Culture

Warhammer+ is finally live, here's what you should know about it

The too-good-to-be true streaming service for grimdark fans may be just that.

Games Workshop

After years of false starts and delays, fans of the grimdark fantasy / sci-fi worlds in Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 now have their own, all-encompassing premium subscription service for original shows, films, novels, and gaming content. First announced earlier this summer, Warhammer+ is finally available, and currently includes the premiere episodes of the long-awaited shows Angels of Death and Hammer and Bolter.

But while the prospect of multiple Warhammer series might have many fans champing at the bit, there are a couple of things worth noting before you pledge allegiance to Games Workshop’s God-Emperor.

First, the price — which, in all honesty, is a pretty good deal. Warhammer+ currently runs for $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year, and after one year of subscribing, fans will get a free, exclusive collectible miniature along with the option of purchasing a second. Now, for the tricky part: the ethical dilemma... didn’t see that one coming, did you? Join us after the announcement trailer for that thorn in your decision-making side.

A great rift among fans — For those not intensely tuned in to the world of Warhammer, allow us to quickly bring you up to speed. The fan community is one of the oldest and most loyal out there but has recently become extremely upset with Games Workshop (the owner of the IPs) for its militant crackdown on pretty much any and all fan-made series on YouTube.

This came to a head over the summer when the creator of one of the most popular Warhammer 40K parody series, If The Emperor Had a Text-To-Speech Device, announced they would be putting their project on indefinite hiatus because of legal worries after an eight-year run that amassed nearly 390,000 subscribers and over 136 million views. Ironically, a different fan series, Astartes, caught GW’s attention, which then hired its creator to work on Warhammer TV projects. All in all, fans are not amused and have since promoted a wholesale boycott of official 40K merchandise... including Warhammer+ and similar future projects.

We won’t tell you what to do — So, yeah. It’s a bit messy. It’s also unclear how this will all shake out, and if fan boycotting will be enough to convince Games Workshop to change its tune towards unofficial content, but in any case, Warhammer+ has defied the odds and finally made it to its official release. What you decide to do with that information is solely between you and the God-Emperor.