The 13-year-long wait for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is over, culminating in a massive feat as the co-op shooter set a new concurrent player number record on Steam for a game set in the Warhammer: 40,000 universe.
Space Marine 2 is the sequel to Warhammer: 40,000: Space Marine from 2011, and upon launch, the game reached a peak of 225,690 concurrent players on Steam. This milestone easily broke the previous record held by Total War: Warhammer 3, which peaked at 166,754 players.
The game was first announced in December 2021 with a cinematic trailer during The Game Awards event. This reveal brought back Captain Titus, the protagonist from the original game, showing him as the Primaris of the Ultramarines chapter to fans’ thrills.
The grimdark universe of Warhammer has its fan base not just in video games, but deeply steeped in board games and miniatures, with Games Workshop at the helm of this cultural phenomenon.
Prior to the Space Marine 2 release, Games Workshop went a bold step further in popularizing the chapter by releasing a special board game based on the upcoming video game, which only strengthened the connection between digital and tabletop.
The third-person co-op shooter continues the story from the first installment, but new players need not worry. The developers ensured that no one is left in the dark, with every key event, character, and plot detail covered.
The lore behind the game is massive, and coupled with the brutality of the Warhammer universe in Unreal Engine 5, the numbers behind Space Marine 2 aren’t surprising. In fact, the game hasn’t entered a weekend play yet, which only means that the number of concurrent players can even scale further up.
The record-breaking Warhammer 40,000 game was originally slated for release in 2023 but was delayed to September 2024 as Saber Interactive and Focus Entertainment, the companies behind the title, wanted to make sure that every aspect of Space Marine 2 was polished to perfection.
The extra development time paid off, with players jumping into the battles against endless waves of Tyranids in a perfectly recreated grimdark atmosphere of the infamous universe.
The decision resulted in rave reviews from fans and critics and the Steam numbers only reflect the anticipation and satisfaction of the community.
Focus Entertainment has promised further post-launch content which will include the Dark Angels legion, new missions, new modes, and more. It will be a mix of paid and free content as the developer doesn’t intend to leave the game to die.
With record-breaking numbers, Space Marine 2 can only be rendered a success, and with new content and expansions, the game is poised to maintain its momentum and 2024 year shapes up to be a thriving place for co-op shooters.