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Games Workshop has announced that they will cease operations for the time being, due to the increasing number of countries and regions temporarily locking down to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
Their statement from their official community website reads as follows:
“The safety and wellbeing of all our customers and staff are paramount to everyone here at Games Workshop. In response to the developing global situation surrounding the spread of COVID-19, and following the advice and instruction from both the government here in the UK and throughout the world – we are closing Games Workshop sites around the globe.
This means that all our Warhammer and Games Workshop stores will be shut from the 24th March until an initial date of the 14th April. We’ll also be closing our factory and distribution centres [sic] – so our online stores (Games Workshop, Forge World and Black Library) won’t be selling or shipping any physical products during this period either. If you’ve recently placed an order and are waiting for it to arrive, please give us 48 hours to contact you. If you’ve still got questions after that, then please drop our Customer Service team a line via email, they’ll be valiantly working from home to ensure you’re supported over this period.”
This includes all Games Workshop stores closing down, as well as factory and distribution centers. This means that the company will no longer be taking orders through any of their online stores, including Games Workshop, Forge World, and Black Library. Anyone who placed an order in the previous 48 hours will be getting an email soon, if they have not already.
In the meantime, Games Workshop will continue to run previews, articles, stories, and other content on the Warhammer Community site, social media, Twitch, and ebooks and audio drama’s from the Black Library audio app.
“Most importantly, everyone stay safe – be supportive to the people around you, and keep your mind and body happy and healthy. When this all blows over, we’ll get back to throwing dice together soon enough!”
The lockdown on operations will extend to April 14th, at which point the company will reevaluate the situation to decide if stores, production, and shipping will reopen.
The coronavirus (also known as COVID-19 officially, or Chinese Flu to others) has affected many worldwide, from businesses to public gatherings and events. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].
This includes the postponement of GDC, and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, along with the cancellation of E3 2020. At this time, Gamescom 2020 is still being prepared, with organizers monitoring local regulations and the virus’ spread.
The Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering are mapping the virus’ spread [1, 2]. As of this time of writing, there have been almost 438,000 confirmed cases worldwide, and over 19,000 deaths. Over 111,000 people have made a “total recovery.”
On March 11th, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak “can be categorized as a pandemic.”
