The Warhammer 40k hobby has always had a multimedia element, with model kits to build and paint, a tabletop wargame to play, books to read, art to goggle over, novelty merchandise like t-shirts and scented candles to buy. That diversity has given a seemingly niche hobby extremely broad appeal - one fan can be interested in painting, another in gaming, a third in the lore, all within the same Warhammer 40,000 fandom. Recently, the huge success of the videogame Space Marine 2 - which to date has sold over seven million copies - has introduced yet more new fans. Now Games Workshop has revealed its latest plans for the tabletop wargame, and the way the firm has adopted the hero of Space Marine 2 into its core product line shows that it's more prepared than ever to make the most of Warhammer 40,000 as a transmedia franchise.
Revealed on November 7 during the World Championships of Warhammer preview stream, the next major narrative expansion for Warhammer 40k will be '500 Worlds: Titus', a campaign system focused on the fight to reclaim the Ultramarines' traditional turf of Ultramar. Leading the fight is the newly appointed Warden of Ultramar, none other than Demetrian Titus, the hero of Space Marine 2 and - thanks to his starring role in the best Warhammer 40k game ever made - probably the most famous Space Marine on planet earth right now.
For his valiant efforts battling Tyranids and the forces of Chaos (and helping to sell 40k starter sets), Titus has also been rewarded with a promotion to the rank of Captain, a very shiny new model kit, and title billing on a four book, slipcase bound campaign expansion. It's an unprecedented platform for a character who originated within another design studio.
Games Workshop has been releasing tie-in miniatures for characters that first appeared in books or comics for decades - the earliest being a metal model of the 'White Dwarf' mascot for Games Workshop's White Dwarf magazine, released in 1979. But these have mostly been limited edition releases for model collectors or book fans, rather than permanent additions to the core of an army. Titus has been thrust into the centre of Warhammer 40k's ongoing narrative.
The actual existence of an overarching narrative in 40k is fairly new. MMOs like Final Fantasy XIV or World of Warcraft have comparable mountains of lore to 40k, but they also have discrete stories that occur in a linear order, expressed over subsequent expansions, now documented in wikis and playable on Classic servers. It wasn't apparent that 40k actually had that kind of overarching and advancing plot for most of its lifespan. When GW did introduce an advancing metaplot at the end of 7th edition 40k in 2017, it felt the need to make enough changes that come 2020 and the launch of 9th edition 40k the whole timeline was shifted around by 100 years.
For a long time every book, graphic novel, and videogame tie-in with 40k could be assumed to exist as an island without any wider implications for how the universe, game, and model range would develop. That's no longer the case - and while only the most heavily invested fans can hope to follow 40k's ongoing narrative, every product the firm releases might be connected to it. Games Workshop is thinking beyond single products, and considering ideas and storylines that run across media.
What's particularly interesting to me about the new Titus kit is that Games Workshop almost certainly decided to make it well before the success of Space Marine 2 was known. The development lead time for miniatures is measured in years, in no small part because the cost of errors when making a metal mold can run to tens of thousands of dollars.
So I don't see this as Games Workshop pivoting to capitalize on unexpected success; I think it's executing on a plan that was devised during the development of Space Marine 2, or perhaps even earlier. That speaks to a well-developed capacity for co-ordinating with external media partners, or at the bare minimum, a good eye for picking winners.
I think we should expect bigger integrations between the game of toy soldiers that still gives the lion's share of Games Workshop's revenue, and the licensed media properties that are often it's most effective recruiting tools. Dawn of War IV looks like the next obvious connection point, a highly anticipated videogame with huge production values that has a similar potential for attracting new fans. And much further down the road, the film and television deal with Amazon studios is the next rubicon that Warhammer 40,000 will cross as it continues its invasion of mainstream multimedia pop culture.
Are you excited for the 500 Worlds narrative? What do you want to see from Dawn of War IV? Do you agree that this is the shape of things to come, or will 500 Worlds: Titus remain a one-off? Join the Wargamer writers in our Discord community and let us know what you think!