Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 lead says Helldivers 2 "legitimizes what we're making" by showing "people like multiplayer co-op games where you can just blow s**t up"

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Saber's CCO "played the heck out of" Helldivers 2

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 screenshot showcasing three fully-geared Space Marines standing side-by-side with weapons equipped
(Image credit: Saber Interactive)

Saber Interactive chief creative officer Tim Willits has said the success of Helldivers 2 "legitimizes" Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.

Although the seismic momentum that propelled Helldivers 2 to ubiquity when it launched earlier this year has slowed somewhat, it's still a massively popular game that exceeded all reasonable expectation. With the game's creative director back on Discord after months of silence doing damage control after backlash toward controversial balancing changes, it might look like Helldivers 2's time in the spotlight is over, but the game's Steam data - although platform-specific and thus incomprehensive - paints a starkly different picture.

Talking to PCGamesN, Willits said the success of games like Helldivers 2 and DayZ are proof of a large public appetite for the kind of multiplayer game where you can keep up with friends — in between explosives and mortar rounds, of course.

"I think something like ten million people play Helldivers, but 25 million people play DayZ," he said. "When you have numbers like that, it shows you that people like multiplayer co-op games where you can just blow shit up with your friends ... I played the heck out of Helldivers [2], and it legitimizes what we are making, and it shows that these types of games can be very successful because people are social and want to play together."

Space Marine 2 is finally launching some 13 years after the first game, and it promises to build on the original's gloriously straightforward, hack-and-slash, third-person action gameplay. Don't be intimidated by the Warhammer name, which of course encompasses tabletop games, tactics and strategy games, an MMO, and more; Space Marine is all about taking control of Captain Titus and mowing down mantis-like Tyranid aliens by the truckload with his big weapons and armor. The sequel is billed as, basically, that but with improved graphics, more lavish set-pieces, and even gorier battles.

Within 10 minutes of killing Tyranids, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has become Andy's most-anticipated shooter of 2024.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick
Staff Writer

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.