With the official launch of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 yesterday, the game is ripping and shredding a previous record for the entire Warhammer video game series apart. That's because the co-op shooter saw over 225,000 concurrent players on Steam.
PCGamesN pointed out that this total sets a new concurrent-player record for the entire Warhammer series, including the fantasy games. Space Marine 2 secured the top spot with 225,690 concurrent players, per SteamDB, overtaking Total War: Warhammer 3's peak of 166,754, per SteamDB. It's also important to note that Space Marine 2 hasn't had a full weekend under its belt yet with the general public, so it's possible the game sees even more concurrent players from September 13-15.
People who paid for the Gold or Ultra editions of Space Marine 2 got to start the third-person shooter last week. This led to Focus Entertainment asking early-access players to be cool and not spoil the story for the game. There are a whole bunch of players already fighting back against the agents of chaos--publisher Focus Entertainment revealed there are more than 2 million players already. According to Saber CCO Tim Willits, it's the fastest-selling game he has worked on. That means it's outpacing games in the Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein franchises.
Additionally, Space Marine 2 is also available on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. As such, there is cross-play for the campaign between consoles and PC, while competitive PvP is siloed off between PC and consoles.
If you're just getting started, check out 11 tips to bring glory to the Emperor in the co-op shooter. For more, read GameSpot's Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 review.
Epic Games confirmed that cross-play across PC storefronts is a requirement for all multiplayer games on the Epic Games Store.
The statement, shared with Eurogamer, reads: "Cross-play across all PC storefronts is a requirement of the Epic Games Store for all multiplayer games, ensuring that players and friends can play together wherever they purchase their games. Developers are free to choose any solutions that meet this requirement, including Epic Online Services, which may require a secondary installation to enable the Social Overlay (friends lists, cross-platform invites, etc) on PC."
Epic released this statement to clarify Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2's usage of an Epic online services. The game installs an Epic Online Services client after the player accepts a EULA, even on Steam. Developer Focus confirmed in a forum post that the Epic client facilitates optional cross-play and syncs friend lists across services. However, linking Steam and Epic accounts is completely optional and will not affect gameplay.
Earlier this year, Earth Defense Force 6 got criticized for requiring an Epic Games login for online play. Helldivers 2 faced similar complaints for requiring a PSN login. As for Space Marine 2, the sequel has broken Warhammer records. Nearly a quarter-million players booted the game up on Steam, besting Total Warhammer III's previous concurrent player-count.