A Warhammer RPG in development at Thought Pennies was recently canceled by South Korean developer and publisher Nexon.
Sources speaking to Eurogamer confirmed the title was a collaboration between the two studios. Rumors of the project’s end stirred last week, and a representative for Thought Pennies told the outlet that Nexon “made a strategic change.”
“The partnership worked well and we got a lot of good input…but late last year, we agreed to end [it],” the spokesperson said.
Last November, Thought Pennies eliminated positions after losing funding on a then-unknown project. At the time, CCO Daniel Erickson claimed the similarly unnamed publisher opted to pursue a new “strategic direction,” and didn’t disclose further specifics.
A team-up between Games Workshop (which owns Warhammer) and Nexon was first announced in 2021. Said project was to be based on the Warhammer Age of Sigmar fantasy franchise, which Eurogamer’s sources corroborate.
When the project was first revealed, Nexon teased it as a PvE game for PC, mobile, and consoles. Thought Pennies wasn’t named as a developer back then, and this would have been its debut project after starting up in 2020.
Not all Warhammers are equal
While there have been Warhammer 40,000 games for decades, developers have only recently begun making video games based on the Age of Sigmar miniatures. It debuted with two mobile games in 2018, and its most recent title was Frontier’s Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin in 2023.
There was an Age of Sigmar game last year, an autobattler subtitled Soul Arena, but that was canceled.
Meanwhile, the 40K license is still attracting players. It was recently revealed Warhammer 40K: Space Marine II hit 6 million players since its September 2024 launch, and was a success for publisher Pullup Entertainment. Owlcat Games’ Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader, another game under the sub-series banner, has recently sold 1 million copies. More 40K media, games and otherwise, is on the horizon.
Likewise, there are a consistent number of games based on the Warhammer Fantasy setting, with the most recent entry being 2023’s Blood Bowl 3.
With how successful recent Warhammer games have been, and how ongoing a presence it’s had in the medium, it makes Nexon canceling its Sigmar RPG even more surprising.