What is the nature of success in the video game industry? Sadly, that can be defined in various ways, as we’ve noted multiple times on this site. For many, having one success “isn’t enough,” as they are always wanting or even craving more. The developers and publishers behind certain titles desire to have multiple successes, and they push their teams to get those successes, even if it’s unreasonable what they’re asking for. The irony is that while Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 was a huge success for its developer and the crew at Games Workshop, the tabletop owner knows that the future isn’t guaranteed to have similar success.
The CEO of Games Workshop, Kevin Rountree, noted during an earnings report that while the new title was a hit, as was another racing-oriented title set in the universe, he knows that the company has to be cautious about predicting future successes:
“We recognize that successes like these for Warhammer are not a given in the world of video games. Clearly we are looking for the next one. We remain cautious when forecasting royalty income.”
For context, Space Marine 2 was the best-selling game in the entire line of titles under the Warhammer 40K brand. It’s sold over 4.5 million copies since its launch last year, blowing away everything else from the series. That’s impressive, and you know that Games Workshop is happy about that, especially since it meant they got a nice royalty check this time around.
Hearing them be cautious is actually something rather special, because too often nowadays we hear about companies like Ubisoft or Square Enix, or even console makers like Sony and Microsoft hype up certain games and expect them to be “incredible successes that shatter all records,” and then when they do decently or do good overall, they’re dubbed as “not meeting expectations.” That kind of mindset has doomed both games, teams, and whole studios, and it is not something to be praised.
In contrast, what Saber Interactive did with the tabletop game was create an awesome third-person co-op experience that people could enjoy on their own, with friends, or just with random people online, and see the fun of being one of the most unstoppable forces on the battlefield. The team even noted that it was trying to recreate the “glory days” of certain titles from the Xbox 360 era, and clearly that mindset worked.
We wish Games Workshop well in all its future partnerships and hope they keep this mindset going forward.
