Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Dev Moves to ‘Set the Record Straight,’ Insists It’s Not Abandoning the Game Following Space Marine 3 Announcement

The surprise announcement that development of Space Marine 3 development had begun sent shockwaves through the Warhammer 40,000 community, and sparked concern about the future of Space Marine 2.

Publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Saber Interactive announced Space Marine 3 in mid-March, just six months after Space Marine 2 came out, and amid existing concern about the amount of content coming to the game to keep existing players interested.

In a new blog post, both companies addressed this concern, promising to continue to support Space Marine 2 and even making a significant announcement about what’s to come.

“Mid-March, we announced that Space Marine 3 had begun development and we’re excited to see your enthusiasm, although we hear those of you who fear for Space Marine 2 and its future support,” the statement read.

“So let us set the record straight: Space Marine 3 does not mean the end of Space Marine 2’s development. ​Far from it. No teams are shifting over, no one is abandoning the game, and our plans to bring more awesome content to Space Marine 2 remain.”

So, what are those plans? Space Marine 2’s year one roadmap remains, and Patch 7 is set to be released mid-April. But in the coming months Space Marine 2 will get a new class as well as new PvE operations and melee weapons. “Trust us, there are surprises even dataminers haven’t found out about :)” the statement teased.

“This announcement simply marks the genesis of a new project, years away from release. We’ve made a decision and have just started the process.

“Many of you were very excited for this project and this makes us incredibly happy and motivated. Thank you for the unwavering support.

“That being said, we still have a lot to offer to the players with Space Marine 2.”

The big announcement here is the new class, although the new melee weapon isn’t far behind. Fans are already speculating about what these could be. In terms of the new class, most assume it will be the Apothecary, as close to a medic class as Space Marines have. But there is hope that it could be the Librarian, which would mean super cool warp-powered space magic.

As for the melee weapon, fans have already said they’d love to see the axe from Secret Level’s excellent Warhammer 40,000 animated episode in the game — so much so that modders went ahead and did it themselves.

The go-ahead for Space Marine 3 comes as little surprise given how well Space Marine 2 did. Speaking to IGN following Space Marine 2’s launch, Saber Interactive Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits said there was the possibility of story DLC, and revealed that ideas were already floating around for Space Marine 3. Without spoiling the Space Marine 2 campaign, it strongly suggests a continuation (IGN has reported on the enemy faction we’ll probably see in Space Marine 3).

“Our game director Dmitry Grigorenko, he has proposed some story ideas that could either be DLC or a sequel,” Willits said at the time. “Yes, yes, yes! There’s so many different factions… there are other chapters, too, that are interesting…”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.