Table-top gaming company Games Workshop announced an agreement with Amazon to produce films, TV series, and associated merchandise.
Games Workshop shares have stormed higher over the past ten years as the popularity of their games grew, and they looked beyond the painting of figurines to digital gaming formats and entertainment, utilising their characters and branding.
The Amazon deal is something of a holy grail and is a testament to Games Workshop’s broad appeal, which is likely to be boosted when the productions are released.
Games Workshop rose 1.9% in early trade on Monday.
“Games Workshop, the producers of fantasy roleplaying games and miniature models have announced that their earlier co-operation agreement to explore licencing deals with Amazon Studios has progressed,” said Steve Clayton, head of equity funds at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Amazon have been granted exclusive rights to develop films and TV series set within Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe with an option for further development of Games Workshop’s intellectual property in the movie and TV space.
“Perhaps the day will come before too long when parents can simply send their kids off to the cinema to watch this stuff rather than have to spend half their weekends doing the model-making and painting on Junior’s behalf? Whatever happens, Games Workshop are not predicting any benefit to income from the deal in the 2024 financial year, but investors still welcomed the news, pushing the shares up 2.5% in early trade.”
