Following the huge success of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, developer Saber Interactive is now talking about how it plans to continue Titus’ story, as well as its long-term commitment to the series.
IN Interview with IGNartistic director Tim Willits (formerly of Id Software) revealed that game director Dmitry Grigorenko “has proposed a few story ideas that could be DLC or a sequel.” Nothing is set in stone yet — “We’re literally gasping for breath,” Willits says — but after two million copies sold and countingand reaching over 200,000 concurrent players at launch, the team hopes to be committed to the series long-term.
“I can confidently say that we will not disappoint our Warhammer fans in the future,” says Willits. “This is too much of a success! I know it’s obvious, but I hope we’ll be working on Space Marine content for a long time.”
The final word on Space Marine’s future, of course, lies with Games Workshop and publisher Focus Home Interactive – but I think it’s fair to say that both companies like money, so with results like these, a continued partnership seems likely.
It’s a gigantic moment for a relatively miniature developer like Saber Interactive. Having such a huge hit “changes everything” and allows the studio to “dream bigger” — in other words, make bigger games with bigger budgets.
In the meantime, the game already has a solid post-launch development plan in place for its Operations and Eternal War co-op modes. Willits cites this approach as one of the “key reasons” for the success of the studio’s previous co-op shooter, World War Z — and it’s still receiving novel updates five years after launch, so Space Marine 2 could have a very long tail.
While I have mixed feelings about Space Marine 2 (and am unimpressed by the rather tedious rhetoric that has come out of the CEO of Saber Interactive recently), I am certainly still interested in seeing more of the series. It’s great to see Warhammer getting so gigantic and exhilarating in video games, and as I noted in my review, while I found the action in Space Marine 2 to be a bit disordered, the representation of the 40k universe is brilliantly impressive. Saber’s passion for her surroundings shines through clearly, and I loved seeing it captured in such visual splendor.
I’d also be surprised if this doesn’t make other publishers take Warhammer a little more seriously than they have in the past. Space Marine 2 proved that it’s possible to have solemn mainstream success with the series – it can be more than just a home for niche strategy games. Hopefully this will be a boost not only for Saber Interactive, but for Games Workshop video games in general. Who wouldn’t want to see a more sweeping and ambitious Warhammer experience in the future?
