Games Workshop took matters into its own hands during a limited edition Horus Heresy book drop and took down its website to stop scalpers.
For those unaware, the Horus Heresy is the Space Marine civil war that took place 10,000 years before the current Warhammer 40K setting, and it’s regarded as one of the most important ‘founding myths’ in all of Warhammer 40K lore. For such an important event, Games Workshop thought the latest tome in the Horus Heresy, Siege of Terra: Era of Ruin, was so important it deserved a limited edition run that Warhammer 40K makers promised would only be available as supplies last. The limited edition Siege of Terra: Era of Ruin is an anthology short story collection, set after the events of the Horus Heresy.
GW raised the alarm for 10:00 a.m. UK time on June 10 for fans to flock to their website with the goal of pre-ordering the new tome. Games Workshop elected to use a queue website system to ensure “fair distribution,” but shortly after fans were left confused and disheartened by the release. Queue lines wouldn’t shorten and anxious complaints ran rampant on forums like Reddit with the same issue. Then, the website was pulled down for seemingly no reason whatsoever.
Games Workshop then posted an update to their official Facebook explaining why the website was pulled down. The entire statement is posted above, but it basically boils down to scalpers still attempted to bypass the system in place, so Games Workshop took the entire website down to deter scalped purchases. Games Workshop notes “We’re just absolutely determined that real fans get it. All erroneous orders are being purged.” It’s worth noting Magic: the Gathering had a recent issue this week with online queue systems on their Secret Lair marketplace, but in that regard Wizards of the Coast has yet to respond despite sites and fans calling it a “scalper-fest”.
Now, fans just have to sign up here and wait for an email letting fans know when the drop will happen again. Fans can rest assured the latest Siege of Terra limited edition has not sold out yet, it was just delayed.
