Creative Assembly and SEGA Group have entered into a multi-title licensing deal with Games Workshop

[IZob]

Link: http://www.creative-assembly.com/seg...rhammer-games/

December 6, 2012
SEGA and Creative Assembly Announce Partnership with Games Workshop to Create Warhammer Games

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON – 11AM GMT, December 6, 2012 – SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced that Creative Assembly™, award-winning creator of the Total War™ series, and SEGA® Group have entered into a multi-title licensing deal with Games Workshop® to create videogames based in the Warhammer® universe of fantasy battles.
A new high-calibre development team has been set up at Creative Assembly’s UK studio to work alongside the existing Total War, Alien™ IP and Mobile teams on the first Warhammer title in the deal, scheduled to launch from beyond 2013.
“With this year being our 25th anniversary”, said Tim Heaton, Studio Director at Creative Assembly, “it seems fitting for us to embark on such a dream project with such a well-established partner. The incredibly rich and detailed Warhammer world is something we grew up with, and has left an indelible imprint on us as both designers and gamers.”
“We’ll be doing the Warhammer universe justice in a way that has never been attempted before. We’re bringing those 25 years of experience and expertise in extremely high-scoring games to bear, delivering a Warhammer experience that videogamers will absolutely love.”
“We have enormous respect for SEGA and Creative Assembly and have felt for a long time that the combination of the enormously rich setting of the Warhammer world, and their stunning development talent is a match with huge potential,” said Jon Gillard, Games Workshop’s Head of Licensing. “Now that we’ve managed to bring these two giants of gaming together it is safe to say that some truly amazing products are going to be unleashed as a result. We are excited at the possibilities, and are enthusiastically working with the team at Creative Assembly already.”
This first Warhammer game joins the eagerly-awaited Total War™: Rome II and the untitled Alien IP as one of five projects currently in production at Creative Assembly, now one of the largest developers in Europe.
For future updates and career opportunities please visit www.creative-assembly.com.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

I approve of this.
Finally we might get a proper fantasy game.

[Eien]

I'mma throwing my money at my screen now!!!

[Påsan]

Good. This is good. Warhammer Fantasy deserves some attention.

I think its rather likely it will be a fantasy game though? CA doing fantasy and Relic doing 40K? Capice?

Now with my two of my top three favorite game developers on board we just need a Hollywood blockbuster movie franchise and its gold.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Well CA is good at making huge epic battles involving swords and all that so I can't see them making a 40k game due to a different type of world with a very different type of fighting.
I just hope they do a sandbox style game and not a story based one. Oh and have all the armies from the game playable and that includes beastmen.

[Plant]

Finally. I was wondering why there has been all sorts of poor Warhammer fantasy games, but all without the partnership of Creative Assembly.
They are both based in UK, so I only expect an excellent game, though hopefully without DLC and hero powerup levels (hah!)

I can only think of that GW has been incompentent in choosing the developer for fantasy battles, or that CA has repeatedly refused till now.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

I can only think of that GW has been incompentent in choosing the developer for fantasy battles, or that CA has repeatedly refused till now.

Think it's more that GW been cautious with giving the IP to someone.
Mark of Chaos sucked and Warhammer Online was a dud so I think they wanted to be sure that there is a chance of success.
And the Total War games has only gotten more and more popular and with CA current engine and based on how Rome 2 sounds like so far, GW no doubt thought this was the right time to give CA a shot at it.

[nameless]

Think it's more that GW been cautious with giving the IP to someone.
Mark of Chaos sucked and Warhammer Online was a dud so I think they wanted to be sure that there is a chance of success.
And the Total War games has only gotten more and more popular and with CA current engine and based on how Rome 2 sounds like so far, GW no doubt thought this was the right time to give CA a shot at it.

Aren't those MMOs though? I mean very few have been able to recreate the same success as with WOW.

I mean this would be the first to get away from all that crap and actually make an actual game you know.

Too bad it doesn't include 40k.....

[Ummagumma]

There is an elephant in the room..

GW has rights to make LotR/Hobbit tabletop miniature games.

A CA/SEGA Middle Earth game might grow out of this, if they prove to be a (financially) successful partnership. Then drop GW as they have access to the original source.. cut out the middle man, as it were. Now ~that~ could be fun. Time for the TATW modders to apply for a job at CA, perhaps?

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Except it doesn't work like that. CA can't make a LOTR or Hobbit game since GW doesn't own the rights for that. GW runs the LOTR tabletop games yes but they do not own the IP for it, whoever handles Tolkien does. And right now they like Warner Bros to handle anything that is related to video games. So no, there won't be any Middle Earth total war.
CA only got the rights to make games based on Warhammer which is GW own IP and what they do have control over.

[Ummagumma]

I know they won't get the rights in a trickle-down way. But it will show those with vested interests (the IP holders) how successful this collaboration may be. It mostly depends on how deeply the other developers are tied in to exclusive deals.. and exactly how exclusive those deals are. But, where there is a will, (and a lawyer) there is a way.

(The 'middle man' I was referring to is that Warhammer was very much established as a clone of Middle Earth, all those years ago. Yes, it has grown into something less like a cutout after all these years of development, but.. If there was no LotR, there would never have been a Warhammer.. Not a comment about how IP licensing works. )

[Londinium]

I know they won't get the rights in a trickle-down way. But it will show those with vested interests (the IP holders) how successful this collaboration may be. It mostly depends on how deeply the other developers are tied in to exclusive deals.. and exactly how exclusive those deals are. But, where there is a will, (and a lawyer) there is a way.

(The 'middle man' I was referring to is that Warhammer was very much established as a clone of Middle Earth, all those years ago. Yes, it has grown into something less like a cutout after all these years of development, but.. If there was no LotR, there would never have been a Warhammer.. Not a comment about how IP licensing works. )

Warner Bros own their own games department and seem very keen on keeping their own IP in house now that the EA/LOTR deal is over. Look at LOTR: War in the North which was released last winter. I doubt they'd license it, even to CA.

The Tolkien license is actually really complex. New Line got the rights to adapt the books for film and also all other properties based on the films (using the LOTR story). Meanwhile the Tolkein estate retained the rights to the books. So you had the odd situation when the first trilogy came out that there were competing games. One based on the movies (EA) and one based on the books (can't remember who)...even though the movies are based on the books. Warner Bros later bought New Line, so now those rights reside with Warners.

Theoretically CA could strike a deal with the Tolkein estate but to circumvent being sued by Warner Bros, they'd have to make everything look very different to the movies, which have their own unique visual style owned by the film studio. Which is what that LOTR game all the way back in 2001 did. However this doesn't fit your scenario because there's no link in companies between CA-GW-WB and the Tolkein estate.



Anyways awesome news about this, I hope it's a proper Total War game instead of a 3rd person hack 'n' slash or something like that. Very much looking forward to Warhammer: Total Waaagh.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Well LOTRO and all those books are the grandfather of fantasy and that's that really.
I think Warhammer Fantasy has seperated itself enough that it's stand on it's own.

[Adar]

Well I finally completed Warhammer Dark Omen last week (bragging thread here) so the timing was excellent.

[Markas]

Well I finally completed Warhammer Dark Omen last week (bragging thread here) so the timing was excellent.

Not sure that's anything to brag about Adar. Men have joined the French Foreign Legion for less!

The first thing I thought about when this was announced was a new Dark Omen game. I miss Bernhardt grumpy bastard that he was.

[Adar]

Not sure that's anything to brag about Adar. Men have joined the French Foreign Legion for less!

The first thing I thought about when this was announced was a new Dark Omen game. I miss Bernhardt grumpy bastard that he was.

Getting a copy and forcing it to run on anything more recent than Windows 98 is an impressive feat regardless of what you think...

The only reason for me not even starting to prepare my next stationary computer is that I know that it will be buggy and unfriendly to modding. But I still want it...

[Primarch Dorn]

I approve of this.

[Okuto]

I approve......should be interesting

Just dont let GW anywhere near pricing.........esp for what they charge for their digital products

Just let CA do what they do best

[Lord of the Drunk Penguin]

So now what? Warhammer Fantasy Total War ?

[Ulysses S. Grant]

Just because its CA is making the game doesn't automatically mean its gonna be an RTS like the Total War series. It might be, but I've seen a lot of people automatically assume this despite the announcement only stating that they are making a game about Fantasy but not its content. That and CA stated that it will be in development alongside Rome 2 and I doubt that the Total War team would be making two games alongside each other especially as both now have extremely high expectations.

While it would be cool, I think Warhammer Fantasy needs to be different from Total War in its gameplay. There is a lot that happens in fantasy that the Total War engine can't do (Even now). Personally I would like to see an Assassins Creed style game with an open world to explore and fight in. A game as a travelling Warrior Priest hunting down beastmen, orcs, skaven, undead and the followers of chaos in the vast expanse of the Empire would be awesome. Similarly you could have a Dwarf Slayer, wandering vampire, chaos champion etc.


But only time will tell what it will be.