According to the Ukrainian publisher, this is important for maintaining morale. However, Games Workshop has not remained silent about the events.

After years of Ukrainian readers only having access to pirated Russian translations of Warhammer novels, Games Workshop signed an agreement with Molfar Comics, which also publishes translations of manga and World of Warcraft novels, to localize books published under the Black Library imprint. Ukrainians who had already read three books from the Horus Heresy series were unhappy when this contract suddenly ended.

“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,” said Oleksandr Nevskiy, the co-owner of Molfar Comics, in an interview with The Telegraph.

Conspiracy theories began spreading online, with some suggesting that Games Workshop was collaborating with the Russian government to undermine Ukrainian soldiers’ morale by withholding the next Ciaphas Cain novel. However, it is worth noting that Games Workshop suspended all Warhammer product sales in Russia in 2022. The company responded on Instagram:

“Among all the millions of comments and messages we’ve received this week, we’ve noticed a few imaginative accounts doing the rounds. Recently, we chose not to renew our contract with a Ukrainian publisher who had previously been responsible for localizing Black Library novels. We won’t discuss the reason 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,” Games Workshop wrote.

They also invited Ukrainian publishers who share their commitment to quality and service to get in touch to discuss a potential collaboration.

Source: PCGamer, The Telegraph, Instagram