Has Bioware Saved Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine?
May 2, 2013 by brennon
The Space Marine video game from Relic was one of the best representations of the Dark Future that we've seen digitally and when THQ went bust it was thought that the game would be lost. This was especially painful considering the games ending! However, maybe there is some light at the end of the Bioware shaped tunnel...
The site Bit by Bit Gaming has reported that a reliable source within Bioware revealed they are now the owners of the Space Marine and Dark Millennium IP. This is good news since the second of those games was thought entirely lost!
Taking everything here with a big pinch of salt the source went on to reveal that the new Space Marine game might focus on the Salamander chapter and include Orks, Imperial Guard and Tau.
In terms of Dark Millennium it seems like a 3rd person shooter is still considered the right direction. Bioware are of course the folks behind Dragon Age, Mass Effect and Star Wars: The Old Republic. So they know their dark fantasy and Sci-Fi.
If this is true, will you be drumming your fingers on the desk in anticipation?
Let me know.
I honestly have no idea what to expect from Bioware anymore. I welcome the possibility to learn more about the Salamanders and Tau, though.
Bioware isn’t really known to give info out to sites online until major announcements have been made at conventions like Pax or E3. Usually leaks happen because someone there talks to a friend about something and they go and blab about it online where a writer sees that and makes something out of it. I had friends who worked there, even had one of them GM a Star Wars game for a group of mine and that’s how I learned that EA gave Star Wars: TOR back to Edmonton to finish, I heard Dragon Age 3 was going to be… Read more »
Before Mass Effect, I would have said that such a purchase would make no sense at all. Even with Neverwinter Nights or Jade Empire, their games didn’t have enough of an action focus to do the franchise justice. But you know what.. I loved Mass Effect despite the fact that it had spiralled off into a massive departure from typical Bioware games by the end of ME3. If this turns out to true, I think they could actually do a pretty good job of it.. and it helps when you have the voice talents of Jennifer Hale et al on… Read more »
You forgot MDK 2 for the Playstation 2 and Dreamcast, that was Biowares first third person action game, it got pretty good reviews back in the day from companies like EGM.
Loved this game. Gutted when it seemed all was lost esp. Dark Millenium project. Want it sooo much. Everything crossed for this.
loads of interesting comments on this… will be interesting to see bioware do 40k regardless of what happens wonder if they’ll take the mass effect/SWTOR route though since it seems to be a reliable method now?
I wouldn’t call TOR reliable. It’s performed well under expectations since release, and the recent switch to free-to-play hasn’t helped it much. If it doesn’t start bringing in more money soon I would expect it to be killed within a year. Which is kind of the problem. Bioware made some of the best CRPGs of all time… in the 90s. They started charting out some interesting territory in the following decade as well, but ever since EA bought them the quality of their output has steadily decreased. The staff at Bioware has changed to the point where almost none of… Read more »
interesting points tbf although I’ve yet to find anyone who dislikes a Bioware game several older Bioware fans have expressed this opinion to me (part from bout TOR but i based it’s success on my projections there tbh 😉 ) personally mass effect is one of my favorite game series as it stands but i wouldn’t want the game play of that simply “copied and pasted” to Warhammer but something similar i think would be great… but not for space marine that’s got a nice play style of it’s own methinks :).
“…but i wouldn’t want the game play of that simply “copied and pasted” to Warhammer…” Actually, if you wanted to make a pretty kickass Inquisitor game you could just copy & paste the basic concepts of ME, add a decent script, and it would be instantly be better than most videogames based on GW licenses. “…I’ve yet to find anyone who dislikes a Bioware game…” You don’t know anyone who has played Dragon Age 2? Because I haven’t met a single person who liked that POS. The old Bioware never would have made Dragon Age 2, especially not as a… Read more »
What i meant by copied and pasted was similair scripts too i agree the BMCS wouldn’t work in 40k and while i hated both dragon ages (purely gameplay the 1st dragon age was good storyline and didn’t give dragon age 2 a chance after hearing about gameplay) but most people i talk too love both dragon ages.
Yeah mass effect was by far better than it’s sequels but i still thoroughly enjoyed all 3.
but agree on your worry man. i need get my hands on baldurs gate 2 only played the first 1.
ToR
Mass Effect 3
Dragon Age 2
Are all shite games.
There. Now you have.
find as in met but fair nuff and it’s all opinions anyway
Fair enough. 🙂
Only for you, and the opinions of a few do not matter. Mass Effect 3 still sold a ton of games, even after the ending was leaked. Dragon Age 2 still sold enough to get a sequel. Star War:TOR is the only Star Wars game still being produce after the death of Lucas Arts.
Mass Effect sold a ton of games off the back of ME 2. I highly doubt that ME4 will sell anywhere near as many. And if it were the opinions of a few then why did BiowEAr pause it’s DLC schedule to produce a new ending. ( Which was still crap as it did nothing to address the problems. ) Again. Dragon Age 2 sold well due to Origins being so good. Again. I highly doubt that DA3 will sell as many as from reading the forums they still haven’t learned from their mistakes. ToR went free to play after… Read more »
If they are going to continue with Dark Millennium as some form of MMO (and since EA is pulling Bioware’s strings, they probably are) then yes I don’t think we have seen enough quality in TOR to suggest that Dark Millennium would appeal to anyone outside of the franchise fans. Just like TOR, that would mean failing to make EA the megabucks they would want out of the license. But I honestly think that Bioware still have it in them to make a good game – just not the kind of good games they made 20 years ago. And of… Read more »
Do you even know how long Star Wars Galaxies lasted for? There are only two, count them two current MMO’s that have piad transactions, all others are free to play.
Before you say Bioware is a “Shell” come and visit the company. It’s never changed. Only that EA want’s them to dish out more games faster, that’s why they now have a useless studio in the States.
By the way, when EA bought them it was on a condition that Bioware be allowed to do what they please, same sort of condition Blizzard gave to Activision.
Quality only decreased after they had a company down in Austin, Texas, Trust me, you don’t want a game made by them, go for the Games made in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
They figured they could just divide the load on the company by doing so but that proved to be wrong as Edmonton has to do most of the work. That’s why when Bioware gave SW:TOR to Austin it was quickly give back to Canada without anyone knowing for two months after it had happened.
They said the same thing to Origin. Westwood. Maxis. Mythic. Dice. Bullfrog. Criterion. Perpetual. Guess what happened to them.
Bioware is Bioware in name only. They are a puppet of EA nothing more and the moment their games stop selling well, they’ll be ‘merged’ into the rest of the company and never heard from again.
You really know nothing about Bioware or the agreement EA made with Bioware. I suggest you talk to some people there, I can also do you a favor and walk down the street to talk to the people who work there for you.
I know enough to know that since being bought out their games have been rushed pieces of shit.
I know enough to know that their name has been plastered onto several other gaming studios that have nothing to do with the original company.
I know enough to know that most of the people that made Bioware the company they were have left to go elsewhere.
This is total BS. I know several people that work at the Austin Studio in senior positions and this whole giving TOR back to Edmonton is a load of crap.
Truly happy for this, i love ME series from beginning to end ( i’m still buying some dlc, the citadel one is just hilarious!). The only bad thing is that whatever game comes from that will ended up in the hand of EA games and that Origin thing -.-. so sad that Bioware can’t deliver their games via Steam. What i really hope is for a game with main characters like Inquisitors, TechPriest or something that gives us a more story driven game rather than another 3PS, because Bioware can shine more in that area and still have a lot… Read more »
I have a simple request
Give me a big open desert, a big ass Assault Canon with unlimited rounds, and chuck a billion nids at me
That shit would never get old!
Didn’t that Assault Cannon used to jam every five founds in Space Hulk? 😉
Rounds, damn it. Curse the lack of an edit button!
I’m so sorry Warren. What you want is Serious Sam, by CroTeam. You’re in luck though, because that game series is insanely easy to mod. I’m sure you could find somebody out there who would be willing to make that for you.
I would have to agree with you there, that would self satisfaction for me in my life rule book lol
I dunno, there was something awesome about charging across the battlefield, running from cover to cover as a tac marine, whilst assault marines and heavy weapon fired hurled overhead that just screamed ” holy friggin crap, I’m a space marine!”
I think there’s a fallout 3 mod for that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyS4LnjO1Uw
I have a simpler request: Don’t have things I’ve just shot in the feckin’ face with a godsdamned cannon literally laugh it off and dare me to do it again. Oh and if maybe they occasionally let me step over ankle high obstacles instead of insisting I walk round to the front of the ramp.
http://youtube.com/#/watch?v=SAyAKXdOP54&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSAyAKXdOP54
One thing i forgot and is very important :
If there is Tau/Eldar and Marines/Imperial Guard in a Bioware game, expect a Friendship is Magic moment.
Eldar = Asari.
Dark Eldar = Asari Ardat-Yakshi.
Orks = Krogan ( well Krogan are more badass and way more smarter in my opinion).
Tau = Salarian.
Nids = Rachnai ( or whatever is written ).
Necrons = Definetly Reapers.
Turians = Tau Six edition ???? Don’t know, they are pretty badass.
Kroot = Drell ?
Kroot Hounds = Varens 😀
Oh i forgot :
Quarians = Adeptus Mechanicus 😛
Volus = Squats ?!?!
Wouldn’t Geth = Necrons?
Reapers could be C’tan
No, The C’tan are Leviathan’s race, the first ascended race existed even before the beginning of the cycles. The Reapers “rebel against” ( more exactly they saw that their master were part of the problem to solve : Find a balance amongs organic and synthetics, order and chaos ) and their own form based on the body and essence of their almost extinguish masters. The mission of the Reapers is to wipe out all sythetic and organic life periodically and store it in a new Reaper in order to preserve their knowledge and culture for when the balance is finally… Read more »
So… the Geth ended up being some strange kind of Space Marines O.o, not really but since the were created by the “Adeptus Quarianicus” and have their own Heretic strand it makes sense to put them in that category.
Also :
IG = Human Aliance
Chaos IG = Cerberus
We’re not talking historical similarities, but how similar the races are, if you are going to say no to my two then you have to say no to all of your choices as well since they don’t match either, did you asari and eldar have a similar history? (that’s a rhetorical question). The Geth were a machine race who hated living beings, like the Necrons, the Reapers tried to control the Geth like the C’tan tried to control the Necrons it’s as simple as that.
Kroot would be Vorcha. They just haven’t evolved beaks yet.
Yeah… but for what i read in the Cain’s novels the Kroot look far more civilized and intelligent than the Vorcha… But it could be right
Given the recent seeming end of specialist games, I’d like to see a remake of that epic scale game they did back in the day, final liberation or something like that, I loved that game.
Failing that, space hulk.
I’d even take a 40k version of the star wars MMO they have, its not brilliant, but you get 8 stories to play through before you get to the crappy raid game, give me that sort of narrative as a space marine, assasin, imp guard captain , eldar etc and I’d pay money for it.
There is a space hulk game being made, saw a preview game on youtube, not EA/Bioware thank god. http://www.spacehulk-game.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSlgF96OtPY -GDC gameplay I’ve been burned by a lot of the games I’ve gotten from EA/Bioware, Sim City is still all but unplayable, in SWTOR it would cost me several hundred dollars to unlock and use all the things i earned in the game before it went free to play. The quick time events in tomb raider don’t work at all on the PC make some of the most frustrating keyboard smashing scenes in gaming history trying to get the game… Read more »
Another Space Marine game NEEDS to be made. I loved the first and I hope something gets pushed forward in to development, whether its Bioware or someone else. I need to see this story through until the end!
In my humble opinion, this seems a step in the right direction for the franchise. What with the soon to be released Space Hulk IOS and rumours of a Dawn of War 3 in the works, a sequel to Space Marine to continue, or start a new chapter, would be more than welcome! With regards to the Dark Millennium, that has also wet my appetite. But what the fans of this genre require, is a realistic interpretation of the hobby and background. That means great story and epic battles. Twists and turns aplenty. The potential is there, so is the… Read more »
I heard that DoW 3 had been scrapped when Relic was sold to Sega, but obviously that was a rumour at the time. I’ve also heard that it’s still going and DoW 3 will be part DoW 1, part DoW 2 and part MMO.
rumours eh? what can you do? 🙂
Dawn of War 3 should be getting made by the people who made the Total War series. If you check out the who bought what list from THQ, I do believe they bought it. So far from what I heard though no one bought Darksiders series which is a shame.
i thought the total war people bought the rights for a warhammer fantasy game, it seems more there style, besides the total war games are a completly different style of game from dawns of war
Not really, the Vikings game is very similar, while the Total War series is more simulation. It all really depends on what DoW 3 will be like, more action based like the last one, or more traditional RTS like the first one. Personally The Creative Assembly would do a great job on the mass combat aspects of Warhammer 40k, Sega of course would give it to them to work on after Total War: Rome 2
To be honest i’d like to see what happens to Titus after the first game. Although he is a smurf and another chapter would be more interesting Titus was a really cool character, it’s almost like his final lines are directed at Ward when he has a go at Leandros, that’s instant badass right there!
If they do another SM game though i would like at least 1 level where you control a predator, it’s a shame dreadnoughts were multiplayer only.
I’d love for the next one to be a Blood Angels sergeant, because thats my chapter, but I really dont want to see my character receive the Sanguinor’s blessing in glorious HD , so I’m somewhat apprehensive about it.
all the rumours i’ve heard to the next space marines tend to hint towards the character for the game to be of the salamanders chapter tho :/
and that’s fair enough but i still want to know what happened to Titus, even if it’s through a novel or some easter eggs in the second game.
Bioware?
Ahh bollocks!
Looks like i’m never buying another 40k game then.
Bioware aren’t the only ones making 40k games, GW actually seem to be letting quite a few different companies have a go at making their universe digitally recently.
i hope they make dark millennium a skyrim-like open world rpg game. and a dawn of war 3 would not be bad if they mad it like the original love that game
Oh Joy, DLCware bought one of my favorite games. Which means it will probably only be distributed on consoles (which I don’t on and don’t want) and Orig-data mine-in. Hurray, and hello TPB.
Oh, And after buying a $40 tutorial, the game will surely be distributed as a series of chapters for $30 each, on launch day. Bitter over ME3? Not at all, why do you ask?
This could be awesome…. though if they make the Emperor out to be a prepubescent AI I might just have a stroke.
Capital ‘W’ in BioWare.
Hopefully this means the possibility of a 40k roleplaying game, where the player begins as I peril guard and then graduates to space marine, where a choice can be made between chapters. Other possibilities would exist like the death squad recruitment, I don’t know let them be creative. But one thing is for sure, it has to begin within the times of heresy.
Good for the Salamanders. The Ultramarines get too much of the limelight, anyway.
If and I mean IF this is true then I will say the following statement.
“Bioware, my money, take it.”
Not saying that it isn’t possible that EA obtained these licenses, but the thought that Bioware has anything to do with them is a pretty big stretch. Bioware wants nothing to do with licensed games. That’s why they keep developing Dragon Age and Mass Effect. I wouldn’t be surprised if EA picked up the licenses, but none of the current Bioware Studios are working on the 40K property.