188532/Slitherine_links_with_Games_Workshopreg_on_new_licensingagreement.php

[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]

Epsom, 14th March, 2013 – Slitherine ( www.slitherine.com) and Games Workshop ( www.games-workshop.com), two giants in their respective specialist markets, have signed a deal to produce a strategy video game set in the popular Warhammer® 40,000® universe.

" This deal represents yet another testament to our continuous aim to reach new audiences, without losing sight of who we are and what we do best", said JD McNeil, Chairman of the Slitherine Group. " It's all about creating strategy games that are targeted to a particular audience and addressing a very specific need in the market. The Warhammer 40,000 setting is a perfect fit for the style of strategy games that we make and will be very popular with fantasy and science fiction fans alike. Joining forces with Games Workshop will allow us to bring an wonderfully deep and appropriate IP to the Turn Based Strategy genre”.

Details of the deal including the content and features of the game have not yet been announced, but development is already underway on multiple platforms, involving the best talents in design and development available to the Slitherine Group.

Jon Gillard, Head of Licensing at Games Workshop said: “ Slitherine are clearly established and successful masters of their genre of games, and there are many fans of their work here at GW. It’s a pleasure to work with such like minded individuals who share our passion for strategy games of all types”.

Slitherine is part of the Slitherine Group

About the Slitherine Group

The Slitherine Group is the world’s leading producer and publisher of digital wargames and strategy games. Under the Slitherine ( www.slitherine.com), Matrix Games ( www.matrixgames.com) and Ageod ( www.ageod.com) brands it has published literally hundreds of games, with many award-winning titles in its portfolio and spanning all digital platforms, from home consoles to modern Smartphone’s and Tablets. Slitherine is also involved with book publishing, board gaming and works with a wide array of key licensing partners, such as HISTORY®, MILITARY HISTORY®, Horrible Histories™, Showtime, BBC, Osprey, Scholastic, Buzz Aldrin Enterprises and many others to deliver the best blend of historical accuracy in an exciting and entertaining way. Together the Group companies form the world’s largest organization specializing in this important and vibrant niche. The Slitherine Group’s mission over the coming years is to lead the way in innovation and growth in an ever expanding segment of the entertainment industry.

About Games Workshop

Games Workshop® Group PLC (LSE:GAW.L) is based in Nottingham, UK. Games Workshop designs, manufactures, retails, and distributes its range of Warhammer® and Warhammer® 40,000® games, miniature soldiers, novels and model kits through more than 400 of its own Hobby centres, the Internet and independent retail channels in more than 50 countries worldwide. Further details on the company can be obtained at www.games-workshop.com

Warhammer 40,000 © Games Workshop Limited 2013. Games Workshop, GW, Warhammer 40,000, Adeptus Titanicus, GW, the Games Workshop logo, the Double headed/Imperial Eagle device, Warhammer, 40K, Warhammer 40,000 and the Warhammer 40,000 device the foregoing marks’ respective logos and all associated marks, logos, names, places, characters, creatures, races and race insignia, illustrations and images from the Warhammer 40,000 game setting are either ®, TM and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2013, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. All Rights Reserved to their respective owners.

- I'm assuming this is different to the one announced the other day, apologies if this is old news.

**zedmeister**

reds8n wrote:

...snip...

You wait ages for GW games and then they come along like buses..

...snip...

Comes across like they're really pushing forward to try to get more money in through the licensing front...

**Compel**

mobile phone and tablet company I'm guessing?

You've got to wonder what's left, Battlefleet Gothic, Necromunda? Epic?

Most other classic games have already been done recently.

**Yodhrin**

Huh, looks like GW are taking advantage of the THQ collapse to farm their IPs out to shovelware devs who'll crank out crappy F2P mobile games.

I'd like to say I'm surprised, but this kind of setup fits right in with the current GW corporate ethos of "something for as little as possible"; why give your IPs to a renowned developer who will work for a few years to produce a single great game when you can give it to multiple iPish devs who'll produce an endless stream of filler titles that'll each bring you in a license fee.

EDIT: Also, kudos on the sig reds8n, that first quote is so true it's almost funny.

**Schmapdi**

The Slitherine Group is the world’s leading producer and publisher of digital wargames and strategy games. Under the Slitherine ( www.slitherine.com), Matrix Games ( www.matrixgames.com) and Ageod ( www.ageod.com) brands it has published literally hundreds of games, with many award-winning titles in its portfolio and spanning all digital platforms, from home consoles to modern Smartphone’s and Tablets. Slitherine is also involved with book publishing, board gaming and works with a wide array of key licensing partners, such as HISTORY®, MILITARY HISTORY®, Horrible Histories™, Showtime, BBC, Osprey, Scholastic, Buzz Aldrin Enterprises and many others to deliver the best blend of historical accuracy in an exciting and entertaining way. Together the Group companies form the world’s largest organization specializing in this important and vibrant niche. The Slitherine Group’s mission over the coming years is to lead the way in innovation and growth in an ever expanding segment of the entertainment industry.

You think the world's leading publisher of digital wargames and strategy games would name a few of them. I've never heard of them. I went to Matrix games and took a look around, never heard of any of their games either. The History Channel has a series of games - who knew?

Still, a good, turn-based Warhammer game (in either universe) would be fantastic, and is something many people have been clamoring for, for ages. Though it always gets shouted down as being "too close to the tabletop game" so "GW will never let it happen." - It'll be interesting to see how it progresses.

And you're right - flood of GW game announcements lately. The space hulk thing, the Titan game, Sega grabbing rights, now this.

**Brother SRM**

Yodhrin wrote:
Huh, looks like GW are taking advantage of the THQ collapse to farm their IPs out to shovelware devs who'll crank out crappy F2P mobile games.

I'd like to say I'm surprised, but this kind of setup fits right in with the current GW corporate ethos of "something for as little as possible"; why give your IPs to a renowned developer who will work for a few years to produce a single great game when you can give it to multiple iPish devs who'll produce an endless stream of filler titles that'll each bring you in a license fee.

Slitherine put out BBC Battle Academy, which is a really solid turn based strategy game. They also put out adaptations of Field of Glory, which is very popular with the historical gaming crowd. Don't jump to conclusions, it doesn't do you any good. I wish they were licensing games to a developer that has more financial backing behind it, but from what I've played of their games, these guys know tabletop and turn based strategy fairly well.

Also, iPish? Really? Ugh.

**cincydooley**

Yodhrin wrote:
Huh, looks like GW are taking advantage of the THQ collapse to farm their IPs out to shovelware devs who'll crank out crappy F2P mobile games.

I'd like to say I'm surprised, but this kind of setup fits right in with the current GW corporate ethos of "something for as little as possible"; why give your IPs to a renowned developer who will work for a few years to produce a single great game when you can give it to multiple iPish devs who'll produce an endless stream of filler titles that'll each bring you in a license fee.

EDIT: Also, kudos on the sig reds8n, that first quote is so true it's almost funny.

You should really do some research before you write companies off simply because you haven't heard of them.

Slitherine has a pretty solid history making turn-based wargames for the PC and mobile platforms. Panzer Corps and Battle Academy are both good, solid games.

The Field of Glory games (I haven't played them) also appear to get pretty high marks from wargamers

Seriously, do a quick google search before you make some assumptions.

Brother SRM wrote:
Don't jump to conclusions, it doesn't do you any good.

Exactly. Plus, Slitherine is a UK publisher, something that GW seems to be fond of. I think it's solid that they're trying to keep their operations in country.

**BrookM**

Slitherine? Interesting, they did a crapton of historical games.

**Valhallan42nd**

This is good news, then. Hopefully they'll be compatible with the Android platforms if they're tablet based. GW's current stance of "Apple only" hurts its market share.

**cincydooley**

Valhallan42nd wrote:
This is good news, then. Hopefully they'll be compatible with the Android platforms if they're tablet based. GW's current stance of "Apple only" hurts its market share.

Proof?

Because all the market research I've ever seen is that Android users don't buy apps....

**Valhallan42nd**

Anecdotal proof: I'm an Android user. I buy apps.

**Kilkrazy**

Most Apps are bought by iPhone users, it's true. I have seen market research on it.

Let's not get confrontational in this thread, though, guys.

**Fifty**

When I saw the thread title I thought GW were going to do a Harry Potter tie-in.

**Backfire**

Schmapdi wrote:
The Slitherine Group is the world’s leading producer and publisher of digital wargames and strategy games. Under the Slitherine ( www.slitherine.com), Matrix Games ( www.matrixgames.com) and Ageod ( www.ageod.com) brands it has published literally hundreds of games, with many award-winning titles in its portfolio and spanning all digital platforms, from home consoles to modern Smartphone’s and Tablets. Slitherine is also involved with book publishing, board gaming and works with a wide array of key licensing partners, such as HISTORY®, MILITARY HISTORY®, Horrible Histories™, Showtime, BBC, Osprey, Scholastic, Buzz Aldrin Enterprises and many others to deliver the best blend of historical accuracy in an exciting and entertaining way. Together the Group companies form the world’s largest organization specializing in this important and vibrant niche. The Slitherine Group’s mission over the coming years is to lead the way in innovation and growth in an ever expanding segment of the entertainment industry.

You think the world's leading publisher of digital wargames and strategy games would name a few of them. I've never heard of them. I went to Matrix games and took a look around, never heard of any of their games either.

You haven't heard of Steel Panthers?

**Grot 6**

WHO IS THE DEADLIEST WARRIOR?!?!?!?!

This week- Dark Eldar Wych, with spikes... etc.etc.etc... VS.... The Evil Gretchen!!! Masters of the art of running for the hills or Grot Waving thier adversary with Grot bombaazzzz!!!

Watch this week as our team or experts go head to head and our computer experts run the opponents through thier paces!!!!

http://www.spike.com/shows/deadliest-warrior

**Ouze**

I've never heard of these guys. Is this likely, given their previous development, to be mobile or tablet based games, or PC ones?

**Grot 6**

Ouze wrote:
I've never heard of these guys. Is this likely, given their previous development, to be mobile or tablet based games, or PC ones?

Either that, Playstation, or flash games.

**Yodhrin**

cincydooley wrote:

Seriously, do a quick google search before you make some assumptions.

I did, and I saw a website filled with the sort of games that we used to sell for £2.99 in the PC Bargain Bin when I worked in games retail. Relic these guys are not.

Brother SRM wrote:
Yodhrin wrote:
Huh, looks like GW are taking advantage of the THQ collapse to farm their IPs out to shovelware devs who'll crank out crappy F2P mobile games.

I'd like to say I'm surprised, but this kind of setup fits right in with the current GW corporate ethos of "something for as little as possible"; why give your IPs to a renowned developer who will work for a few years to produce a single great game when you can give it to multiple iPish devs who'll produce an endless stream of filler titles that'll each bring you in a license fee.

Slitherine put out BBC Battle Academy, which is a really solid turn based strategy game. They also put out adaptations of Field of Glory, which is very popular with the historical gaming crowd. Don't jump to conclusions, it doesn't do you any good. I wish they were licensing games to a developer that has more financial backing behind it, but from what I've played of their games, these guys know tabletop and turn based strategy fairly well.

Also, iPish? Really? Ugh.

Yes, really. Apple produce closed platforms with software that is substandard in all but a few very specific professions, their content screening policy is positively Victorian in its prudishness, they routinely nix any app that might threaten to be more popular than the ones they themselves produce, and they're one of the most litigious companies on the planet. But, because they have a marketing division the size of a small country and a legal division even larger, they get away with their shoddy business practices.

As for jumping to conclusions; again, I checked out the links in the press release, most of their titles are bargain bin fare, and many of their recent titles have just been mobile re-releases of older PC titles. Also, their "Field of Glory adaptation" is just a digital copy of the rulebook, which I'm sure is lovely for historicals players who like that system, but has nothing to do with their abilities as a PC game developer.

**kenshin620**

They might do a cute specialist game sim with basic graphics, but thats probably the best case scenario

Their latest game looks like a Civilization clone

I'd imagine Slitherine is a low cost and low risk venture to gw so I guess its a win win

**The Dwarf Wolf**

This can be great...

I had never heard of this company, but they are not up for "cheap Ipad games", they have good options for PC, with nice graphics.

**Mr. Burning**

Looks like more licences are on their way:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/games-workshop-seven-new-video-games-deals-and-more-to-come/0112435

Iconic tabletop gaming firm Games Workshop has a new strategy for licensing its IP to the games business.

It has signed up seven new games development partners in the last nine months, each of them working on various different games, inspired by the Warhammer fantasy medieval brand, the fantasy sci-fi 40,000 brand or GW's other games.

Today's deal with Slitherine was just the latest, following on from an agreement with social games firm Zattikka earlier in the week.

It also has new titles coming from studios Rodeo and Full Control, and Sega studio Creative Assembly became another licensee late last year.

Cyanide is working on another Blood Bowl game, and Nomad Games has signed up to produce a game based on Talisman.

Most of those partners - save for save for Danish Full Control and French Cyanide - are, like the miniatures and RPG specialist, based in the UK.

But the company now wants even more licensees in games and is now willing to dig into its vast history of boardgames and strategy creations and use them on digital platforms.

It also means the Games Workshop brands will be available in a mix of video games business models.

A statement from the firm sent to MCV said: "Games Workshop has an enormous library of exciting IP. A new world of gaming is opening up and we are happy to talk with anyone with a sound business model and a good idea. The good idea is pretty important."

Previously the firm occasionally licensed its headline properties out for large-scale efforts - including mixed results in MMO with EA/Mythic (and previously Climax) and a deal with THQ for console and PC games.

But the firm said it's now being more flexible: "The days of monolithic Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 licenses on all platforms are behind us.

"In the future, games based on our properties will be platform and subject specific, which is great news as it means there are far more opportunities than before."

The firm has said it is open to pitches, too - and will be attending the bigger trade events to meet potential new games partners.

"We can be contacted at licensing@gwplc.com or in person at shows like E3 and GDC. We look forward to hearing from publishers, developers and talented start ups."

GW have a ton of product IP they do nothing with, they can charge a licence fee and at worst just take this sum.

Being triple A titles or shovelware will probably not matter to GW in the short term.

**Eiríkr**

AGEOD?
Ohh, I'm interested.

**H.B.M.C.**

But the firm said it's now being more flexible: "The days of monolithic Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 licenses on all platforms are behind us.

Umm... what? Since when have they had 'monolithic' license deals on 'all platforms'. They've all been PC games other than Space Marine and Kill-Team.

zedmeister wrote:
Comes across like they're really pushing forward to try to get more money in through the licensing front...

That's my concern. With falling sales they're trying to make it up in other ways, and licensing seems like the best approach. My fear is that they'll farm it out to too many people too quickly, leaving us with a mass of really poor games (akin to a bunch of movie tie-in games, and they almost always suck).

Still, as long as they keep signing FFG to do the RPG, they can do whatever they want with their license.

**BrookM**

H.B.M.C. wrote:
But the firm said it's now being more flexible: "The days of monolithic Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 licenses on all platforms are behind us.

Umm... what? Since when have they had 'monolithic' license deals on 'all platforms'. They've all been PC games other than Space Marine and Kill-Team.

Blood Bowl, Warhammer Battle March and Fire Warrior also come to mind as non-PC exclusives. There is also that hand held exclusive Squad Commander game.

**Ouze**

There was some 40K PSP game too, I forget the name.

**BrookM**

Ouze wrote:
There was some 40K PSP game too, I forget the name.

Squad Commander, unless there's another one out there I don't know of.

**AlmightyWalrus**

Am I the only one who read this and thought to myselfthat a 40k "Horrible Histories" (Horrible Heresies?) would be awesome?

**angryboy2k**

BrookM wrote:
Ouze wrote:
There was some 40K PSP game too, I forget the name.
Squad Commander, unless there's another one out there I don't know of.

Squad Commander just wanted to be as great as Chaos Gate. Now THAT's a game I'd like to see resurrected for new machines (without the bugs please).

**Theophony**

So, maybe unrelated, but by allowing these games to be produced under license does that help protect their ip? I mean if they are digging deep into the vault and resurrect older creatures and games they haven't touched in years does that extend the lease on the ip. I thought I read somewhere that if you don't do anything with x model for 20-25 years then its like surrendering the rights to it. So by allowing a licensee to use old subject matter do they gain another 20+ years?

Sorry if this seems off topic, but it could be another reason for doing so many games and using small studios.

**Nurd6**

If the sales of the licensed games of their "Specialist" IPs go through the roof, I wonder if we'll see more attention to some long forgotten games.

As much as I imagine GW will love collecting licensing fees; I'm certain they have at least a small hope that this will act as a gateway to miniatures.