Praise be to the Omnissiah! Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 is officially in development

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was a hit, and you know what that means: Space Marine 3 is already on the way. Saber Interactive and Games Workshop announced today that "the next instalment in the legendary franchise" is now officially in development.

"Space Marine 2 has proven to be a transformative game for Saber," Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch said. " It is the culmination of everything we have learned about game development in our 25 years in the business.

"We are now starting to develop Space Marine 3, a game that carries with it tremendous expectations from our rapidly expanding fanbase. While we will continue to support and grow the Space Marine 2 universe over the coming years, we will take all our learnings and apply them to an even bigger and more spectacular game for the third instalment."

No details have been revealed at this point, but John Burt, deputy CEO of publisher Focus Entertainment, said "players can look forward to an immersive campaign, a multiplayer mode, and innovations that will redefine the standards of third-person action games."

One minor spoiler here: That's a picture of Titus in the promo image, so it looks like he pulled through in Space Marine 2 and we can expect him to be back in the next game. No real surprise there, I suppose.

No real surprise anywhere, really: The Space Marine series is a hit for Saber and Focus, and among the best of the many, many Warhammer 40,000 games. It is perhaps a bit unusual that the new game was announced this early, but that doesn't point to a premature end of new material for Space Marine 2: Burt said Saber and Focus "will continue to support the game with exciting content and regular updates in the coming years."

Saber recently acknowledged some issues with its updates and in-game events, which has some players thinking that it's quietly being turned into a live service game. The studio says that's not so, and reassured players suffering a certain degree of FOMO that items available through in-game events will ultimately be made available to everyone.

"We must provide a smooth experience in unlocking said items, which has not been the case so far," Saber said at the time. "We deeply apologize for the trouble, and are currently working on a simplified process to unlock the items, to make the experience less constraining."

As for Space Marine 3, that's it for now—it's happening. Saber said more information on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 will be revealed "at a later date."