In the 20-plus years since Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War released, the PC market has changed a lot, and RTS games are no longer the king of the roost. Nevertheless, Iron Harvest studio King Art Games is coming in strong with Dawn of War 4, a return to the beloved 40K RTS series that brought millions into the grimdark franchise.
While Dawn of War 4 looks like a slam dunk success, creative director Jan Theysen knows the game won’t set the industry on fire. As an RTS game, the director believes the project will do very well, but the genre simply isn’t as big as it once was.
“I’m pretty sure that RTS will not be the big genre again. It’s more of a niche genre, but it’s a big niche, right?” he told GamesRadar in a recent interview.
Theysen explained that the sheer hype for Warhammer right now, partly due to the rampant success of Space Marine 2 and the upcoming Henry Cavill Amazon series, may help the game do a bit better than expected.
“RTS won’t kick shooters from the top of the food chain anytime soon, but that’s fine, right?”
Dawn of War 4 creative director Jan Theysen.
“If there is a sizable RTS fan community, if there is a sizable Warhammer community, maybe that’s enough,” Theysen explained.
For Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4, the creative director explained the team wants to “make a great game for both of these communities”. While it may not be as huge as Fortnite—it definitely won’t be—it can be a big success for those two niches.
“It doesn’t have to be, you know, RTS won’t kick shooters from the top of the food chain anytime soon, but that’s fine, right?” he asked.
On the other hand, senior game designer Elliott Verbiest explains that there is still a “hunger for” RTS games, something the team discovered with their alternate history mech-based RTS Iron Harvest. With a bigger team, more production value and a killer license, Dawn of War 4 aims to satiate that hunger.