Games Workshop: Building a Hobby Empire in Japan One Figure at a Time

Prototypes of Bandai’s Space Marine action figure and capsule toys at the International Tokyo Toy Show in June 2019.

James Long, Japan sales manager for Games Workshop. The Seattle native says he went from fan to company man, working his way up from a store manager in the United States to his current position.

Games Workshop figures can be painted and enjoyed on their own or as part of table-top gaming.

Games Workshop has been hard at work creating Japanese versions of its products, including special figure series and novellas.

A special boxed paint set for the second series of Space Marine Heroes. The starter product was a huge hit and quickly sold out in Japan.

Prime 1 Studio offers a towering version of Games Workshop character Gabriel Angelos for a whopping ¥ 169,000.

The spring 2018 special Games Workshop edition of Hobby Japan.

The Tachikawa store in Tokyo is one of Games Workshop’s biggest in Japan.