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 here with the scoop
Steamforged Games Announces New Warmachine Two-Player Starter Box
After acquiring the rights to the Iron Kingdoms brand earlier this month, Steamforged released more information last week about the future of Warmachine, as well as new release plans.
The first blog update in what Steamforged is calling the “Iron Kingdoms Manifesto” lays out what Steamforged’s goals for the games future, as well as other products Steamforged bought from Privateer Press. For Warmachine, Steamforged’s main focus is on strengthening the supply chain to ensure that models are always available, and expanding the games reach to more local game stores to build communities of old and new Warmachine players.
To accomplish this goal, Steamforged announced that it will be releasing a new two-player starter pack, pitting Cygnar and Khador forces against each other. Each side will include one warcaster, a character warjack, solo, and unit, as well as starter terrain and rules. This two player starter box will also be produced in hard plastic like Games Workshop’s plastic, with plans for future releases to use this new plastic as well.
Despite this planned update in material, Steamforged will still use the 3D printed model production employed by privateer press for its current models. “We and Privateer Press are partnering to continue producing the Warmachine product line using PP’s current direct resin process, as well as expanding with new partners in the UK and Europe.” Writes Steamforged, expanding by saying “It’s an excellent vehicle and modern approach to delivering product, and one of multiple routes to market we’ll continue to explore as we look at new ways to grow the Iron Kingdoms.”
The Two Player command box is expected to launch later this year. Steamforged plans on re-opening the Warmachine webstore on it’s website sometime early this week, and has stated it plans on continuing Privateer Press’s previously announced release schedule without major delay.
Next Dragon Age Game Rebrands with a New Name
This past weekend was the Summer Games fest, bringing not just one, not just two, but three days of games announcements that we have covered here on Goonhammer. One of the games covered this weekend was the next installment in the RPG series Dragon Age from BioWare, which got a surprise announcement last week about the new direction for the game.
Initially titled “Dragon Age: Dreadwolf”, the fourth game in the Dragon Age series has been in development hell since the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition almost a decade ago. After being initially pitched as a live service game, it was repitched as being rebranded into a single player game before going radio silent for several years. Last week, BioWare released a blog post on the next Dragon Age game, with much needed updates on the project.
The update comes with a name change for the next Dragon Age, now titled Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The name change is to emphasize the core cast of the new title, known as The Veilguard. “To capture what this game is all about, we changed the name as the original title didn’t show just how strongly we feel about our new heroes, their stories and how you’ll need to bring them together to save all of Thedas,” BioWare writes in the post.
Bioware gave us a first look at these new companions with a trailer during Summer Games Fest, and will show off 15 minutes of gameplay on Tuesday, June 11th.
UK Games Expo Plans for Big Expansion in 2025
Wrapping up earlier this June, the UK Games Expo (UKGE) saw record breaking attendance this year, and according to an interview with the event’s director from BoardgameWire, the convention is preparing for even larger attendance in 2025 and beyond.
This year, the UK based event centering around all things tabletop gaming saw 39,000 attendees during the course of the event in Birmingham. This number is a significant jump up from 32,000 attendees at the 2023 UKGE. The 2024 event also hosted almost 700 vendors, a 31% rise from last year according to BoardgameWire.
In speaking with BoardgameWire, co-organizer Richard Denning elaborated on his plans for the event’s expansion over the next few years. “We have more overall space – that was [already] something we were looking at. So about 20% more trade hall room and more event space.The total sq m is still in the decision stage as we work out where to do ticketing, which uses a lot of room – and before anyone else suggests it, it cannot be switched to table space mid-show for various reasons.”
This expansion for UKGE comes despite being outbid on the use of the largest trade hall in the Birmingham NEC venue. The 14,000 square meter Hall 1 has been the largest hall used by the UKGE in previous expos, but has been reserved by an undisclosed company for the next two years. Instead, UKGE will be using the 16,700 square meter Hall 4. Overall, the 2025 event should have around 20% more event space over 2024.
The 2024 Finalists Are Revealed for One of Tabletop Gaming’s Biggest Awards
The finalists for one of the biggest awards in tabletop gaming, The Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming, were announced last week on the award’s website.
The award has been distributed annually since 2001, each winner selected by a committee currently made up of over 50 professionals in the tabletop gaming industry. According to the Diana Jones website, the winner is “presented annually to the person, product, company, event, movement, concept or any other thing that has, in the opinion of its committee, best demonstrated the quality of “excellence” in the world of hobby-gaming in the previous year. It has been described as ‘the Nobel Prize of gaming.’” Previous winners of the award include the board game Ticket to Ride, Tabletop with Wil Wheaton, the concept of “Actual Play” tabletop roleplaying shows, and the RPG Coyote and Crow in 2023.
This year, there are five finalists for the prestigious award, each one representing tabletop excellence as voted by the committee. The finalists include Adepticon, board game designer Ami Bao, Denmark tabletop gaming convention Fastival, the TTRPGS for Trans Rights in Florida charity bundle, and the United Paizo Workers Union.
Age Of Sigmar Fourth Edition Gets a Release Date and Global Campaign Tie-In
Games Workshop finally gave its eager audience news about the release date for the upcoming new edition of Age of Sigmar, as well as the global campaign tie-in for the release.
The global campaign tie in for the release, “The Slaughter at Hel-Crown”, sees Stormcast forces and Skaven hordes fighting over the control of the fortress of Hel Crown in the realm of Aqshy. Should the Stormcast break through, it could be the forces of Order’s best chance at stemming the tide of vermin rushing into the mortal realms. Much like the Battle for Oghram campaign tie in for Warhammer 40,000’s Leviathan boxed set, players can scan a QR code leaflet supplied with Skaventide boxes to report the result of their games between Stormcast and Skaven, as well as any other battles between the forces of Order and the other Grand Alliances. 5 random participants will also be selected to win all new Strmcast and Skaven releases up through 2025.
Along with this global campaign news, Games Workshop has given us a hard date for the preorder window and release of the Skaventide box set, which will usher in Age of Sigmar 4.0. The Skaventide box preorders will go live on June 29th, with the wide release of the box happening on July 13th. The global campaign will be live for three weeks following the release of the box set.
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
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