Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 is in development following the explosive success of Space Marine 2, and it's promising even bigger battles

Focus Entertainment, Saber Interactive, and Warhammer franchise rights holder Games Workshop are working on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 after the runaway success of Space Marine 2.

Today, Focus announced that development on the third game in the series "has officially begun," promising more of what players loved and some new additions that will further polish the winning formula.

"Players can look forward to an immersive campaign, a multiplayer mode, and innovations that will redefine the standards of third-person action games," Focus Entertainment Publishing deputy CEO John Bert said in a press release. "Developed in close collaboration with Games Workshop, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 will take the genre to new heights by introducing large-scale battles that are even more spectacular."

Saber CEO Matthew Karch added: "Space Marine 2 has proven to be a transformative game for Saber. 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."

In case you're worried, support for Space Marine 2 won't suddenly come to a stop. The devs are explicitly not trying to turn it into a full-blown live service game, but Space Marine 2 will continue to receive updates for a while longer as Space Marine 3 development proceeds. Just today, the game's public test server went live alongside new patch notes.

"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," Karch said. "We view this as an opportunity to create a true love letter to the Warhammer 40.000 universe."

As expected, "more information on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 will be revealed at a later date." Right now, all we have is an unsurprising title and a snippet of teaser art featuring series protagonist Demetrian Titus. I can't wait to see what horrors await him in the third game.

Games Workshop CEO Kevin Rountree said just this January that the company is hungry for another video game success like Space Marine 2. "Clearly we are looking for the next one," he said. "We remain cautious when forecasting royalty income." The next one turned out to be the most obvious choice: more Space Marine!

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was the favorite shooter of the year, and it also made me fall even harder for my fiancé.