Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a groundbreaking hit for Sabre Interactive programmers, selling over 7 million copies in less than a year. When the game is approaching the first anniversary, and thanks to the balmy patch 10, the head of development Tim Willits has a lot to do.
“It was not a streaming service,” Willits told me in an interview at Gamescom 2025. “You want to play it, you have to buy it. And this is just a rocking and it went on. And it was not overstated. It was not exaggerated. It was not exaggerated.”
But Space Marine 2 was not a guaranteed success. No video game is. In fact, things looked scratchy when Sabre and the publisher of Focus Entertainment announced a significant delay in the game, from 2023 to the second half of 2024.
This, as Wilits says, was the “smartest” movement of Sabre he ever made – and you can see why. Space Marine 2 is easily the biggest game of Warhammer 40,000 Video of all time, impressive veterans of the renowned Grimdark Tabletop and novices. There was a huge number of players, as well as record sales. As Willits told me last year, Space Marine 2 changed everything for Saber and a lot of time passed before the inevitable Marine 3 space was announced. The full second year of content for Space Marine 2 is also in the field.
“With Space Marine 2, if you remember, we delayed it,” said Wilits. “It was worth it! And it was the smartest thing we’ve ever done.”
When thinking about the first year Space Marine 2, Willits admitted that a constant challenge is to issue a sufficient DLC, both free and premium, to satisfy fans who are always hungry for more content. He pointed to the free horde mode, called the siege, as a special point of the cosmos Marine 2. “Can you replace any giant AAA games that release free modes within months after the match?” Willits wondered. “The band is passionate about it. They are super cosmic nerds, and the appetite on fans is exaggerated.”
Willits said that Sabre, who evolved the impressive Zombie technology for an earlier World War and applied it to the Tyranids for Space Marine 2, was prepared to provide DLC after launching. “We learned our lesson from World War. So we were much prepared.
Space Marine 2 is certainly set to a lot of DLC in the second year, but will it receive a history extension? Or maybe the fans will have to wait until Space Marine 3 comes out to find out what is happening next to Titus and friends? “I mean that we have some plans, but we have to work with Focus to get the appropriate advertisement,” Willits irritated. “Nothing is out of the table.”
The success of Space Marine 2 even had a positive impact on the development of other saber games, and taking into account the company’s confidence to delay again, knowing how beneficial it can be in the long run. For example, John Carpenter’s toxic commando was delayed from this year and at the beginning of 2026, and Wilits is completely calm.
“Space Marine 2 suffered so successful for us that we wanted to make sure that we were not in a hurried toxic commando,” he explained. “We wanted to make sure that the team has resources, time and tests. We conducted many beta tests, we played normal people. We registered a few weeks ago.
“This is one of the wonderful things in Sabre. We manage our company well and we do not do a scope, excessive design and bloating with our teams or our projects, which allows us to be:” Hey, you know what? Let’s spend a little more time on a toxic. Space marine is doing great, please inform about it. People love it. “
“Because players are shrewd. They always know when the game is thrown or like:” You could have done better if you spent a little more time with it. ” So we are in a position because of how we create games and how we work, and this gives us flexibility and freedom to focus on the fact that the games are as good as possible.
While Warhammer 40,000 was doing fantastic at Games workshops, before Space Marine 2 appeared, the video game certainly raised the setting to a higher level. Games workshops have recently been announced by the first officially licensed sea infantry helmet to wear – and it is stylized after the lieutenant Titus from Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.
Surprisingly, Willits did not know when I moved it. “It’s cool. I had no idea!” He said. “And I usually buy all these things.”
Wesley is a director, news in IGN. Find it on Twitter on @św100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpole@ign.com or confidentially at spine@proton.me.
