Games Workshop has revived the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition book after scalpers descended upon its pre-orders, forcing Warhammer.com itself offline.
In June, Games Workshop pulled its own website, Warhammer.com, offline after scalpers caused chaos during the launch of pre-orders for the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition book.
Siege of Terra: End of Ruin is an anthology of short stories set during the aftermath of the Siege of Terra and the Horus Heresy. For the uninitiated, the Horus Heresy is the Space Marine civil war that took place 10,000 years before the current Warhammer 40,000 setting. It is the foundation of 40K’s grimdark universe, and reveals how the carrion Emperor ended up on the Golden Throne.
Siege of Terra: End of Ruin was a hugely exciting release for 40K lore fans, but its special edition is even more enticing. It features a leather-effect cover with gold foil details, gilt page edges, and a metal emblem of a ruined Imperial eagle.
Games Workshop had signaled the special edition would be available “strictly while stocks last,” and that it would go on sale at 10am UK time on June 10. It also told fans it planned to use a queue system “to ensure fair distribution.” Unfortunately, this queue system caused chaos, with fans desperate to pre-order the book unable to make progress. Amid frantic messages of complaint across social media, Discords, and subreddits, Warhammer.com suddenly… stopped. It was offline, and no-one knew why.
Eventually, Games Workshop issued a statement on the debacle — a rare event in of itself — to say it had brought Warhammer.com offline because it had noticed scalpers were bypassing its systems. “Scalpers attempted to use bots to bypass our normal safeguards,” Games Workshop said. “Our eagle-eyed Tech Priests caught this happening in real-time, so we pulled Warhammer.com offline.”
At the time, Games Workshop promised Siege of Terra: End of Ruin would return, but half a year went by without any news. Now, Games Workshop has announced plans to sell the special edition once again — but with one key chance that has already got real fans excited.
In a post on Warhammer Community, Games Workshop said the special edition of Era of Ruin is being made available this coming weekend as a “guaranteed stock run.” Order it between Saturday and 8am UK time on Christmas Eve, and “you’ll be on the list to receive a copy of this sumptuous edition capping off the Siege of Terra series.”
This means the special edition is a “guaranteed stock product,” with Games Workshop printing the books based on demand. As a result, production and delivery can take up to 180 days.
Reaction to the news among fans is hugely positive, with some declaring it a win for real fans of the Warhammer 40,000 setting and a big L for scalpers. “Era of Ruinin’ Scalps,” declared one fan on the Black Library subreddit. “It’s the best decision they could make,” said another. “The secondhand market is 95% scalpers.” Another fan added: “Print on demand, what sweet words to read!” “Do I need this book? Absolutely not. Will I be purchasing so they see how positive this move is? Absolutely,” declared another fan.
Some are now hoping Games Workshop uses this release method for all its special editions going forward. “I’m totally cool with waiting a bit of time to get my copy if print on demand is an option moving forward,” said one hopeful. “It’s about freaking time. I’ve been saying this for five years. It’s about time they did something sensible,” added another.
“This is REALLY great news, HUGE win by GW and BL. And here I thought we weren’t going to have anything for Christmas, this is the best present. And I hope they see the potential of this kind of order, it could literally change everything. Really really pleasantly surprised.”
Games Workshop has suffered pre-order problems for years now, and special edition book launches are often plagued by scalpers who go on to sell the products at hugely inflated prices. Fans are now crossing their fingers this new method of selling books actually gets them into the hands of real fans.
Image credit: Games Workshop.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
