At the time it was announced that
Tom Kirby would be stepping down as CEO of Games Workshop, there was an air of cautious optimism among the
Warhammer community. Many current and former fans at the time were not too happy with the current leadership, specifically with Tom Kirby's rather arrogant and myopic views of the business as a whole. His policies of utterly refusing to interact with the customer base at a company level, refusing to do any sort of advertisement or market research, and "minis first, game second" mentality made him seem more like an ostrich with its head in the sand than a savvy business executive. With games like
Warmachine and
Infinity gaining popularity and nipping at their heels, Games Workshop decide the best course of action was to simply stay the course and ignore the gigantic iceberg dead ahead.
The new CEO, Kevin Rountree, has proven to be the breath of fresh air the company has needed for a long time. 2016 has seen sweeping changes come to the company, and every major change has been greeted with a mixture of surprise and joy from the
Warhammer playerbase as a whole. From actual interaction with its customers to reviving White Dwarf to the launch of Warhammer TV both on
YouTube and
Twitch, it appears the company has jerked the wheel over and avoided financial disaster.