Video games Workshop Simply Cannot Cease ‘Horus Heresy’ Scalpers

It’s change into an unlucky par for the course in fashionable gathering that if you’d like one thing, you’re not simply racing towards fellow followers who need it: you’re going through off towards a bot military driven by scalpers who need to make a reasonably revenue on the aftermarket. From trading cards to motion figures, from sneakers to event tickets, bots are all over the place… together with the grim dark future of Warhammer.

This week Video games Workshop introduced plans to launch pre-orders for a bonus “ultimate” entry in its lengthy working collection of Horus Heresy novels. Set roughly 10,000 years earlier than the up to date occasions of Warhammer 40K, the saga, which first started in 2006, recounts a galaxy-spanning civil struggle among the many Imperium of Man–when the titular Horus, one of many Emperor’s most trusted warmasters, falls to corruption and brings swaths of Space Marine legions to the facet of Chaos as he activates the Imperium. The collection, which spanned sixty 4 main books, got here to an finish in January of final 12 months with the discharge of The Finish and the Dying Quantity III, itself the tenth chapter of the “Siege of Terra” miniseries that coated Horus’ ultimate assault on Earth itself.

The newest ebook, Finish of Break, was a shock ultimate chapter. An anthology of quick tales set within the aftermath of The Finish and the Dying introduced earlier this 12 months, it was set to go stay for pre-order this week. However whereas the discharge of the novel itself is thrilling for Warhammer followers, the latest Horus Heresy books have been on a complete different degree of curiosity for a special cause. All through the “Siege of Terra” sub-series, Video games Workshop has debuted every ebook with a premium restricted version: not solely did they arrive with faux-leather sure covers, embossed with gold foil and detailing to make them seem like historic texts ripped proper out of 40K‘s universe, these restricted editions had been the unique approach to get every ebook bodily earliest. Though digital copies of every launch launched alongside the restricted editions, the usual paperback launch would come a month later.

Suffice to say, this made every restricted version extraordinarily in demand, for a dedicate fanbase that’s already primed to clog up the web tubes that make up Video games Workshop’s official web site each weekend to purchase the most recent fashions. Not solely are the restricted editions really restricted–working roughly just a few thousand copies, and solely accessible instantly by way of Video games Workshop–the standardized nature of all of them makes finishing the set a dangerous gamble of funding. When you get one, it’s laborious to cease at simply one among them, as a result of it’ll look bizarre on the shelf with out its faux-leather pals. And thus, with each launch of a brand new chapter since “Siege of Terra” started in 2019, Video games Workshop’s web site would buckle beneath demand, followers would get indignant, and dozens upon dozens of copies would inevitably find yourself on websites like eBay for double or triple the unique value.

Irrespective of how laborious Video games Workshop tried to counteract scalping–together with utterly overhauling its web site in 2023 to implement queuing systems meant to discourage bots–every restricted version would promote out virtually instantly, resulting in a brand new wave of aftermarket gross sales, and a brand new wave of anger. Followers thought it could be over when The Finish and the Dying Quantity III launched final 12 months (which itself had suffered a equally controversial launch) however with the announcement of Finish of Break, they braced themselves as soon as extra this previous Tuesday, June 10, to enter the fray. And it did not go properly.

Inside moments of Finish of Run going stay on Video games Workshop’s web site at 5am Japanese, the queue system displayed ready instances numbering within the hours. Quickly sufficient, the queue was paused. After which, Video games Workshop’s web site went down utterly, for a interval of upkeep that may final hours. Individuals had been livid, and it seems, so had been Video games Workshop, sufficient to launch a uncommon assertion in regards to the mess this week.

“At present we launched our pre-order for the much-anticipated particular version of Siege of Terra: Period of Run,” an announcement posted to Facebook learn partly. “Sadly, scalpers tried to make use of bots to bypass our regular safeguards. our eagle-eyed Tech-Monks caught this occurring in actual time, so we pulled Warhammer.com offline. What this implies is we’re pausing the launch of Period of Break and have eliminated it from Warhammer.com in the meanwhile.”

“Don’t fear, it’s nonetheless coming–we’re simply completely decided that actual followers get it,” the assertion continued. “All faulty orders are being purged. That is our primary precedence. Please forgive us for a delay as we type all of it out.”

Included within the assertion was seemingly step one of Video games Workshop’s renewed try and cease resellers: a e-newsletter join hyperlink for purchasers to be notified when pre-orders for Period of Break would relaunch. It’s already a slight step up from when the identical situation struck the launch of Finish and the Dying Quantity III, which merely hit the identical web site points just a few weeks later when it opened up the queue system once more. However contemplating that is removed from the primary time that this has occurred to the Horus Heresy collection, at what level do the businesses “regular safeguards” cease being secure sufficient?

Whether or not or not the brand new spherical of gross sales for Period of Break will go extra easily stays to be seen. But when there are simply as many complications for Horus Heresy followers as soon as extra, then one among Video games Workshop’s most beloved ebook collection goes to finish in an period of damage of a special type.

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