Warhammer videogames have had a… complicated history. For every Dawn of War or Total War: Warhammer, there’s been a Fire Warrior, a Storm of Vengeance, or some half-baked mobile cash grab that makes you wonder if Games Workshop even checks what their name gets slapped on. But 2024 saw a shift. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 wasn’t just good, it was a bonafide hit, pulling in 4.5 million players a month after launch and proving that, when done right, Warhammer can move serious numbers in the gaming world. Naturally, Games Workshop has noticed.
Their latest half-yearly report makes it clear: licensing revenue shot from £12.1 million to £30.1 million in the 2023/2024 financial year, thanks in large part to Space Marine 2. That’s over 10% of the company’s total earnings in that period, and it’s not just boosting the videogame space. They claim it’s driving more people into Warhammer stores, meaning it’s actually doing what so many Warhammer games fail to do – bringing new blood into the grimdark fold.
Success like that isn’t something Games Workshop wants to see as a one-off. Their report outright states that while victories in gaming “are not a given,” they’re already looking for the next big hit. And they’re thinking bigger than just games. With the Amazon film and TV deal in the works, they’re pushing to elevate Warhammer into one of the top global fantasy franchises. Given the universe’s 40-year history, its near-religious fanbase, and the sheer amount of lore that can (and will) be mined for content, it’s not an unreasonable goal.
But let’s be real for a second; making Warhammer work at that level isn’t just a question of if, but how. Getting a mass audience to take interest in a setting where the Imperium of Man makes fascism look like a casual weekend hobby is no small task. Even if Henry Cavill’s involvement helps bridge that gap, Warhammer is dense, weird, and unapologetically brutal. That’s why it’s great. But it also makes it hard to translate into something mainstream-friendly without diluting what makes it unique.
Videogames, though? That’s a more attainable target. The market is already primed for dark, violent, over-the-top sci-fi shooters and strategy games. The problem is that for years, Games Workshop handed out their licenses like cheap candy, leading to a flood of middling-to-terrible Warhammer games that did little but reinforce the idea that Warhammer adaptations are a gamble at best.
It seems they’ve started to learn. Total War: Warhammer wasn’t a fluke, it was the result of Creative Assembly getting meaningful access to the setting, enough that Games Workshop even pulled ideas from it for The Old World. Blood Bowl 3, for all its launch issues, at least had the benefit of aligning with the tabletop version’s newest edition. Darktide, while rough at launch, was another step in the right direction, proving that the right studio with the right approach could make Warhammer work in the modern era.
That’s the play Games Workshop needs to keep making: tighter control over licensing, stronger collaborations with developers who actually get Warhammer, and a willingness to let those developers build games that feel both authentic to the setting and mechanically solid. If they do that, they might just escape the cycle of mediocrity that’s plagued Warhammer games for decades.
Will they find another Space Marine 2 level success? Hard to say. But if all else fails, Saber Interactive is probably already thinking about Space Marine 3.
