I don't know. It might just be Dan Abnett who prefers the old world over AOS fragmented realms
Malorndk
...He's not the only one :mad. Sorry, I don't want to sound like one of those grumpy AoS detractors who crowd the web nowadays, is just that I really loved the world that was. But then again, I am old :s. We must make space for younger generations :)
There is no young generation to grab. The next generation will grow up with Netflix and steam. They won’t even have the patience to put in a Blueray or buy a nondigital copy of their new games. To believe that Age of Sigmar would allow GW to get “New, young players” is idealistic. Their needs from the entertainment industry will be way more fast paced and noncomitting than traditional (and overpriced) wargaming. But that’s not the topic of this thread. Dan Abnett is a GW cashcow, with some good publication on the Horus Heresy. If he says: “Hey, let me write a warhammer novel in the Old World” I doubt anyone will tell him to get lost. So yeah, over the years we might see some sporadic novels from guys like him and Gav Thorpe, but I don’t think it will ever be as intense as during the End Times, with novels hitting the playerbase in a constant flow of small waves.
I imagine a general rule has gone out that only books in the new setting are required.
I read gavs thoughts on his new book (aos) and its basically the editors say; we want a book on x that includes new stormcasts and skaven (as some new product or repackage due by time book is out)
This is par for the course when you write for an existing product line, and I’m 100% sure the same kind of restrictions were in place for BL authors writing in the Warhammer world. As a writer for hire, you’re given a specific brief and told to go write a story that follows it - since the novels are designed to support the game, that brief will involve the products released for that game.
Even Gav, a former game designer for the company, doesn’t have the clout to just go off on a tangent and write whatever story that comes into his head. He’s paid to do a job.
Obviously during end times, yes, but bl were releasing books every month for years for whfb that were not connected at all with whatever happened to be released.
GW claims that the old Warhammer world is dead and doesn’t release anything to make customers remember the rich setting.
In the new AOS setting, the Fireslayers have some superficial resemblance to Chaos Dwarfs (even when fighting Chaos). So if you are tempted by this Fireslayer novel, a friend of mine was not impressed at all by the writing:
GW claims that the old Warhammer world is dead and doesn't release anything to make customers remember the rich setting.
Firehammer
That's not likely to last long. A company changing wholesale from a range of comparatively high value to one of lower value and sales is likely to turn back before competitors fill up their abandoned niches completely. Sheer stubborness, IP obsession and more rational factors might mean that WHFB won't resurface for years to come from GW proper, but expect the old setting and AoS to coexist in parallell sooner or later, unless GW would retreat from the fantasy field altogether. After all, Warhammer is their IP, dormant or not, and the vulnerable generic aspects constitutes some of the setting's core strengths.
Thanks for the warning about the writing. With luck, that might pick and up and get inspired by time as the setting is better fleshed out, but I'll avoid AoS novels for the time being.