After years of Ukrainian readers only having access to Warhammer novels via pirated Russian translations, Games Workshop cut a deal with Molfar Comics (who also publish translated versions of manga and World of Warcraft novels) to localize books published under its Black Library imprint. When that contract suddenly ended, Ukrainians who were three books into the Horus Heresy weren’t super happy about it.
As Oleksandr Nevskiy, the co-owner of Molfar Comics, said to The Telegraph, “At a time when Ukraine is at war and we are fighting for our right to exist, having global products available in our native language plays an incredibly important role. These works are vital for the morale of our people, especially our soldiers—many of whom are our readers. We have repeatedly received photos of soldiers reading Warhammer books in trenches or in hospital beds.”
The internet, with typical restraint and consideration, went into full conspiracy mode, suggesting it was clearly a sign of Games Workshop collaborating with the Russian government to undermine the morale of Ukrainian soldiers who wouldn’t be able to go on fighting if they couldn’t find out what happened in the next Ciaphas Cain novel. (It was exactly the same thing that happened in every Ciaphas Cain novel, but you get the point.) This, despite the fact Games Workshop suspended all Warhammer sales in Russia back in 2022.
Games Workshop eventually had to respond with an Instagram post saying, “Among all of the many millions of comments and messages we’ve received this week, we’ve noticed a few, let’s say, imaginative accounts doing the rounds.” They went on to clarify that sales of Warhammer miniatures in Ukraine would continue, and that, “Recently we chose not to renew our contract with a Ukrainian publisher who had previously been responsible for localising Black Library novels. We won’t discuss the why. That wouldn’t be right. What we will say is that we thought long and hard about it, and it was done for good reason.”
The post finished by asking for any Ukrainian publishing houses “who match our dedication to quality and service” to contact Games Workshop and discuss a partnership.
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