Though Creative Assembly--developers of the Total War franchise--has made three games in the Warhammer Fantasy universe, they are not the original founders. Warhammer Fantasy is created by Games Workshop, who partnered with Sega to develop multiple titles. originally started as a tabletop wargame. The original game was released in 1983 under the name “Warhammer”.
The Warhammer took inspiration from Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, along with Conan the Barbarian. There are also elements from real-world history, specifically that of European descent, that Games Workshop took to helping in building the Old World together.
However, as the years went by and with the addition of Warhammer 40k, Games Workshop came to the conclusion that the Old World must come to an end. Therefore, during 2015, several books were released that contextualized “The End Times”: the second great catastrophe where Chaos emerges victorious, and only a handful of factions from the Old World escape to later become a part of the next and most recent addition to the Warhammer Fantasy universe, Age of Sigmar. This caused a great deal of controversy, as a great deal of fans were upset to see the lack of care put towards writing the events that took place during the End Times, believing certain characters weren’t given enough justice for how much they were built up over the years.
Yet despite the frustration in seeing such a uniquely built universe be consolidated with the removal of certain factions and units, the Old World still remains a fan favorite for those that wish to roleplay and experience the grim-dark fantasy.