Saber CEO knew Space Marine 2 would be a success after playing it for over 300 hours, but he was still surprised when it sold 6 million copies

(Image credit: Saber Interactive / Focus Entertainment)

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 turned out to be a massive success when it launched last year. So much so that Saber Interactive's CCO Tim Willits said it "changes everything" for the company and that it's the fastest-selling game he had ever worked on (including the likes of Doom and Wolfenstein). Fans loved its Xbox 360 throwback style, and no wonder it was almost refreshing in its oldness.

Even if many of us were surprised how well the game did as a sequel to a then 12-year-old game, Saber Interactive's CEO, Matt Karch, knew things would probably work out. Speaking to Stephen Totilo at Game File (paywalled), Karch said, “I knew Space Marine was going to do well.” He was sure of this because, “I was betting on something that I played. I played it for over 300 hours."

But just how big it would turn out did come as a surprise to the studio's CEO, with Karch later adding, "Did I know it was going to sell what ultimately is going to be over six million units this year? No. But I knew it would sell.” Having the Warhammer 40,000 series on board already gave the game an audience – not to mention the original Space Marine was a bit of a cult classic – but it turned out that Space Marine 2 had that secret sauce to make it the biggest Warhammer game ever, according to SteamDB's charts. And things went so well that we've already had confirmation that Space Marine 3 is on the way; there's no decade-long wait this time around (barring some mad delays).

Saber's CEO also spoke about the Saints Row series and why it had to die in his eyes, blaming the cost of making the game and the lack of direction on the 2022 reboot.