They're taking the Hobbit to Squat-engard.

Rumours have leaked and once again, I feel like just... cataloging my thoughs about it somewhere. I didn't really start this blog for anyone but myself, after all.  

Suggestions are that the new Horus Heresy plastic sprues are for a standalone boxed game that will later be expanded into a more complete range, using a streamlined and simplified version of the rules for Warhammer 40,000.  

This sounds pretty good to me. It gives them a separate game that effectively works as a testbed for things they'd possibly want to put into regular Warhammer 40,000 - After all, that's their biggest moneymaker and if it tanks, it takes them with it, whereas Age of Sigmar was... less risky to mess with. 
As my previous post states, I was anxious about them over-simplifying Warhammer 40,000 too much and I feel that this way, they can test, revise and improve the system between the two games - although... that would mean that two of their big games are both set in the one universe and use similar rule systems, which is going to be odd and take some time to get used to. 
Of course, I do see this as risk free - They make a new game, if it flops, you have plastic space marine sprues to sell off. If it succeeds, more profit - and of course it takes the pressure off of Forge World, which I've heard is absolutely overwhelmed with the demand for Horus Heresy armour marks on marines, so this'll reduce their stress level and let them focus on new projects...  

What is unclear at the moment is what is happening with Forge World's Horus Heresy series - If Games Workshop comes up with their own game in the era, are there just two game systems with the same time setting and similar models? Games Workshop doesn't like confusion, so they may choose to axe the Forge World version. Which has happened before, but only on a small scale - Forge World came up with the initial rules for both super-heavy vehicles and flyers, which are now a standard part of the game (albeit in different states to how Forge World made them.)  
I'd hope that if they do replace this game, they condense the content of the current books down with it - such as put all the Mechanicum rules in one location so that all those Forge World goodies can still be used in the new game system.  
It'd be a shame, otherwise - while the Forge World team don't write consistent and clear rules (there's some ambiguity caused by poor wording in their work), I do feel that Forge World does try its best to write fair and balanced rules - indeed, a lot of their units are overcosted for what they do compared to generic Codex line books.  
I'd love to see some consistency on that front, to be fair... One staff of rules writers for both the 40k and 30k versions of the product would mean that they wouldn't have such inexpliccable inconsistencies.

I also hope that this (and the fusion of Forge World and Games Workshop websites) helps to eliminate some of the remaining stigma surrounding use of Forge World units in games. For some reason, I still occasionally encounter people who think Forge World units are overpowered and way too good to be used in regular games, and it's a shame because there's some really nice units I'd love to see get more use. 
There's no reason to feel Forge World units are that powerful really, given how the game is at the moment and how many combinations there are to play dirty - and I really hope that the "you can't use Forge World" attitude goes away.

The other rumour about this boxed game and expansion of Warhammer's Horus Heresy in stores in general is that it is replacing the Hobbit.  
They're Squatting the games system and getting rid of it. 
This isn't unexpected, the sales of Hobbit only went up with the release of subsequent movies related to the media, it was always going to be a time-limited game system.  
I don't mind too much about losing Hobbit - While the Lord of the Rings, Battle of Five Armies and Hobbit deals did get Games Workshop a lot of money that was used for things such as refining their plastic molding technology for superior quality techniques and casts, those things won't go away because it does. They were a learning experience.  
I've honestly only met about five people who ever played one of those games - they were possibly less popular than Fantasy - I say possibly because I have no sales or profits statistics to go by - and I think that clearing the range out of the store, out of production, out of maintaining the system will free up Games Workshop's stores, warehouses, sculptors and writers for a lot of other projects.  

If the replacement for it is indeed the Horus Heresy, it also stands to be wildly popular and make them more money to use for improving the other works they do, perhaps expanding in other areas...  

It's possible that this will mean Warhammer 40,000 isn't doomed just yet - If the rules for this are good, then when that eventual reassessment of the range happens, perhaps just a few unpopular units, mechanics and perhaps even the least popular of armies will go away (I'm looking at you, Adepta Sororitas.) and the rest will just be... slightly scaled back to a refined version of whatever they test for Horus Heresy.  
I'd sort of be okay with that. 
Obviously, I'll be sad if specific units I really enjoy go away, and if they removed my army (which I very much doubt as Orks are kind of everywhere plotwise) I would have to stop playing, as it is that army alone that I play with.  
Even if that did happen, provided Horus Heresy was a decent system, I could still play that - I do have a small smattering of Emperor's Children. And they're in MkIV armour, too.