Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has been a massive success for developer Saber Interactive. Alongside additional support for the still-updated action game, Saber is already working on a third game in the series, although it is years away.

However, the massive success of Space Marine 2 has a success in more than just sales numbers for the Warhammer game. In fact, as Saber CCO Tim Willits explains, the game’s success has been the flame behind a number of massive deals for the studio.

Willits explained in an interview with The Game Business that Space Marine 2 “literally changed everything”. He continued: “It not only changed the way that the team looks at making games, it changed how people look at us. I’ve seen this in my career, when you have a huge hit, when you go to make the next game, everything has to be awesome.”

Willits explaiend that Space Marine 2 being a hit “fuels success”. Now that the team has delivered such a major hit, others are more willing to let them use their IPs for new games. “We have a reputation of really doing well with licensed IPs, every major license holder wants to make a video game,” he said. “It’s just the way it is. Everybody. So, we are in a very fortunate position to turn down more than we can accept.”

Right now, alongside more Warhammer content, Saber Interactive’s massive conglomerate of developers are working on myriad projects. The gloriously bloody Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival launches this October, and the company has Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake, Jurassic Park Survival, and a John Wick game in production between different teams.

Not all of this is due to the massive success of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, but a lot of it is. The studio already has a very strong history of adapting other people’s IPs into mega-hit games. I mean, World War Z, anyone?

Willits explained that the studio is still looking to grow above its already massive size. As the company continues to work on its litany of licensed games, Saber is “open to growth” ans “still open to acquisitions”. However, the CCO explains that Saber “don’t want to do anything foolish”, and sizing up too fast is one of the easiest mistakes to make.

The reality could be an industry where Saber is paramount to a large percentage of the games industry’s output. As game development takes longer and longer for AAA titles, Saber’s willingness to constrain scope and budget, reuse assets, and share its in-house SaberTech tools could make it one of the biggest players in gaming.