Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 23, 2021 Share Posted July 23, 2021 Over the last few years, a number of very talented people created some pretty fantastic animated projects set within the world of Warhammer, especially Warhammer 40K. Many of these were pretty high-quality projects, easily rivaling anything Games Workshop put out for its trailers or the very best even ranking up there with the animated films in the theaters. Perhaps the most notable of these projects is "Astartes" which I've posted below: Here are a few more from the Korean animator SODAZ that I've also enjoyed: Many of these projects have caused people who stumbled over them on YouTube to get more interested in the lore of the universe and eventually to actually participating in the hobby itself. I don't think that it's a stretch to say that the hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of views that these projects received contributed not insignificantly to the impressive financial success that GW has seen over the last few years. A few months ago, many of the works by these creators disappeared from YouTube and as it turned out the reason was that these animators had signed on with GW to create content for the new Warhammer+ streaming service which is debuting next month. The videos were removed from YouTube, but were re-uploaded to some part of the Warhammer Community site which I can't actually find. Alright, I suppose that's fair enough. I can understand GW not wanting the work of animators that are now under their employment to have videos on YouTube where the company won't get the benefit of traffic, etc. It's not necessarily great for discoverability because the videos are buried in some part of the site that's buried deeper than Jimmy Hoffa, but it's not that big of a deal. Fast forward to today where the deal got pretty damned big in a hurry. GW published a new set of IP use guidelines. Most of them are pretty standard boilerplate and don't represent anything egregious at all. Then you get to this one: Quote Fan-films and animations – individuals must not create fan films or animations based on our settings and characters. These are only to be created under licence from Games Workshop. There isn't even a provision for un-monetized videos - it's a blanket prohibition on ANY fan-film/animation, monetized or not. There has already been a "chilling effect" on creators who either declined GW's offer to work for them or never received an offer in the first place: The mixed messages from GW hasn't helped matters as one creator was told that he could keep his videos up as long as he de-monetized them as well as closed his Patreon while another was told that he had to take them down entirely. The consternation has gone beyond the fan animation community to the fairly robust Warhammer lore community who are wondering if they will be the next target for GW's new IP Protection Crusade. I decided to post this because I know that several people on this board do enjoy the Warhammer universe lore/fan projects, even if we don't necessarily participate in the tabletop hobby ourselves. What is especially egregious is that GW appears to be slamming the door shut on other fan community animators from becoming part of their animation umbrella when it's from that very same community that they recruited from in the first place. By way of comparison, even IP protection jihadists at freakin' Disney allow fan projects just as long as their not monetized and don't show the properties in a negative light (see all the various Star Wars-related projects). This has been one seriously short-sighted move by GW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bacon Posted July 23, 2021 Share Posted July 23, 2021 Eh, sounds like their games deserve to be shit then. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slug Posted July 23, 2021 Share Posted July 23, 2021 This is disappointing. But then again it's GW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 29, 2021 Author Share Posted July 29, 2021 On 7/23/2021 at 7:57 AM, Slug said: This is disappointing. But then again it's GW. One of the most popular WH40K channels on YouTube that produces a parody series called "If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device" has announced that it will go on "indefinite hiatus" because of the new policies: You can hear in the guy's voice how gutted he is by it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moa Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 Isn't the reason there are so many Warhammer games because GW plays pretty fast and loose with licensing their IP. This seems like a weird move in that context. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodyHell Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 8 hours ago, Moa said: Isn't the reason there are so many Warhammer games because GW plays pretty fast and loose with licensing their IP. This seems like a weird move in that context. They are starting a digital subscription service that includes animation. Thats why they did it now. They hired a bunch of the YouTube animators to work for them, and forced those who said no to take down their animation. Its real dirtbag corpo shit, but its gonna work, because they are offering "exclusive" models with their subscription. And warhammer fans are real whores for exclusive models. Like me. Definitely an exclusive model whore. If they put an exclusive Ork model in there, id pay double what they are asking for WH+ subs. So us fans are as much a part of the problem as the company. On the bright side, at least GW gave all their employees a 5000£ (7kusd) bonus for the pandemic, which is almost 5× what MS gave theirs, and 7x what Facebook gave theirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted July 30, 2021 Author Share Posted July 30, 2021 10 hours ago, Moa said: Isn't the reason there are so many Warhammer games because GW plays pretty fast and loose with licensing their IP. This seems like a weird move in that context. It's definitely puzzling considering that the fanimations have very much acted as a "gateway drug" into the hobby itself and GW seemingly doesn't give that much of a rip about the quality of the videogames that it attaches its IP license too. Hell, if anything those fanimations are of VASTLY higher quality than the majority of WH-related videogames and even if GW doesn't benefit monetarily from the fanimations, we come back once again to their "gateway drug" effect. If it really is all about ensuing that Warhammer+ is the ONLY place to see Warhammer animations projects in the expectation that they will continue to act as the "gateway drug", well...good luck with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodyHell Posted July 31, 2021 Share Posted July 31, 2021 21 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said: It's definitely puzzling considering that the fanimations have very much acted as a "gateway drug" into the hobby itself and GW seemingly doesn't give that much of a rip about the quality of the videogames that it attaches its IP license too. Hell, if anything those fanimations are of VASTLY higher quality than the majority of WH-related videogames and even if GW doesn't benefit monetarily from the fanimations, we come back once again to their "gateway drug" effect. If it really is all about ensuing that Warhammer+ is the ONLY place to see Warhammer animations projects in the expectation that they will continue to act as the "gateway drug", well...good luck with that. Exactly. I expect they will do alright with current playerbase, but without stuff like Astartes on YouTube, new people won't see the videos and get interested in the hobby. GW has a very long history of shooting themselves in the foot with bad decisions, so literally none of this surprises me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaku3 Posted August 1, 2021 Share Posted August 1, 2021 On 7/30/2021 at 8:20 AM, BloodyHell said: They are starting a digital subscription service that includes animation. Thats why they did it now. They hired a bunch of the YouTube animators to work for them, and forced those who said no to take down their animation. Its real dirtbag corpo shit, but its gonna work, because they are offering "exclusive" models with their subscription. And warhammer fans are real whores for exclusive models. Like me. Definitely an exclusive model whore. If they put an exclusive Ork model in there, id pay double what they are asking for WH+ subs. So us fans are as much a part of the problem as the company. On the bright side, at least GW gave all their employees a 5000£ (7kusd) bonus for the pandemic, which is almost 5× what MS gave theirs, and 7x what Facebook gave theirs. I don't even really watch stuff. (Havent seen mando, loki etc) I will sign up for the exclusive models. Hell I don't even play 40k. My interests are 30k/WFB/AT/BFG. Dat vindicare assassin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodyHell Posted August 2, 2021 Share Posted August 2, 2021 12 hours ago, Zaku3 said: I don't even really watch stuff. (Havent seen mando, loki etc) I will sign up for the exclusive models. Hell I don't even play 40k. My interests are 30k/WFB/AT/BFG. Dat vindicare assassin. Fantasy Battle is my all time favorite game, but its hard to find anyone to play with nowadays. Horus Heresy is currently only slightly more popular. My wife actually enjoys Kill Team, so we play a bit of that. But I also just love building and painting. Damn, I can't wait for The Old World. Hope my chaos dwarf army gets some love in that, or Brettonia, that would be excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaku3 Posted August 2, 2021 Share Posted August 2, 2021 7 hours ago, BloodyHell said: Fantasy Battle is my all time favorite game, but its hard to find anyone to play with nowadays. Horus Heresy is currently only slightly more popular. My wife actually enjoys Kill Team, so we play a bit of that. But I also just love building and painting. Damn, I can't wait for The Old World. Hope my chaos dwarf army gets some love in that, or Brettonia, that would be excellent. I want The Old World and the rumored BFG release. Though I imagine BFG would be like Heresy era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted August 2, 2021 Author Share Posted August 2, 2021 3 minutes ago, Zaku3 said: I want The Old World and the rumored BFG release. Though I imagine BFG would be like Heresy era. BFG? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kal-El814 Posted August 2, 2021 Share Posted August 2, 2021 18 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said: BFG? Battlefleet Gothic, IIRC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted August 2, 2021 Author Share Posted August 2, 2021 1 minute ago, Kal-El814 said: Battlefleet Gothic, IIRC Ahhh - that's it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodyHell Posted August 3, 2021 Share Posted August 3, 2021 16 hours ago, Zaku3 said: I want The Old World and the rumored BFG release. Though I imagine BFG would be like Heresy era. Aren't they doing a totally new edition of Aeronautica Imperialis? I think BFG is dead. Lol, I still have a box of BFG unopened somewhere. I love those old boxes, the art was so interesting. I just picked up the new Ork box last week, and artwork on it just doesn't catch the eye like those did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaku3 Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 Radius mod got a notice from GW to remove patreon links on their steam mod page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodyHell Posted August 4, 2021 Share Posted August 4, 2021 8 hours ago, Zaku3 said: Radius mod got a notice from GW to remove patreon links on their steam mod page. They sure are going hard on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted August 5, 2021 Author Share Posted August 5, 2021 On 8/3/2021 at 11:52 PM, Zaku3 said: Radius mod got a notice from GW to remove patreon links on their steam mod page. On 8/4/2021 at 7:56 AM, BloodyHell said: They sure are going hard on this one. That didn't actually happen. Creative Assembly reiterates stance on Total Warhammer mods in wake of Games Workshop IP changes | PCGamesN WWW.PCGAMESN.COM Team Radious alleges that they've been asked to remove patreon links from their warhammer mods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaku3 Posted August 6, 2021 Share Posted August 6, 2021 I feel like I keep falling for fake news. Though in fairness this one seemed plausible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted August 6, 2021 Author Share Posted August 6, 2021 32 minutes ago, Zaku3 said: I feel like I keep falling for fake news. Though in fairness this one seemed plausible. Nah - this one isn't on you. It's on the PCGamesN writer who got the originally story ridiculously wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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