Saber Interactive CEO has pushed back against the live-service label for the studio’s extremely successful Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 as it comes with a slew of negative connotations.
Released in 2024, Space Marine 2 is still receiving ongoing free updates with new missions coming to the game every few months. Just recently, the game even added a brand-new class in the form of the Techmarine as well as a host of paid DLC including controversial voice packs.
While Saber has been lightly criticised for some of its cosmetic DLC, the studio has also been praised for its long support, especially as Space Marine 3 is currently years away from release. This isn’t new to the studio’s Warhammer games, either, as the developer’s World War Z game is still receiving new free content almost seven years after launch.
Nevertheless, in an interview with IGN, Saber Entertainment chief creative officer Tim Willits explained that he doesn’t want to label the studio’s games as live service titles, even if they technically might be part of that genre of game.
“One thing that I think that Saber’s done well is that we respect our players, we support our games through amazing free updates, and then also big paid updates. But we don’t nickel-and-dime people to death,” the CCO told the outlet.
Willits explained that the live-service term comes with a lot of baggage. “I don’t want to say live service game, because when you think of a live service game, you think about buying individual items,” he said. “But we do support our games as long as they’re feasible to support.”
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 does currently have a lot of paid DLC, including the aforementioned voice pack DLC. However, the game’s main content, all of its missions, weapons, character classes, game modes, they’re all given to every single player as free updates.
Willits is correct, live-service does have a stink about it, and it’s largely associated with broken promises of ten-year roadmaps and early abandonment. Space Marine 2 has not promised fans much, but it keeps delivering, not just with official content drops, but also with massive mod tools that are allowing fans to create whatever they want.
While its cosmetic-only DLC is quite pricey, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is still delivering on the content side, but it’s also definitively a live-service title, albeit one of the good ones. Fans are awaiting a slew of promises, but instead given new content when new content is ready, and Saber is still working on the game with seemingly no plans to stop anytime soon.
