Age of reckoning – age of glory. The Curse of Abundance – is the Warhammer Franchise in Trouble?

In the meantime, Games Workshop has agreed to developing a few more turn-based strategies in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, created by the company Strategic Simulations (e.g. Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate), which was followed by another pause in the supply of games from this franchise. A renewal occurred in 2003, when the company in question concluded an agreement with THQ publishing tycoon, providing the latter with exclusive rights to releasing productions set in the Wahammer science-fiction universe. It is in these circumstances that the most famous and the best of the existing productions created on the discussed license were created – such as the excellent Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War series by Relic Entertainment (known for the Company of Heroes series, among others). Even though this period in history was also dominated by strategies, we have to keep in mind that both its beginning and its end were defined by games representing a completely different, action-oriented trend. I'm referring to Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior from 2003 which received a rather lukewarm welcome, and the generally acclaimed third-person Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine from 2011, created, interestingly enough, also by Relic Entertainment. An end to the monopoly of THQ games for the Warhammer 40K universe came with the bankruptcy of the company at the turn of 2012 and 2013.

In the meantime, although Warhammer Fantasy was not subject to similar restrictions, the years 2003-2011 didn’t bring any more titles set in the Old World. In the case of this universe, this pause lasted until 2006, but ended with a rather loud bang in the form of Warhammer: Mark of Chaos – an RTS made by Black Hole and a spiritual heir to Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omena. In fact, it is difficult to provide a clear opinion on this production – some remember it as a mediocre game at best, while others treat it as an object of worship. Somewhat similar is the case of another well-known production set in the world of Warhammer Fantasy – Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. In 2008, Mythic Entertainment studio and Electronic Arts released the MMORPG which was to dethrone World of Warcraft thanks not only a popular universe, but also battles available to thousands of players (Realm vs Realm). Unfortunately, despite a very warm welcome, this title quickly began to lose popularity due to prolonged technical problems until, at the end of 2013, the developer announced the shutdown of servers caused by an expiring license agreement with Games Workshop. It is worth mentioning that in the meantime – namely in 2009 – Cyanide studio produced a second adaptation of the miniature game Blood Bowl, not much appreciated by critics, but enjoyed by many players for its unique qualities (it’s a rather humoristic fantasy football simulation).

The invasion of mediocrity

We have finally reached the “modern era” of the history of Warhammer games. The beginning of this period is marked by Rodeo Games, which in May 2013 took advantage of the boom in mobile productions and released Warhammer Quest – an iOS adaptation of the board game under the same title (created in the form of a simple turn-based strategy with RPG elements, using a top-down view). Although the game itself wasn't bad, it was ruined by invasive micropayments, especially in the PC version from January 2015. Another heir to the Warhammer heritage was Full Control, a company which acquired the rights to the next computer variation of Space Hulk (released for PC in 2013).This time, the decision was made to create a turn-based strategy faithful to the tactical original; its spirit was without a doubt perceptible, but the overall banality combined with a large number of errors made ??Full Control’s production turn out to be mediocre at best. Although the developer took the criticism to heart and after a year it released a brand new product – Space Hulk: Ascension – in a much improved form, it was too late to conquer the market.

The negative image of new games developed under the license of Games Workshop was confirmed by Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance by Eutechnyx studio – a simple PC/mobile strategy with an unusual, "linear" battlefield. Though subsequent titles released so far – a side-scrolling shooter Warhammer 40,000: Carnage, an old-school strategy Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon and a mix of turn-based tactical game and card game in the form of Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf – weren’t complete disasters, the criticism could no longer be stopped. The players criticized Games Workshop for the sudden change in the licensing policy, resulting in many minuscule productions, predictable and made without much effort put in their development, but with a focus on easy profit at the expense of nostalgic Warhammer fans, who have been waiting for Dawn of War III for years.