CEO Kevin Roundtree tries to ease tariff fears while still acknowledging their impact – “…it is business as usual for Games Workshop.”
Last month Games Workshop released their annual report for fiscal year 2024-25. As an overall level, GW is still doing quite well and they have the numbers to back it up:
So About The Trump Tariff Impacts…
Games Workshop pulled in record sales for the year and had a nice boost from licensing from the “exceptional performance” of their external partners for video games like Space Marine 2. That said, that was for fiscal year 2024-25. Much of that fiscal year was before the Trump Tariffs were enacted. And, just as a reminder:
A tariff is defined as a tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports.
Due to the fact that GW has to import goods from outside of the US, they are impacted by those same tariffs. What does that translate into as a financial impact? For GW, it’s about c.£12 million in 2025/26. That’s roughly $16.1 million converted to US dollars. GW does have a benefit here in that they do have a US corporate entity and have a base in Memphis. But that has still led to some fears from various trade partners, staff, and customers. But CEO Roundtree is confident in their business, saying:
So to be clear – it is business as usual for Games Workshop, once again a new normal has to be accepted. It’s mostly out of our control. We continue to manage our taxes in line with our policies and are monitoring the ongoing legislative changes in the US, and any potential impact on our effective tax rate.
According to their annual report, there’s no way around it: the tariffs are going to impact the gross margins for next year. GW does have a plan to make up that shortfall through “efficiencies.” But even Roundtree acknowledged that they are already very efficient and this is not a simple task. It’s probably going to take longer than a year to correct as well.
Part of that plan involves raising the “RRPs on new products (the average was c.5% in 2024/25) to represent the significant investment it has taken to deliver them.” That translates to increased prices for future products from GW.
Price Increases From GW? You Don’t Say!
All that to say that GW as a company is doing well. Sales have increased, more stores have opened around the world, and customers can expect a price increase coming in the future. Most of us expect an annual price adjustment anyhow. The real question is how much more of a jump will we see in prices for 2025-26 due to a combination of that annual price increase and the tariff’s impact?
At this point I also wonder how elastic the customers are willing to be on GW’s prices at this point. There’s also other outside factors to consider when it comes to miniatures and tabletop gaming, too. Competition is growing. 3D printing is becoming more common and easier to access. What will the tipping point be for consumers to just bow out due to being priced out?
On the flip side, you also have to wonder how much of a margin hit GW is willing accept? Sure they could take a hit to their margins and eat into that profit. But GW is a publicly traded company that’s been on an uptick for the last few years. Investors don’t like to see those negative numbers. It’s that whole “short term gains vs long term losses” concept.
It’s the balancing act that GW has been doing for years. To their credit, they’ve gotten quite good at it. And from the looks of things they are attempting to hold steady and keep at it. Maybe that’s the right call here — just keep doing what’s working. I guess we’ll have to wait and see from their next half-year report if it’s working out for them.
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That “gross margin shortfall” is going to be made up from somewhere. And it’s looking like the customers are the target.
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Writer, Editor, Texas Native, and now Tex-Pat, Adam covers all things Tabletop Gaming. Which includes Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, D&D, Board Games and everything else that involves dice, boards, cards and a table.
A hobbyist, player, and collector of miniatures and games, Adam’s current obsession are his Death and Chaos Armies for Age of Sigmar, his Blood Angels and Tyranids for 40k, an expanding collection of Marvel: Crisis Protocol minis, and his ever growing Arkham Horror: The Card Game Collection.
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