Latest news with #Warhammer
Metro
3 hours ago
- Business
- Metro
TwitchCon 2025: European streamers time to shine
As Twitch begins a big push towards mobiles and vertical streaming, the recent TwitchCon event in Rotterdam showcased both the company's talent and its CEOs. Although TwitchCon started a decade ago now, it's evolved from a once modest convention for the streaming community to an unmissable celebration of online culture, live entertainment, and digital influence. This year's European event in Rotterdam stood not only as a testament to Twitch's enduring importance but also to show how European content creators are carving their own niche in the global streaming arena. Convention centre Ahoy Rotterdam welcomed tens of thousands of fans, creators, and industry partners across two days filled with panels, meet-and-greets, drag shows, and… Warhammer mini painting. The emphasis was on community, but there was a palpable sense of change in the air, as Twitch showcased how it's planning changes around the shifting landscape of monetisation, platform trust, and regulation. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy explained to me how important it was, to have a European presence: 'A lot of times when people talk about Twitch, they always think, how is it different to meet the needs of this European country or whatever? I think that Twitch needs are universal needs. Humans are humans, whether they're German or French or Italian or English.' 'Certainly, different cultures have different characteristics. We do a ton to support our streamers in every country, we do a lot of meet-ups, and we localise our platform for the different markets. Obviously, we have to do things like making sure the currencies that are different in different markets work but we very much think of ourselves as a global platform. 'And so everything we do is sort of focused on the global communities that form on Twitch. When we picked TwitchCon, it's mostly trying to balance and find a place so that folks can come, we looked around and everybody, the community, loved Rotterdam. But one of the things that happens in Rotterdam is we have a bigger imprint on the city when we're there. 'That's what we've experienced when we're in San Diego versus, if TwitchCon is in Los Angeles or Vegas. It's not as distinctive, because those towns have so much going on, and so Rotterdam was really welcoming. They were excited to have us. So it's really been great here in Rotterdam as opposed to saying TwitchCon Europe. The big thing we keep trying to think of is Twitch is really a language-based platform, hence, Twitch is kind of borderless.' Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. It's no coincidence that European creators are front and centre this year. As Twitch faces stiffer competition than previous years, especially in the States from platforms like YouTube Live, and Kick. Its European community has become one of its most stable and vibrant, known for its loyal viewership, cross-border and language collaborations, and charity events like France's ZEvent, which raised over €10 million (£8.4 million). Upcoming legend Aimee 'Aimsey' Davies has carved out a powerful presence on Twitch since launching her career in 2018. The Welsh streamer, known for her hyped Minecraft content and emotional discussions on LGBTQ+ topics, has built a following of over 1 million fans. A proud lesbian and advocate for inclusivity, Aimsey has become a fixture in the Minecraft scene, collaborating with top creators like TommyInnit and Tubbo. Her impact was recognised with the LGBTQ+ Streamer of the Year award at the 2022 Gayming Awards and in 2025 she joined Red Bull as their latest esports ambassador, continuing her mission to champion representation in gaming. With pink hair and a special style in shoes, Saiiren brings a different kind of magic to Twitch. A VTuber (anime avatar), she turned personal health issues – a heart condition and the resulting isolation during the pandemic – into a springboard for creativity and chat. With over 200,000 followers, she blends music, games, and storytelling as a testament to her resilience. Last but not least, with a following of over 5 million, I spoke to Tubbo, a popular UK Minecraft streamer bout tips he had for success in streaming and what he was up to at TwitchCon. 'If you want to succeed in streaming, just have fun with it. I guess because the more time, the more you enjoy it, the more you'll do it, which means the more hours you'll stream, which means the higher chance you'll have of finding lucky success. I recently did a subathon where I streamed for 64 days straight, and I did like 45 events during that, back-to-back, and that was pretty good. 'My community is just so chill. They're just always around to hang out and do something crazy, and they do also make fun of me a lot. I guess that's just kind of our dynamic. I met 200 people from my community yesterday. 'From Dan's announcements, yesterday I was quite excited for being able to rewind VODs back. That's gonna be so useful for producing live events and getting replays, because the biggest pain is you have to wait 10 minutes, but real-time that's gonna be really nice for events. 'If you're doing any sports event and you want instant replays, and you're not recording locally, that's gonna be really useful, because I know that's what a lot of live events do, they stream on YouTube at the same time, just so they can have that wind back for replays. So, it's a game changer. 'In my future. Well, you're only young once. I run a Minecraft hosting company which provides free service to people. I currently have 170,000 Minecraft servers, so probably just keep working on that, because it's quite new. Only been doing it for a few months and that's something you think, once you're a building service, that's my vibe, building services.' TwitchCon 2025 also served as a platform for the company to unveil key features. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy took to the main stage on Saturday morning to outline a raft of new features in his keynote speech, which included vertical streaming aimed at mobile phones. Plus, creators being able to stream in both horizontal and vertical formats simultaneously, as well as in 2K, as the new HEVC codec provides high-quality video at lower bitrates. A new feature called Combos lets viewers react to big moments using Twitch-based digital currency Bits, encouraging hype parties through shared effects. Affiliate requirements are also becoming more accessible and Twitch is making it easier for non-Affiliates to collect earnings before hitting payout thresholds. But the big news of the weekend was the rewind feature, letting viewers catch missed moments and jump back into livestreams. I spoke to Clancy about these intended improvements to the platform and community: 'The reality is, if you're under 25 today, you grew up with a phone in your hand and you have very high expectations about a mobile device. Historically, Twitch's core userbase have been PC gamers. PC gamers all have a big monitor somewhere in their house, usually with a gaming device right there and that's why a lot of our watch time comes on the desktop. 'But that's because people put it on while they're doing other things. But we need to really be thinking in the future. More and more people may not have a big desk, a big screen somewhere in their house. More Trending 'Mobile is central to how people maintain their community and maintain that engagement. So we've been, in the last year, spending a lot of time getting the app more in line with most mobile devices. I think having vertical viewing is sort of obvious. People like holding their phone like that, and that's just really thinking much more about mobile as a primary platform of engaging and maintaining your community. 'We talked about clips, and we need to make clips on the platform easier to get to. We have the Stories feature. One of the things I often talk about is I love making it so that streamers will find three to five moments after every stream and publish it to Stories, so that way their community can catch up if they missed that stream.' A red flag that wasn't addressed was Twitch's recent decision to limit stored highlights and video uploads to 100 hours per user. The change, which quietly took effect earlier this year, has disproportionately impacted speedrunners and esports archivists who rely on long term storage for competitive documentation. Twitch has defended the move as necessary for server cost efficiency, but the blowback has been severe, with some creators moving their archives to YouTube or independent hosting platforms. As the event came to a close on Sunday afternoon, attendees streams over the weekend displayed a dynamic mishmash of cosplay, dance challenges, charity speedruns, and heartfelt shoutouts to the closest of communities. It was evidence that Twitch has become not just a streaming service but a living, breathing organism built by its users, a pulsing mess of the best and worst of gameplay, personality, and technology. Whether Twitch can continue to navigate the maze of innovation, controversy, and competition remains to be seen, but it is trying to keep moving with the times. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Mario Kart World doesn't have 200cc but it is easier to dodge blue shells now MORE: New God Of War game is 'smaller scale' 2D Metroidvania claim insiders MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 updates for over 12 Switch games live now including Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Hull tabletop gamers level up struggling high street
With Warhammer creator Games Workshop riding high on the success of videogame Space Marine II and recently joining the FTSE 100, Josh Gorroño Chapman visits the tabletop gaming club thriving on a struggling high street in between Boyes and a vape shop, you could easily miss the small shopfront with "Hull's Angels" above the the staircase leading up from it, the hum of voices turns into a cacophony and I find myself in a large room packed with people."You've got the Hell's Angels motorbikers in America. We're not quite that," laughs Adam Stephenson, chair of the tabletop gaming club on of players are locked in battle across 18 tables, each populated with terrain from the shelves that line the explains the space had been empty for nine years and was not always the well-equipped gaming hub it has become."It used to be a William Hill betting site, so it took a lot of effort and time from our volunteers trying to make this our new home."They showed up, scrubbed the floors, scrubbed the walls and got painting," explains the 32-year-old. "It was a a great experience and we turned it around within a month." Mr Stephenson says the idea for a club first came about when they realised nowhere else in the city had the capacity for Warhammer games on this play the Games Workshop wargame, with the worldwide tabletop sector worth about £8.6bn in 2023, according to consumer data firm in 1983, players simulate battles between armies using painted plastic miniatures. "You may have a 100 model army," explains Adam, "all the way down to a five model. It's available for all sizes and budgets."Hull's Angels have set up their own leagues, matching players who want to get involved."It's great for growing that community and getting people together." Connor O'Neill says he first got into the hobby during Covid-19, "to keep [his] sanity", but has since found it is a great alternative to boozy nights out."As I got older I stopped going out partying and drinking and it was just a way for me to socialise," explains the 30-year-old. "A lot of the friends and people I associate with now are from this place."Asked what has driven the recent surge in interest he cites ex-superman actor Henry Cavill being a "poster boy" for the hobby as well as the videogames and media surrounding the Taylor, 32, thinks games like Warhammer offer a "very different sort of experience" to online games. "It's very social," he Atkin agrees. "I get bored after about 20 minutes," he says. "The computer's doing it all, whereas here I'm physically moving the pieces."The 70-year-old started playing in the early 1980s and says, while the scene in the city has "massively increased", having a place like Hull's Angels has really helped. "I had my garage kitted out, but it's much easier to come to a central hub." Amy Snuggs is sitting with her partner Tim Davis learning a new tabletop game. "It's changed my life," says the 32-year-old."Before I met him, I had no idea about miniature painting or war gaming."Finding she loved the painting side, she has now turned it into a job, becoming a professional miniature painter for tabletop gaming company 2020, Hull City Council received a £1.75m grant from Historic England to regenerate and "breathe new life" into Whitefriargate. The council said the street had been impacted by the Covid-19 Stephenson says centres like Hull's Angels could help revitalise Britain's high streets. "We see it in the news all the time. Our high streets are struggling and shops are struggling to stay open.""Places like this really seem to thrive and succeed, and it's maybe time for the high street to change."Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Is this Britain's most successful firm? The High Street shop which has given every worker thousands of pounds - after being set up by three supergeeks in a bedroom in 1975
A major high street firm that could be Britain's most quietly successful brand has enjoyed such a prosperous year that it has given all its staff members bonuses totalling thousands of pounds, 50 years after it was founded. Games Workshop was set up by three supergeeks in a bedroom in 1975, but is now one of the UK's top companies, having entered the FTSE 100 with a total value of more than £5billion. Best known for creating Warhammer figures - a table-top model game played by millions of people worldwide, which has spawned a series of video games - the firm is now worth more than easyJet, B&M, Burberry and Ocado. And after a bumper year it's now handing out some £20million to its 2,950 staff worldwide - the equivalent of £6,779 each. Games Workshop's shares have soared in recent years and it joined the FTSE 100 for the first time in December. The £20million payout is an increase on the £18 million awarded last year and £11 million the year before that. It comes as Games Workshop forecast its sales to soar to at least £560 million for the year ending June 1, up from £494.7 million in the previous 12 months. The brand is beloved by millions across the world - most notably actor and The Witcher star Henry Cavill, who has previously posted photographs of himself painting his own figures on social media. Former Conservative leadership candidate James Cleverly is also a fan of the game. But the origins of the firm are far, far away from the bright lights and star-studded hills of Hollywood or crowded chambers of Parliament. The gaming dynasty was founded by a trio, Steve Jackson, John Peake - who came up with the name - and Ian Livingstone. Livingstone has since been honoured with a knighthood for services to the 'online gaming industry'. Originally, the pals had been a manufacturer of wooden board games such as backgammon, with Peake crafting sets to supplement his meagre income as a trainee civil engineer. But everything changed when the schoolmates managed to wrangle the distribution rights to Dungeons & Dragons - which has since seen a recent resurgence in popularity after being featured Netflix's 1980s-based sci-fi fantasy, Stranger Things, and a film starring Star Trek actor Chris Pine released in 2023. The 'pivot' from traditional board games to fantasy table-top figurine battlers proved divisive and led to Peake cutting ties with Games Workshop in 1976. 'John left because he wasn't really interested in fantasy games, he did wooden games,' Jackson said in an interview. Little is known of what happened to Peake after he left the company. However, he seemingly wrote a critical one-star review of his former business partners' book 'Dice Men', earlier this year. The book chronicled the rise of Games Workshop but was dubbed 'very much a disappointment' by a reviewer claiming to be Peake on Amazon. 'I'm John Peake, the co-founder of Games Workshop with Steve Jackson. Having read the first thirty or so pages of Dice Men I realise I need to tell things the way I remember them,' the reviewer says. 'It's now over 49 years since Games Workshop came into being, and I've kept quiet all this time. But much of the account of the founding and early days of Games Workshop given in Dice Men does not align with my memories of that time, which remain clear. 'I feel strongly that Dice Men almost completely ignores my pivotal role in those early times, not only with conceiving the name, but also the crucial financial contribution I made in the first twelve months, producing wooden games for sale and thereby funding our fledgling business. 'I know I'm banging my own drum, but without my initiative, Games Workshop would not exist, and I regret that this fact is ignored in the book.' Initially working from their top-floor flat in Shepherd's Bush, west London, the Games Workshop founders started selling Dungeons & Dragons by mail order, having netted themselves an exclusive three-year deal to supply all of Europe. 'We started selling D&D by mail order, but people would be milling about outside looking for a shop,' Ian told the Londonist. 'Of course it wasn't a shop. We'd have to open the window and yell down: 'are you looking for Games Workshop? Up here mate". 'The phone would always ring, it would be telephone sales for D&D and we'd run down the stairs, and it'd be too late because he'd just hang up on people, because he got fed up of all the calls. 'Ultimately we agreed we had to leave because people and parcels were arriving.' The pair opened their first office in the 'cubby hole round the back of an estate agents' that was so small 'that if a customer arrived, one of us would have to leave as it wouldn't have space for all three of us', Ian added. Despite their increasing popularity in the late 70s, retailers failed to spot the appeal. In 1978, Jackson and Livingstone opened their very first Games Workshop store in Dalling Road, Hammersmith. Fast-forward 46 years, and there are now 548 stores worldwide - with branches in most cities and big towns in the UK. Livingstone and Jackson sold their shares in the company in December 1991 for about £10million. Livingstone has since gone on to be knighted, while Jackson is a professor of game design at Brunel University. It was after this period that Games Workshop's new bosses sought to focus on is miniature games, Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000 - which have gone on to become their most lucrative sellers. Small packs of its resin models typically sell for £26 a pop while some of the most expensive individual figures can sell for an eye-watering £2,169.99. Some fans have become so addicted by the hobby, that they have vast collections of 'armies' worth tens of thousands of pounds. The firm's revenues benefited considerably from the Covid-19 pandemic, when consumers sought new indoor hobbies to occupy their time. Although lockdown curbs eventually ended, the firm's trade has continued expanding, and its market value now stands just above £5billion. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: 'Games Workshop has a rock-solid core business, underpinned by an army of fans emerged in its fantasy worlds who collect miniature figures and play its board games. 'This success has enabled the company to build a rich library of intellectual property that is now the platform for additional revenue generation. 'Licencing the rights to certain brands and characters is easy money, but Games Workshop is fiercely protective of its assets and won't let anyone come along and milk them.' Superman star Cavill, a self-declared lifelong fan of the figures, will star in and produce a Warhammer 40,000 series with Amazon Prime and Games Workshop. Last December, hw posted on Instagram: 'To celebrate some Warhammer news, I decided to make a pilgrimage to the very first place I bought Warhammer models over 30 years Little Shop, on my home island of Jersey! 'My incredible team and I, alongside the brilliant minds at Games Workshop, have been working away in concept rooms, breaking down approaches to the enormity and magnificence of the Warhammer world. 'Together, we've been sifting through the plethora of incredible characters and poring over old tomes and texts. 'Our combined efforts have led us to a fantastic place to start our Universe, which has been agreed upon by those up on high at both Amazon and Games Workshop. That starting place shall, for now, remain a secret.'
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Secret Level' sound editor Matt Yocum on using the ‘punchy aesthetic' of video game audio for new animated series
'One of my favorite parts of my job is the variety,' says Matt Yocum about the diversity of projects on which he has served as sound editor. An Emmy Award winner for The Last of Us, he has worked on both television and film, from live action to animation. 'Animation really does stand out amongst the herd of other possible choices,' says the designer, because 'you're not necessarily tied to any 'natural conventions.' You're able to bend things and go further and manipulate sounds in different ways and be more exaggerate.' Yocum has brought that approach to the Prime Video animated series Secret Level and discussed the show as part of our Meet the Experts: TV sound panel. A self-professed gamer, Yocum delighted in taking part of Secret Level, which he describes as 'an immense undertaking.' He explains, 'Although they're all animated, each episode is in its own genre and has its own world with its own rules and set of logic and creative approach.' The first season of the show features 15 episodes inspired by 15 different games, ranging from Dungeons and Dragons to Pac-Man and beyond. More from GoldDerby 'Have I said too much?' David Chase and Alex Gibney on revisiting 'The Sopranos' for 'Wise Guy' doc - and, yes, that finale Every Disney live-action remake, ranked from worst to first (updated) All the 'Mission: Impossible' movies, ranked (updated) Even though Yocum brought a unique approach to each episode of Secret Level, he introduced cohesiveness across the entire season by drawing upon principles of video game sound. He explains, 'Game audio has, in a lot of cases, this specific, punchy aesthetic. There's something hyper-real about things and impactful.' The sound editor aimed to 'bring that punch and that largeness and that impact and the visceral nature of things' to all 15 installments. SEE 'Secret Level' creator Tim Miller explains how he gets writers to create short stories based on video and role-playing games One of the standout episodes of the season from a sound perspective is 'Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear.' This entry was a massive undertaking for Yocum because, in his words, 'The edict from the director, Dave [Wilson], on day one of Warhammer was, 'Nothing in the Warhammer universe is small, so everything needs to be huge.' These are huge titanic marines and they're flying in big ships and they're shooting huge guns and they're carrying big swords.' From his perspective, the challenge of executing something so humongous in sound design is, 'If everything is a 10, then nothing is a 10.' 'The trick on something as loud and as big and as rambunctious as Warhammer is to create pockets in order to create contrast, because the way you achieve something feeling 10 is by perceiving it and following it with moments of fives or sixes or sevens,' describes Yocum of his approach to adding variety to the massiveness of the fifth episode. He adopted this method 'so that the loud stuff feels loud,' punctuated with 'moments of soft.' Warhammer is also unique because of its overall lack of dialogue, save for some introductory narration and a line or two throughout. Director Wilson came into production with 'this whole sweeping, flowing backstory' that the audience might not understand, but which Yocum found tremendously helpful. 'I actually love knowing that stuff," observes the supervising sound editor, continuing, "It gives me the why behind every sound, so in those pockets of quietness, I can pull from those ideas and create things.' This article and video are presented by Prime Video. SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby Dream Team: 'Étoile' creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino on the secrets of their partnership: 'You want to be jealous of something someone has done' TV sound editors roundtable: 'Adolescence' and 'Secret Level' 'The dialogue is king': 'Adolescence' sound editor James Drake on the 'chaotic and intense' first episode Click here to read the full article.
The Sun
23-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Warhammer figurine maker to share £20m staff bonus after sales and profit boost
WARHAMMER figurine maker GAMES WORKSHOP is handing some £20million to staff after the key game series grew profits and sales over the past year. The UK-based firm says it will hand out the bonuses as a share of its profits 'on an equal basis to each member of staff'. The reward for the brand's strong performance beat the £18million given to employees last year, and the £11million they got the year before. Games Workshop is understood to have 1,500 people working at its headquarters in Nottingham, and more around the world. At the end of the last financial year, the firm had nearly 550 stores selling miniatures for fans to collect, paint and play games with. Games Workshop said it expects revenues this tax year to be at least £560million, up from £495million the year before. And pre-tax profits for the year are reckoned to be £255million, up from £203million in spring 2024. The firm last year capped off its successful streak by joining the FTSE 100 index. In December, the company struck a deal with Amazon to let it adapt Warhammer's setting for TV and film. It has other licensing agreements with partners who make computer games set in the fantasy sci-fi universe. Belief is high Confidence in personal finances for the coming year leapt five points to +2, still five points worse than in May 2024. The outlook for the general economy saw a four-point boost to -16, also worse than last May. What is inflation and what does it mean for me? Heat 'n' rises RETAIL sales rose last month as warmer weather pushed up demand for food and clothing, figures show. Overall sales increased 1.2 per cent in April, from 0.1 per cent in March. The Office for National Statistics said it means growth over the past three months has been the 'largest in nearly four years'. Good week 3 EASYJET chief Kenton Jarvis after the low-cost airline reported an 8 per cent rise in passengers within a year. Bad week 3
