40K: 8th Edition – Release Window?
Warhammer 40k 8th Edition is rumored to launch this year – and that might be sooner than we think…
After doing some digging and comparing notes with the latest rumors and info we here at BoLS are ready to make an educated guess as to when the next edition of Warhammer 40k is going to make it’s appearance. But let’s walk through some of that information with you, dear reader, so we can all be on the same page.
First off, Spikey Bits is reporting the following important dates for GW store managers:
via Spikey Bits
- February 18th & 25th.
- April 1st & 8th.
- May 6th & 20th.
- June 3rd, 10th, & 17th.
These dates are days that the store managers are restricted from taking off because they are days when “New Products, Key Activities, Large Promotions, or a combination of all” will be available. Now, let’s cross reference some of those dates with what we saw from the Inner Circle North American event:
via Games Workshop
KEY DATES:
3/22/17 Inner Circle “Special Announcement”
5/13/17 Ritual of Judgement
5/13/17 In-Store Party
5/13/17 Announce store winners on Facebook
5/17/17 Final (5) Grand Prize winners announced on store Facebook pages at 4:30pm (central time)
6/3/17 Final (5) winners flown to Dallas for Inner Circle final celebration
Here are some other important dates as well:
- March 13-17th – GAMA Trade Show. GW will be in attendance. This is typically a business-to-business event but last year they revealed Lost Patrol
- March 22nd – GW will be making announcements at Adepticon 2017
- May 28th – End of GW Fiscal year. (Here’s their Fiscal Calendar) — This one is important!
Also relevant, let’s look at the past few years for edition changes:
- May 2014 – Warhammer 40,000 7th Edition
- July 2015 – Age of Sigmar
- July 2016 – Age of Sigmar General’s Handbook
Looking at this information we can try to make some education guesses about what’s coming down the pipe – and possibly when Warhammer 8th edition will come out.
What we know for sure:
- February 18 – Shadows over Hammerhal launch and (more) Stormcast Eternals Pre-orders
- March – Gathering Storm III / Space Marine Triumvirate (Confirmed by Warhammer Community and White Dwarf)
Now here’s where we get to speculating…
Tinfoil hats ready? Let’s do this!
We know that Games Workshop has a couple of projects/rumors floating around right now and one that keeps popping-up is the rumored Duardin release. We think that would probably be a good fit for late March/early April.
The Age of Sigmar General’s Handbook II has been getting worked on since before this past December. It would make sense that a release that important would be an “All-hands-on-Deck” type of release. That could still be a few months out depending on the type of feedback they get from the playtesting. Now, the last two AoS releases were in July, will they keep that trend up or will they bump it up to one of those April/May/June dates? We’ll have to wait and see.
Please be plastic…
Adeptus Titanicus is also slated for 2017. Here at BoLS this is one of those games we’re REALLY looking forward to. We’ve heard the rumors that they are trying to decide how to package this one…I’m personally hoping they go full plastic for the models, otherwise it’s going to have some major hurdles to overcome to become a viable game here in America. Ordering direct from Forge World can still be a roadblock for a lot of folks.
However, seeing as how we’re speculating – It would make sense for Games Workshop to want to put a risky release towards the end of May. They have had a really strong Fiscal Year thus far and if the Adeptus Titanicus is a slow burner it won’t have a huge negative impact on their End of Year report (the impact wouldn’t truly be felt immediately). And if it’s a hit, well, that will feed into the great year they’ve been having and help boost the start of the next.
Then again, if they are still trying to decide on how the packaging and layout will go this product might be pushed until the fall timeframe – again, same reasoning based on the fiscal calendar, only instead of impacting this years earnings, it would roll-over till next year.
That brings us to the big question. When is 8th Edition launching? Well, based on these dates, the historical patter of releases and Games Workshop’s Fiscal Calendar we think those dates in June are going to be the best fit. Games Workshop has seen what happens when you kick your fiscal year off with a new flagship edition. Hopefully it’s a massive success for them and then that sets them up for having a great year.
But in case it’s a bit of a bomb, they can make-up ground with other releases and “right the ship” before the next mid-year financials (that date would be late December 2017/January 2018). Just like they did in a post-AoS world in 2015.
So which day in June? Well, they have blocked off 3 weekends in a row. June 3rd, Games Workshop will have just finalized their fiscal year that week (May 28th is a Sunday, June 3rd is that week’s Saturday). They are already planning a celebration that week as well. So maybe the Grand Prize winners will be in Dallas with some fantastically painted armies at a celebratory launch party for 40k – that would be pretty cool, right?!
Or maybe that’s just the announcement/preview of 8th and the actual release is the following weekend – June 10th. Who knows? (Well, GW obviously!)
So what do you think? If you had to guess, what day would you pick for the launch of Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition?
