Space Marine 2 reaches 2 million players: how its sales compare to other Warhammer games
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has reached its first major sales milestone. The game has already been played by 2 million users.
Publisher Focus Entertainment shared the news on social media, implying that Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 has reached the 2 million mark in the first five days since its Advanced Access launch on September 5.
TWO MILLION Space Marines have joined the fight to protect the Imperium in #SpaceMarine2. ⚔️
We’re so grateful!!💙 pic.twitter.com/ptHVxRKhWQ
— Focus Entertainment (@Focus_entmt) September 10, 2024
The company didn’t specify how the audience is distributed across platforms (PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S). Given that Space Marine 2 is not available on any subscription services like Game Pass, it is safe to assume that most of those 2 million are full-game sales (the game also had very strong pre-orders, judging by its chart performance).
How do Space Marine 2 sales compare to other Warhammer games?
- The first Space Marine shipped 1.2 million copies globally in the first three weeks of its September 2011 launch (according to publisher THQ). Its lifetime sales remain undisclosed.
- It is hard to compare Saber’s new project to other games based on the Warhammer IP due to a lack of officially reported data. We know that Total War: Warhammer sold over 500k copies in its first few days and was the fastest-selling Total War title at the time.
- Sega only mentioned that the sequel “had solid performance” during its debut quarter, but its exact commercial performance (like that of the threequel) is unclear.
- According to THQ, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War sold 4 million copies (as of December 31, 2008). When announcing its acquisition of THQ Canada in January 2013, Sega revealed that the entire Dawn of War series has sold over 7 million copies globally.
- Speaking of other Warhammer games, Owlcat’s RPG Rogue Trader reached 500k copies sold in its first month.
- Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide sold 300k units in its first months and reached the 2 million mark in two years. Vermintide 2 hit 500k copies sold in four days, with its sales reaching 2 million copies by the end of 2019.
Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 released in Advanced Access on September 5 and became available to everyone four days later. Despite some mixed reviews at launch and complaints about Epic Games’ EULA and ultrawide monitors, the game’s rating has quickly improved since then. It currently has a 80% user score on Steam based on more than 33k reviews.
According to SteamDB, Space Marine 2 peaked at 225.6k concurrent players on Valve’s platform. It also topped Steam’s weekly charts among both premium and free-to-play titles, dethroning Black Myth: Wukong.
The 225.6k peak already makes Space Marine 2 the biggest Warhammer game by peak concurrent players, ahead of Total War: Warhammer III (168.7k CCU) and Total War: Warhammer (113k CCU). Saber’s third-person shooter also ranks 8th in peak CCU among all 2024 releases on Steam.
Space Marine 2 vs. other best-selling 2024 games
Note: We only included premium titles (no free-to-play projects) with officially reported sales data or player numbers.
- Black Myth: Wukong — 10 million copies sold in three days (18 million copies in two weeks);
- Palworld — 8 million copies sold on Steam in its first six days (life-to-date — over 15 million units sold and 25 million players overall, including Xbox and Game Pass users);
- Helldivers 2 — 12 million copies sold in three months;
- Dragon’s Dogma 2 — 3 million copies sold in two months;
- Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 — 2 million players in five days (as of September 10);
- Enshrouded — 1 million players on Steam in four days (life-to-date figures — over 3 million players);
- Content Warning — 2.2 million copies sold in two months (PC only);
- Manor Lords — 2 million copies sold in three weeks (PC only);
- Tekken 8 — 2 million copies sold in its first month;
- Persona 3 Reload — 1 million copies sold in its first week;
- Granblue Fantasy: Relink — 1 million copies in 11 days;
- Balatro — 1 million copies sold in less than a month (life-to-date sales — over 2 million units);
- Buckshot Roulette — 1 million copies sold on Steam in less than two weeks (life-to-date sales — over 2 million units);
- Stellar Blade — 1 million copies sold in less than a month (PS5 only).
