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Will the Space Marine game bring the 40k series into the mainstream market to the current generation of people who only know about Starcraft?

Also here are some obstacles that Space Marine will face during release:

Blizzard fanboys are going to label the game as a ripoff
Stupid Gears of War fans are going to label the game as a ripoff
Explaining the Universe and luff to newer fans(imo there is a crap load to explain, not to mention introducing a whole bunch of new races )

But it be cool if more people come and find out about Warhammer 40k

Agree, it would be cool to have more 40k fans.

A lot of people are casual fans of 40k from the Dawn of War franchise, I can see this being received in a pretty similar fashion.

Think we need more movies/cartoon to go 'mainstream.'

Heres my deal. I saw the trailer and am sightly underwhelmed. The combat looks very year 2000 hack and slash with a bit of pray and spray shooting. I hope they refine the mechanics a bit for a more complex combat system. I also wish you could play orks.

That aside, I think it might pull in a few new fans, but the people who are mostly going to buy or rent it are people you'd find on dakka.

Dawn of War was the moment for people to be drawn into 40k. Honestly kids are more familiar with the computer game than the tabletop one. We might get a marginal increase, but not enough to bring warhammer mainstream.

I think it would get people interested in the game but few gamers would have the time, money or patience to get into the hobby.
I have a few friends that played DoW and loved the fluff but they didn't want to spend the time and money for the miniatures but they are fine playing with my extra minis.

Will the Space Marine game bring the 40k series into the mainstream market to the current generation of people who only know about Starcraft?

Tiny bit it'll bring some exposure , but starcraft crowd? thats RTS , and they already had a shot with Dawn of War I + II

Also here are some obstacles that Space Marine will face during release:

Blizzard fanboys are going to label the game as a ripoff

Calling it a rip off isnt much of a threat as obstacle for a release. If the game is good enough it'll attract the crowd.

Explaining the Universe and luff to newer fans(imo there is a crap load to explain, not to mention introducing a whole bunch of new races )

Sure there are fluff , but its not needed to cover everything in the game itself. If people ended up been interested, there is nothing stopping them
learning more from black library or army books , google works wonders

But it be cool if more people come and find out about Warhammer 40k

Yep yep

I'm always hoping for an increase in popularity of the hobby...since it is tough to find players without having to dump money into gas as drive an hour to my nearest gamestore. So, here's to hoping...but I'm not expecting much. As for Blizzard fans, most will call everything a rip off since they have very little knowledge outside of Warcraft, Starcraft, etc. it's just the way of things and you could never educate enough of them to make a difference in that area.

Did the Dawn of War games bring Warhammer into mainstream?

We know the answer. It'll make things more popular for a time, but it won't make Warhammer the next Star Wars or anything.

I doubt it for two reasons. First, it seems to me that the average person tends to have short a attention span and it's far easier to turn on a game console and start blasting away versus taking the time to learn about the game, choose an army, pay the entry level price for a decent sized force, paint it and then learn the rules in order to play as well as the tactics and all the other esoteric factors involved. Put another way, the average person is, in my opinion, more likely to be looking for mere short-term entertainment; not a hobby.
Second of all, regarding making it "mainstream," this is a video game, not a high budget Lord of the Rings trilogy or even an HBO mini-series. Consequently, it's visibility, outside of those who are already within a sci-fi or fantasy fan-base, will probably be negligible. Moreover, those individuals probably already know about 40K and if they're not already playing.... well, see reason number one.
I'm sure it is plausible that the game will entice some to come play 40K on the tabletop, but I doubt it will be in large numbers. Another question comes to mind; what changes to the community, if any, would we see if 40K actually did come into the mainstream?

Depends.
Most will possibly look more into it, see the prices and think feth that.

Some may join up though.

Unlikely. I mean, video games are basically mainstream these days, with the advent of the casual gamer and thus gaming has lost it's original nerdy status. People might look into the hobby through the game, but ultimately, I think plastic toy soldiers are a little too, ah, specialist, even now.

I doubt Space Marine will have that effect; I think it'll be well received, but I don't most players will care all that much about the universe.

Also, Personally, I'm not sure I really WANT Warhammer to be mainstream; I kinda like it where it is

PresidentOfAsia wrote:Will the Space Marine game bring the 40k series into the mainstream market to the current generation of people who only know about Starcraft?

Also here are some obstacles that Space Marine will face during release:

Blizzard fanboys are going to label the game as a ripoff
Stupid Gears of War fans are going to label the game as a ripoff
Explaining the Universe and luff to newer fans(imo there is a crap load to explain, not to mention introducing a whole bunch of new races )

But it be cool if more people come and find out about Warhammer 40k

GW already have a score of licenced computer games that already do rather well in the market. But computer games don't mean 'mainstream sucess'. The mainstream market means 6pm on tv, adds during the football break.

Honestly, I don't think I'd want this hobby to become too mainstream. That's when it starts losing what makes it the thing we all love for the sake of more profit.

Games Workshop is a High Street store. That's about as mainstream as you're going to get in this hobby.

Most gamers, tabletop or computer gamers, are going to know what Warhammer is about. And any game that comes out should be able to sell itself on it's quality and not on any other reputation of it's setting. Setting is just a bonus.

Oppl wrote:Honestly, I don't think I'd want this hobby to become too mainstream. That's when it starts losing what makes it the thing we all love for the sake of more profit.

You mean it hasn't been doing that already?!

OP: Blizzard fans bug me since every game I hear of is pretyt much what would make them cream. Having 40k more "mainstream" might be a bad thing but it'd be slightly better, might shake off the stigma that you could tag to 40k.

I think it will get more people to pay attention to 40K, but won't get many more to start playing table top. I have a couple friends that play DoW and love it, but can't get into modeling and all the rules involved with the game...I didn't even show them the price of the models

Juvieus Kaine wrote:

Oppl wrote:Honestly, I don't think I'd want this hobby to become too mainstream. That's when it starts losing what makes it the thing we all love for the sake of more profit.

You mean it hasn't been doing that already?!

Yeah I realised that maybe wasn't the best wording. I just meant that if it did become mainstream it would inevitably become something radically different to what we have now (in terms of how it plays)

I've always been a WFB player but it was DOW that finally brought me into 40k. Now I have 1 fantasy army, 3 40k armies and daemons which are magnatized so play both. However my Dboyz really only do fantasy.

In one way i hope so, in other way i pray not. It would be pretty awesome to have a lot more players.

HOWEVER, do we want it to become the kind of game everyone becomes to resent? What if we get more little kids? And im sure this would never happen but what about a crowd of douchers? Im not trying to peg any specific group, but i know plenty of people that are like that and pick up something new and cool and act like tools. I don't mean normal people i just mean people who are sort of fickle and fake and not true to the hobby.

Im not trying to be the nerdy outcast or anything, its just a what if, think about it sorta thing.

It might get people like me into the game. I've been into miniatures wargaming for a long time, but it was the first Dawn of War that really got me into 40k. In other words it might be what pushes people on the fence over.

Man gears of war fans have it ass-backwards. They need to do some research to find out which came first, the chicken or egg.

I doubt this will have any significant impact on the mainstream. It might create a sporadic interest in the table top game, but 40k takes real dedication, patience, devotion, and enthusiasm to get into. Video game players just dont seem to have those qualities. Besides if dawn of war didnt do it, this certainly wont either.....but thats not stopping me from buying it and having fun!

TBH GW games just don't cut it. Only 3 of note are the original Space Hulk, Dark Omen and DOW the original. Space Marines is a action fest and looks dated the 40k MMO looks even more dated. Theres nothing inventive about them and the licenced studios making them may care about it but they never really nail it. I saw what looked like a fantasy orc shaman in the Space marine vid. Gameplay need to be top notch and these look lame no matter what the licence is. Oh and yes Relic ruined DOW with every expand DOW. They wouldn't balance it and then as pretty as DOW2 is it's bare bones next to SC2.

plenty of people actually know about 40k and the basic premise, but know very little beyond the surface.



the main reason is GW does a lousy job of advertising their IP(through the irrational fear of Copyright infringment) while claiming they do it for the money.

they could make a TON of money if they branched out a little. which they seem to be doing, at a pace that makes Imperial Tech advancement seem fast, with Ultramarines the Movie(which they took absolutly no risk on) and the DoW games(which are nice, if a little unrealistic in having all 8 races be present on/in 1 planet/sector)


40k is an under represented Sci-fi realm which, IMO, is far better then many of the current sci-fi universes out there in terms of depth. 40k might be seen to limit itself with the basic premise of Tech degredation and grimdarkness. But this actually sets some parameters on what can be added. Starcraft could pull a new alien race out of their hat and basically BS their way through an expansion. 40k can't do that, but that allows a greater exploration into the murky depths of the Grimdarkness.


I would love a Knights of the Old Republic or Oblivion style 40k game. possably MMO, but it wouldn't have to be.

A WoW scale game would be even better(and i would degenerate to a mass of fatty tissue glued to my screen. Nurgle would be proud)

Grey Templar wrote:
I would love a Knights of the Old Republic or Oblivion style 40k game. possably MMO, but it wouldn't have to be.

A WoW scale game would be even better(and i would degenerate to a mass of fatty tissue glued to my screen. Nurgle would be proud)

Google dark millennium, dunno if it will fall on its face 2 weeks after release but it could be awesome.

On topic: I really cant see this having that much effect but if its a success and it gets a few more people interested then hopefully there will be a sequel and eventually the series of warhammer games gets a lot more people playing.

jonolikespie wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:
I would love a Knights of the Old Republic or Oblivion style 40k game. possably MMO, but it wouldn't have to be.

A WoW scale game would be even better(and i would degenerate to a mass of fatty tissue glued to my screen. Nurgle would be proud)

Google dark millennium, dunno if it will fall on its face 2 weeks after release but it could be awesome.

On topic: I really cant see this having that much effect but if its a success and it gets a few more people interested then hopefully there will be a sequel and eventually the series of warhammer games gets a lot more people playing.

darn you, slow internet connection


Looks nice, although my not really hearing about it shows how well it's been advertised.


Hopefully they can keep it going and add on additional planets as they get more and more players like WoW keeps doing.

Heck, they could probably have a "Special" membership package that allows you to design your own planet(you simply 'discover' it)



I wonder how it would play out though. i mean, one could concievably conquor Terra or Ultramar or some other Planet that has Plot armor +9000

I'm pretty sure the whole game will take place on several key worlds in the <insert made up name here> sector so hopefully we'll hear terra and such mentioned but never get anywhere near them. iirc they also said marines would be an unlockable class (ie deathknights) and they are trying to remove the 'kill x numbers of y, replete' so hopefully there wont be 6,784 marines running around the starting area killing wolves.

Yeah, that would be wierd

Yeah that would be weird lol. But yes I really hope the Space Marine game bring warhammer into the mainstream.

A little bit more, just as every little bit of publicity will.