Games Workshop renews focus on content strategy
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 11 March 2021
Long-standing hobby, publishing, video games and retail business Games Workshop, outlet for the Warhammer range of war games, has appointed former Turner Broadcasting and Hasbro Studios executive Finn Arnesen as its first head of entertainment development.
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Founded in London in 1975, Games Workshop's history stretches back over 40 years as a UK-based mail-order business for fantasy role-playing games. The company makes fantasy miniatures with each Citadel miniature representing a unique character from the Warhammer fantasy worlds that it creates. The company’s retail stores can be found in hundreds of cities across dozens of countries, with thousands more independent stockists selling Warhammer worldwide.
Reporting into Jon Gillard, Games Workshop’s EVP of global licensing, Arnesen will be tasked with mining the extensive and multi-faceted Warhammer universe – home to thousands of novels and short stories, featuring a diverse range of popular characters – to develop live-action and animated content for broadcast channels and platforms around the globe.

Most recently SVP global distribution and development at Hasbro Studios, Arnesen brings 25 years’ experience to the role. He inherits an initial content slate that includes the previously announced live-action drama based on the best-selling Eisenhorn series of novels. The series currently being developed with Frank Spotnitz (The Man in the High Castle, The X-Files) and his company, Big Light Productions.

The second facet to Games Workshop’s content strategy lies with the internal Warhammer Animation Team, which is working directly with animation studios to develop official animated content for the thriving Warhammer Community. Three shows are nearing completion and a half-dozen more are in development.

Commenting on the new appointment and the company’s content strategy, Gillard said: “In its almost 40-year history, Warhammer has been a leader in the field of tabletop and video gaming, growing into one of the most fully realised examples of fantasy and sci-fi world-building ever devised. The characters we’ve explored and stories we’ve told during that time, through games, books, comics and more, are crying out to be brought to the screen. Getting Finn on board, with his wealth of expertise and knowledge across both programming and wider IP use, combined with his sheer energy and passion, will continue to cement Warhammer as one of the most unique and distinctive fantasy settings ever.”

Arnesen added: “This is a hugely exciting time to be joining Games Workshop, and I am relishing the opportunity to work with such an established yet, in terms of entertainment, relatively unexplored universe as Warhammer. There is a tremendous appetite at present for series set in unique, fantastical worlds, so, with Warhammer’s thousands of stories, numerous worlds and countless memorable characters, our options are virtually limitless. I was delighted to discover there are already early discussions in place with a variety of production companies around the world, from LA to Japan, and an array of highly sought after writing talent, to bring the vast Warhammer universe to all platforms.”