'Warhammer' Fan Series TTS Announces Indefinite Hiatus In Protest Of Games Workshop's New Strict Copyright Policies

Bravura Alfabusa, the content creator behind long-running Warhammer 40k parody series If The Emperor Had A Text To Speech Device, better known as TTS, announced yesterday that he is putting the series on hiatus due to the updated, strict IP guidelines of Games Workshop, the company that owns Warhammer 40k, that explicitly bans fan animations.

Last week, Games Workshop announced stricter sets of its IP copyright policies, attempting to make clear fans can make fan art or fan sites, these "must not include text, artwork or imagery copied from any official Games Workshop material." In the "Infringements" section, they state, "individuals must not create fan films or animations based on our settings and characters. These are only to be created under licence from Games Workshop."

This obviously put TTS in a bind. In the video, Bravura Alfabusa stated that while it's possible the series could be safe under "fair use" law, if Games Workshop went after it, he would have that the funds to mount a legal battle against Games Workshop and potentially YouTube.

The new guidelines also coincide with Games Workshop's announcement that they're making a Warhammer+ subscription service which will include two Warhammer animated series. Games Workshop has already poached some fan animators.

The announcement of TTS' hiatus made fans angry at Games Workshop, with some announcing their intent to never purchase anything they produce.

This fan animation has introduced thousands to Warhammer 40000 and is now sadly going on hiatus.

Why?

Because the people behind Warhammer 40000, Games Workshop, have decided that they don't want fans to make independent content. https://t.co/REzhDweC34

— StopPickingOnTheUrizen (@trolldrool) July 29, 2021

I was legit thinking about getting into #warhammer40k minis.
Thank you for making the decision easy: I will never support #GamesWorkshop again. https://t.co/XiO9TzNbjs

— English Narwhal (@ImmobilePizza) July 30, 2021

#GamesWorkshop I really hope you're happy, you killed several amazing animation channels, destroyed the best parody team TTS from alfabusa which lasted years. i wanted to start buying and painting minis and make a ork army, welp not anymore.

— ROFLguard (@RLguard) July 30, 2021

#GamesWorkshop
Scum pic.twitter.com/i1jzjXW2cj

— Trent_o_Diamonds (@DiamondsTrent) July 29, 2021