Games Workshop, the company behind the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 universes, is looking to capitalize on the success of last year’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. In its latest earnings reports, CEO Kevin Rountree credited Space Marine 2, along with action racing title Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks for the company’s video game-related royalties.
Rountree acknowledges that the history of Warhammer 40,000 video games is spotty, and that the company making money off releases like Space Marine 2 and Speed Freeks isn’t something it can take for granted. Rountree goes on to talk about how, while remaining cautious when it comes to future royalties, the company is now on the lookout for its next big hit.
“We recognize that successes like these for Warhammer are not a given in the world of video games. Clearly we are looking for the next one. We remain cautious when forecasting royalty income,” said Rountree in the investor report.
Developed by World War Z studio Saber Interactive, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a single-player action-adventure game that puts players in the shoes of Ultramarine captain Demetrian Titus. After having spent quite a bit of time with the Death Watch squad as punishment for the events of the original Space Marine, Titus finds himself once more a member of the Ultramarines as he gets ready to stop a Tyranid invasion, and eventually uncovers a greater conspiracy by the forces of Chaos.
Space Marine 2 was released back in September 2024, and quickly became a massive hit. The game’s three-day early access release itself managed to get more than 134,000 concurrent players, and on full release, the game quickly shot up the sales chart. According to a report from November, more than 5 million players had played Space Marine 2. By the end of the year, Space Marine 2 was also named as one of the best-selling titles on Steam.
Since its release, the game has gotten continued support in the form of updates that brought balance changes, bug fixes and more quality-of-life features. They also added new content in the form of fresh PvP maps and missions for the co-op Operations mode. More recently, the game received support PS5 Pro enhancements, as well as support for new technologies like DLSS 3 and FSR 3.
For more details about Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, check out our review.