Space Marine 3 is Officially in Development

[Gorgoff]

Eldar as the enemy would be nice or Tau. Uh, like a human world goes traitor and in the beginning everybody thinks "it was chaos all along" but then BOOM frog faces arrive and start blasting. 

[Cyrox]

I hope its Orks again, or maybe Drukhari. Maybe even both.

 

Would be cool to have another playable character alongside Titus - a campaign split between him and another

[grailkeeper]

The old short story about Khârn the Betrayer where he had a kill counter in his helmet would make for a cool computer game, or at least some kind of challenge mode in the next Space Marine Game. 

[WARMASTER_]

I’m not sure it would happen as they’d have to go darker than I think they’d go, but I’d love to see Dark Eldar as the enemy! Visually awesome! Super fast so they’d make for great enemies in game that could be tricky to fight [could kind of act like the blood letters in SM1] I get bored of just mowing down hordes 

[Subtleknife]

I think due to the engine, at least one horde army will show up.

 

It is great news though that a 3rd game got green lit so soon after the second. It is nice not having the gap that we did between the first and second.

[Jukkiz]

Knowing how sm2 ends, i just wish we could meet more ultramarine characters. Titus meeting Cassius would bring out alot of dynamic with his tyrannic war skills. Plus as he´s still hounded about "touching the stone" would also be feasible, that he would meet tigurius too.

 

Spoiler

necrons are feasible as we see their buildings and couple units in SM2, I did not really get the end of sm2, as imuroth just kept babling that marneus did beat him and banished him into warp. He then made this complex ploy to get artefact back and use it to open warp rift. Hmm, i believe SM1 had chaos sorcerer that wanted the stone to achieve daemonhood. Whole ordeal about techpriests meddling with stone and saying "oh it´s just harmless if you know how to use it" Is kinda trope at this point.

Edited March 14, 2025 by Jukkiz
grammar errors and spoiler

[Domhnall]

I'm glad that there is going to be a SM3, but my biggest "concern" at this early stage would be how approach the gameplay, in regards to innovation and style.

They will need to have a new "Selling point" so people don't complain it's the same game that's come before, but at the same time not changing it too much so people complain it's not the same game as before! 

SM2 came out at what I'd say is just the right time (even though it was 13 years), because the main stream video game landscape had gotten a bit stale, with the same old same old live service games, looter shooters, etc etc. of varying quality being released so often recently (and ironically so many remakes/remasters). So a good old game of hack n slash goodness was a welcome relief (as well as that nostalgia hit). So if SM3 is released in the next 5 years, they will have to do something interesting with it to not be labelled "just the same game in a new setting". I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, but I'm not the gaming public at large. 

 

I could think of several ways they could go, but then it wouldn't be a "Space Marine" game and that's just not acceptable! 

 

I'm still looking forward to playing SM2 (I'm a cheap ass when it comes to games!), so looking forward to SM3 is a bit cheeky at the moment 

[WARMASTER_]

Slightly off topic

 

My only real issue with SM2 has been the PvP which at best I think is lack luster having played SM1’s PvP recently I can say with all confidence it was just better the movement/running/charging mechanics are all way tighter/better especially for the assault classes + given there’s only 3 real classes they didn’t have to really on gimmick abilities to make it “balanced” like we’ve got now! Not to mention opening with 3 mid/small maps and having no real chaos customisation 

 

I’m hoping the feedback filters through and they fix it for the next game because it’s because SM1’s was just superior 

Dreadnought assault was also insane and needs to be revived immediately 

[Nephaston]

11 hours ago, Silas7 said:

Guess that means 2 is going to see most of it's post launch dev power sapped

With how games development works it'll take the writers and concept artists first (the ones that are no longer busy on SM2). The programmers, animators, and actors come in later.

 

And if they're smart they won't chase the grail of fidelity further and just crank the same engine for performance and assets of the same quality.

[DemonGSides]

26 minutes ago, Nephaston said:

With how games development works it'll take the writers and concept artists first (the ones that are no longer busy on SM2). The programmers, animators, and actors come in later.

 

And if they're smart they won't chase the grail of fidelity further and just crank the same engine for performance and assets of the same quality.

 

Ideally yeah, they don't try to reinvent the wheel graphically and just hammer down on optimization; game can still be a bit laggy at the lower end or with weird PC combinations.

 

And anyone worried that this suddenly means SM2 will get less support is misunderstanding how marketing works.  You want people playing SM2 right up until the day SM3 comes out, spending money on microtransactions and getting excited for the next venture.  You don't rug pull and disappear; that will create bad feelings and negative sentiment around your game and will affect your hype growth and launch success.  No reason to knee-cap yourself right off the bat.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

23 hours ago, LemartesTheLost said:

Space Marine 3 is Officially in Development - Warhammer Community 

 

Well folks, they've gone and done it. I'm a bit shocked considering the sequel hasn't even been out for a year at this point. Thoughts, opinions?

Saber is thinking:

"Strike while the iron is hot."

23 hours ago, Matcap86 said:

 

Depends if they use the same engine and a bunch of the same assets it might be quicker than we think.

It will be on a new engine and the action like Battlefield. 

[Nephaston]

4 minutes ago, Deus_Ex_Machina said:

It will be on a new engine and the action like Battlefield. 

Unreal Engine 6 with mandatory path-tracing

[WARMASTER_]

1 hour ago, DemonGSides said:

 

Ideally yeah, they don't try to reinvent the wheel graphically and just hammer down on optimization; game can still be a bit laggy at the lower end or with weird PC combinations.

 

And anyone worried that this suddenly means SM2 will get less support is misunderstanding how marketing works.  You want people playing SM2 right up until the day SM3 comes out, spending money on microtransactions and getting excited for the next venture.  You don't rug pull and disappear; that will create bad feelings and negative sentiment around your game and will affect your hype growth and launch success.  No reason to knee-cap yourself right off the bat.

Is anyone versed in games really worried about that? 

[DemonGSides]

8 minutes ago, WARMASTER_ said:

Is anyone versed in games really worried about that? 

 

I don't assume that everyone who likes GW products likes video games so it's more of an explanation for those who might not be well versed in how video games maintain success. 

[Joe]

Probably worth noting Saber has the following big games on their plate currently.

• John Carpenter's Toxic Commando (2025)
• Jurassic Park Survival (TBA)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake (TBA, taken over from Aspyr)
• Untitled Avatar: The Last Airbender title (TBA)
• Turok: Origins (TBA)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine III (TBA)

Given we're well and truly pre-pre-production on SMIII (they likely don't have an idea for what they are doing yet), and everything else on Saber's plate right now, I'd wager SMIII is more than a good few years away.

[Nephaston]

8 hours ago, WARMASTER_ said:

Is anyone versed in games really worried about that? 

Probably not, but there is a lot of loud people proclaiming a games "death" and doomsaying it's lifecycle by either misunderstanding or misinterpreting the realities of game development and post release lifecycles.

 

For example; Helldivers 2 sold 12 MILLION copies, and had almost 460 THOUSAND peak player count at one time, which are insane numbers for a game, any game really. After it's player numbers normalized to a very healthy 40k daily peak and above some people on the Space Marine 2 Discord server proclaimed HD2 as "dead" since it has "lost" 99% of its playerbase, as 40 thousand is less than a percent of 12 million, which is misinterpreting the numbers. HD2 is and remains a success and anyone claiming otherwise is either ignorant of how player numbers work, lying about it, or trying to clickbait.

 

To bring it back to SM2 which sold 6 million copies, peaked at 187k at did fall to 1% of that player count to 8k. But unlike HD2 it is primarily a single player game which feature a sharper drop-off in player count once everyone has played the campaign. Regardless of this, SM2 is very successful, and remains so even at this comparatively lower playercount, and I presume once horde mode hits in the coming weeks we'll see another bump in its player numbers, which will result in another bump of money from people either then investing in some of the cosmetics, or buying the game at all (currently 35% off as part of steams spring sale).

 

Overall this is sadly just a small part of the ongoing trend of manufactured outrage, clickfarming, and doomsaying by unpleasant people that the internet has a tendency to bring forth.

[Alby the Slayer]

2 hours ago, Nephaston said:

After it's player numbers normalized to a very healthy 40k daily peak and above some people on the Space Marine 2 Discord server proclaimed HD2 as "dead" since it has "lost" 99% of its playerbase

 

Entering a discord server is like entering the warp without gellar field, while sticking your head outside the window of the ship.

 

Joking, but not so much... The things I saw, or rather heard in those places...

[Nephaston]

41 minutes ago, Alby the Slayer said:

 

Entering a discord server is like entering the warp without gellar field, while sticking your head outside the window of the ship.

 

Joking, but not so much... The things I saw, or rather heard in those places...

It's the official Focus Entertainment managed one, so it avoids turning into a cess-pit at least in the text chats, no such guarantee in the voice chats unless they got some AI listening shenanigans. Other than that or non-official discords, for talking SM2 there's also the focus forum, which consists mostly of wishlisting and complaining, the steam forum, which consists of complaining and wishlistiing via copypasta, and forums like these which, depending on their layout, might as well not include any discussion about SM2 unless they are news. (out of these the steam forums are by far the worst since every post somehow epitomises the complete lack of understanding of anything game development related

Spoiler

and/or loud and proud exclamations of the users bigotry

)

 

Either way, back on topic; with the engine being all about the hordes there might be a good chance we have Tyranids present again, unless they manage to squeeze a horde out of some other faction like maybe poxwalkers. Other than that no other faction can pile their infantry quite that high, so maybe something less swarmy like Necron Flayers, Khorne Flesh Hounds, Kroots or maybe some freshly cooked Dark Mech/Vashtorr cyber-beasties. Though if it has tyranids again I wouldn't mind if it was Jormungandr, Kraken, or Hydra.

 

Hell, since the assets exist, just have tyranids and thousand sons present again, but also introduce a third and fourth faction. I'm sure everyone would love if Orks chrashed that party.

[Nephaston]

Small threadomancy as IGN got an interview with Development Chief Tim Willitz talking about how lessons from the game Toxic Commando help in making SM3 even bigger.

 

Quote

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando’s launch came in below publisher Focus Entertainment’s expectations, but for Saber Interactive it was successful in commercial terms — and according to development chief Tim Willits, the tech work done for it will go on to benefit the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3.

 

Toxic Commando builds upon Saber’s proprietary tech to present a zombie swarm for co-op players to gun down. It’s technology used for Saber’s World War Z, for the Tyranids in Space Marine 2, and will once again be utilized for the upcoming Space Marine 3.

In its recent financial report, Focus owner Pullup issued a somewhat downbeat note on Toxic Commander, which came out in March. But in an interview with IGN at gamescom, Saber’s Tim Willits was more positive, confirming it was a profitable project for the company.

 

“We're really happy with it,” he began. “Focus' opinion, they're a publicly traded company, so they have to say what they have to say. We'll leave that to them. But for us, we're really excited about it. We have some new stuff coming out. We actually have a good playerbase.

“It brought more people into the Saber universe. When I say Saber universe, it's people that fall in love with one game who now start to look at us, like Space Marine 2 with our 14 million players. It's f***ing ridiculous. Just a few! And then World War Z, remember that's 30 million people that played that game. It's nuts. More people played that game than saw the movie or read the book.”

Willits went on to say that the tech improvements made for Toxic Commander will be further improved for Space Marine 3. Indeed, you can trace a line from World War Z through Space Marine 2 and Toxic Commando right to Space Marine 3.

Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition Cinematic Trailer: All Shots of the Emperor

 

“[Toxic] was a well-made game that was fun to play, and it shows people what we do really well,” Willits said. “It shows people that Saber games are enjoyable to experience with your friends. It's over-the-top. It built on our technology. You'll see more of that in Space Marine 3. You can see the progression with our technology moves. I feel that it was a good brick in that Saber wall.

“We're growing the company, we're growing the project, we're growing the technology. It was profitable for us. We don't lose money. We don't lose money on anything.”

I asked Willits how Toxic Commando’s tech will be improved for Space Marine 3, and while he kept his cards close to his chest on actual game features, he did hint at an expanded scope.

“It's the maturity of the technology,” he said. “You can see the bigger swarms, you can see the bigger areas, you can see the better AI. There's cars — you didn’t have cars in Space Marine 2. I'm not saying we're going to have cars in Space Marine 3. I'm just saying the technology is growing and developing and that's our technology. So we can focus on technology pillars that will support our future games like Space Marine 3 and Jurassic Park — that uses the same technology.”

 

One of the big questions for Space Marine fans is how Saber will expand upon the gameplay. Space Marine 2 limits squads to three characters (modders increased this), and while some of the play spaces are big, there’s nothing you’d describe as having any sort of open world design. Willits has talked about three being the magic number for Space Marine 2 because of the maximum number of enemies it’s able to throw at squads — having four Space Marines, say, would make the game too easy and “scaling enemy assaults to justify bringing a fourth player was too great of a challenge.”

But could Space Marine 3 up the player count by upping the enemy count and playspace? Could it increase the scope of the battles, which in Space Marine 2 are limited in terms of area and units? Willits says he’s not saying Space Marine 3 will have cars, but it does beg the question: will Space Marine 3 have vehicles? A Land Raider, perhaps? Maybe some flying missions in a Gunship?

As for Saber's swarm tech, I'm not sure repeating the trick with Tyranids will be enough for Space Marine 3 after fans spent so much time with them in Space Marine 2. Most believe Space Marine 3 will feature the Necrons, based on hints sprinkled throughout Space Marine 2. But what other factions would fit the bill? A return to the Orks seen in Space Marine 1? (Orks are the primary antagonist of the 11th edition of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game.) How about a focus on the relentless Death Guard and swarms of shuffling Plaguebearers? Saber has form when it comes to zombies after all.

 

As for how Space Marine 3 development is going, Willits was very enthusiastic, but again didn’t give much away. Speaking of how well Space Marine 2 had gone (he previously told IGN its success had changed everything for Saber), Willits said the development team was now working to top it.

“The Emperor loves us. We are The Emperor’s favorite,” Willits joked. “All I can say is 3's going great. 2's been really successful. Our DLC's been super successful. People love the mods. It helps the team with experience, knowing what fans actually want, making sure that we adhere to the true Warhammer 40K universe franchise.

“The success of Space Marine 2 has really made the team passionate about making sure that Space Marine 3 is even better. They feel that there's this confidence and passion and vigor, and you can see it. When you talk to the team, they're just in it. So I'm really excited about that.”

Willits recently told IGN that no generative AI was being used in the development of Space Marine 3, after a backlash online to its use in Saber’s Rideshare Stimulator. Space Marine 3 currently does not have a release window.

 

It's not too much information, but I do appreciate a nice bit of confidence. Now to fixate on the hope for bigger squads and vehicles.

[Jukkiz]

I really wish we could get other side stories, not just loyalist ones. Sure Titus is now well known character but come on 2 of the games are chaos sided so why not give us chaos story from their point of view

[Jings]

Man I hope they up the scale. Journalist is clearly hoping the Devs get some HD2 influence for SM3 with an open world design and honestly that's what I'm hoping for too. As much as I love SM2's PVE offerings something more free form than the current extra loosely threaded campaign would be massively welcomed. 

[Indy Techwisp]

So for SM1 we had Orks and Tzeentch aligned CSM.

For SM2 we have Tyranids and Thousand Sons.

 

What are people's predictions for the enemies in SM3?

[Lord Marshal]

42 minutes ago, Indy Techwisp said:

So for SM1 we had Orks and Tzeentch aligned CSM.

For SM2 we have Tyranids and Thousand Sons.

 

What are people's predictions for the enemies in SM3?

 

Necrons probably, judging by the 500 Worlds having focused on combating them. Maybe with Death Guard as the obligatory 'also Chaos shows up Just As Planned' as fallout from the Plague Wars.

 

Although I suppose having two 'they are slow and very tough to kill' enemy factions might be a bit meh.

 

Edited September 11 by Lord Marshal

[Redcomet]

4 minutes ago, Indy Techwisp said:

So for SM1 we had Orks and Tzeentch aligned CSM.

For SM2 we have Tyranids and Thousand Sons.

 

What are people's predictions for the enemies in SM3?

Orks and Death Guard

[Xenith]

Zombies in toxic commando, eh? Experience with hordes that keep getting back up again and coming at you? 

 

I'd say that's necrons 100% confirmed.