Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is at the very real and cool Goonhammer newsdesk with the scoop.
Major Games Workshop HQ Expansion Halted by Bat
Games Workshop released its Annual Report for 2024-2025 last week, reporting out to investors and curious fans on how the finances for the company fared, major events of the past year, as well as plans for the future. There’s quite a bit to chew on in the report; Games Workshop once again posted another year of strong profits, with an increase in its licensing revenue, and it sounds more or less like Games Workshop will just eat the costs on tariffs. But the real star of the show here is the bat.
According to the report, major expansion at Games Workshop is being put on hold due to the presence of a lone bat in the planned construction area.
“Net cash generation from our core operations is at planned levels and dividends have been paid at record levels from our truly surplus cash. All in line with our detailed operational plans and policies.” Games Workshop CEO writes, “The exception was the news about tariffs and the cute looking pipistrelle bat that is delaying our work on our new temporary car park. We are carefully looking after the bat and we hope the uncertainty around tariffs is resolved soon.”
The pipistrelle bat is the most common bat in the UK, weighing only 5 grams on average and with a wingspan only a few centimeters long. While the UK’s bat conservation trust lists the status of the pipistrelle as a “least concern”, the animal is still subject to stringent protection under UK law to preserve its habitats.
Games Workshop has not yet commented if it has plans to rehome the bat at this time, or if the company plans to wait for the bat to relocate on its own. Nor has the company released any information on any potentially cute name they may have given the bat. We will be sure to share any news here of any adorable GW carpark bat name related developments.
The ODST Drop Into Halo: Flashpoint
They aren’t Spartans, but they’re the next best thing, and they’re dropping in hot to a table near you as ODST arrives in Halo: Flashpoint.
“This October the battle intensifies once again, as the elite Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) join the fight in Feet First Into Hell, a new big-box faction set packed with highly detailed miniatures, new terrain, and gameplay content,” Mantic Games writes in a press release. “Following the dramatic arrival of the Banished and their brutal Jiralhanae warriors earlier this summer, UNSC forces are now striking back—with precision, firepower, and the fearless ODST.”
ODST were introduced in the Halo universe in the novel “Fall of Reach”, and made their first game debut in Halo 2. They came to popularity with the release of Halo 3: ODST, which took players out of the armored green boots of the Master Chief and into the role of a much more fragile ODST operative, searching a ruined city for clues on their missing squadmates and covenant plot.
The set, titled “Feet First into Hell”, went on pre-order July 31st and includes 16 ODST operatives for games of Halo: Flashpoint, as well as a New Mombasa cityscape board. Those who order with this first wave release will also receive limited edition sculpts of Buck and Dare, two characters from the ODST video game. The box is set to release on store shelves in October 2025.
My Hero Academia Tabletop Game Announced by Catalyst Game Labs
Not content to keep its bombastic superhero fights limited to just comics, TV, movies, video games, or tabletop RPGS, Popular Shonen Jump Manga and Anime My Hero Academia is coming to the world of tabletop miniatures games by Battletech developer Catalyst Game Labs.
The game, simply titled My Hero Academia Miniatures Game, is a collaboration between Catalyst and anime streaming platform Crunchyroll. According to the press release, the game put two players in charge of teams of superheroes or supervillains from the MHA universe as they clash, leveraging the quirks unique to each character to accomplish their mission and win the game. The starter box will also include color coded dice to make onboarding for the game easier for new players, as well as cardstock terrain. Models are pre-painted, and will be available for individual purchase outside the starter box.
The My Hero Academia Minatures Game starter box is coming to Backerkit later this year, though the campaign page promises expanded goodies such as models and terrain sets if the crowdfunding campaign goes well enough.
Japan’s Most Popular Tabletop RPG Getting English Translation
While Dungeons & Dragons is synonymous with tabletop roleplaying in most of the world, in Japan its popularity is overshadowed by another game called Sword World. First published in 1989 by Group SNE, Sword World is a fantasy TTRPG that uses a 2d6 system for rolling dice, and has connections to some popular anime and manga including “Record of the Lodoss War”. The game has sold around 10 million copies in Japan, and was revised with a second edition in 2008.
Despite its success, Sword World has remained a stubbornly local game, with no official English translation of its ruleset ever having been released for either of its editions. That is set to change with Sword World’s 2.5 update, as Group SNE is partnering with Mugen Gaming for its first official English localization.
Mugen Gaming, an American company and retail store based out of Kansas specializing in bringing Japanese games to the west, details the serendipitous encounter that brought Mugen and SNE together for this collaboration.
“Our first encounter with Group SNE was serendipitous — at a subway station in Essen, Germany, during the Spiel convention,” Mugen Gaming writes. “Ai (the owner of Mugen) began chatting with a group of Japanese travelers who turned out to be game industry veterans, including legendary RPG creator Hitoshi Yasuda. From there, we built a relationship through events like Gen Con, BGBE Japan, and Tokyo Game Market, sharing ideas about how we might bring Sword World to a global audience. That conversation has now turned into a collaboration — and this project.”
The English localization is set to come to crowdfunding in 2026 with the deluxe edition of the 2.5 core rulebook, with more plans to bring other expansions to western audiences if this campaign is successful. For those who want to try the game before then, Mugen Gaming released a one-shot demo adventure for Sword World on the Sword World RPG website for free.
Critical Role’s Next Campaign Brings in New GM
The biggest name in town for actual plays, Critical Role, announced last week at Gen Con that the next season is coming, but with a major shakeup: Matt Mercer is not going to be in the gamemaster seat. That role is going to perhaps the only other person who could hope to step into Mercer’s shoes- Brennan Lee Mulligan.
Mulligan came to prominence online through comedy outlet Dropout, formerly College Humor. While working for Dropout, Mulligan began hosting the actual play series “Dimension 20”, bringing in Dropout stars and other notable celebrities to engage in thrilling TTRPG adventure. Since then, Dimension 20 became massively successful, so popular in fact that it sold out Madison Square Garden for one of their live shows.
Mulligan will step into the role of GM at Critical Role while Mercer takes “a bit of a breather”, according to Variety. Mulligan will also continue his work at Dropout, having just signed a three year contract to stay on at the company.
“We’ve been enormous fans of Brennan’s for many years now, and when it came to giving both Matthew Mercer and the world of Exandria a bit of a breather, Brennan felt like the perfect storyteller to take our community somewhere entirely new,” Critical Role CEO, co-founder and cast member Travis Willingham told Variety. “Critical Role has always been about genuine connection through storytelling first and foremost, and as Brennan himself will tell you, he’s still played more TTRPGs away from a camera than in front of it. His passion and drive for worldbuilding is infectious, and it’s been an absolute joy to spark off him as we forge ahead.”
The next season of Critical Role is scheduled to premiere on October 2nd on Beacon.tv, the official partner of Critical Role, as well as CR’s YoTube and Twitch pages.
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