Games Workshop has made a huge Warhammer 40,000 game announcement, with a little surprise.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition is a modern remaster of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine with some QOL and performance improvements. As reported by Gematsu, the remaster comes with these improvements:
- Higher fidelity and improved textures.
- 4K Resolution.
- Improved character models.
- Modernized control scheme and interface overhaul.
- Remastered audio.
This remaster will also come with 8v8 online multiplayer, with cross-play and offering its own upgrade paths for the devastator, assault, and tactical marine classes. This feature definitely mirrors the multiplayer found in the game’s highly successful sequel, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.
However, the only thing the two games have in common is their connection to the Warhammer 40,000 franchise through Games Master. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was developed by Saber Interactive and published via Focus Interactive, after Saber successfully split off from Embracer Group.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine was developed by Relic Entertainment and originally published by THQ in 2011, a year before they went out of business. Relic, which was under THQ at the time, was acquired by SEGA, and SEGA also acquired the game’s publishing rights.
Last year, Relic Entertainment found an external investor and went independent. However, it’s clear that SEGA still owned the rights to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. So SEGA worked this port with Relic and Sneakybox, the studio that did the actual port.
What’s interesting about this announcement is that the game was announced for Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass, and PC, on Steam and Epic Game Store. We confirmed that the game will also be available DRM-free on GOG.
If Microsoft has a marketing deal for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition, the game will likely also be coming to PlayStation 5. SEGA and Relic will wait at least two weeks before revealing that it will also be arriving to Sony’s platform in a new trailer.
Given that the landscape is set to change, we wouldn’t rule out the possibility that SEGA also managed to prepare a Nintendo Switch 2 version for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition too. Ports studio Sneakybox has experience on the Nintendo Switch thanks to their work on the Atari Recharged game series. It’s entirely possible Nintendo trusted SEGA enough to give them dev kits to also prepare this port in time.
As we know Phil Spencer’s philosophy on exclusives, we believe it’s highly unlikely that he suddenly did an about face and made a new 3rd party game a console exclusive. If anything, if Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition doesn’t end up coming to the PlayStation 5, it may be something to do with Sony, and that would be interesting to find out. But given the large player base on PlayStation 5, we do believe that an announcement is forthcoming. PlayStation 5 owners should just wait.
In the meantime, you can check out the trailer below.
