Warhammer 40,000 fans have a lot to look forward to in the coming year. The recent Warhammer Skulls showcase revealed a multitude of updates and new titles, ensuring that players will have plenty of options. Among the most anticipated releases are Dawn of War IV and Total War: Warhammer 40,000, both strategy games focused on the PC. While they share similarities in visual style and universe, they offer distinct gameplay experiences. King Art Games, the developer of Dawn of War IV, and Creative Assembly, the team behind Total War: Warhammer 40,000, both aim for long-term success and extensive DLC support. This raises the question: is there room for both games in the market?
I posed this question to King Art Games, where creative director Jan Theysen and senior game designer Elliott Verbiest insisted that Total War: Warhammer 40,000 isn’t a direct competitor to Dawn of War IV. They believe that the presence of another high-quality Warhammer 40,000 game can only benefit the franchise as a whole. They also noted that many fans will likely play both games, as they have different gameplay experiences to offer.
“We are happy the more good Warhammer 40K games are out there, because the more good games there are the more people care about it, the more people are interested in Warhammer in general,” Theysen said.
“And that also helps Dawn of War. We don’t see them [Total War: Warhammer 40,000] as like direct competition. It’s also not like players play the one game but not the other. I think many players will probably play both of them. And so for us it’s more like, okay, cool if it’s like a great game and brings more eyes to the franchise, all the better. And of course also we know and like the guys from Creative Assembly. And we want to play the game! So we are just happy that they do something cool with it. And in the end, I think most players will probably enjoy both of them.”
“Definitely a case of rising tide lifts all boats,” Verbiest added. “We’re looking forward to playing it as well!”
Will Warhammer 40,000 fans need to make a tough choice, or will they enjoy both games as Theysen suggests? Dawn of War IV is set to launch first, with a confirmed release date of 17 September 2026 on PC via Steam. Total War: Warhammer 40,000, however, does not yet have a release window. Could it launch later in 2026? That seems a bit tight, but it’s possible.
Looking closer at each game, it becomes clear that they offer very different experiences. Dawn of War IV is a traditional real-time strategy (RTS) game, focusing on resource gathering, base building, and unit production. In contrast, Total War: Warhammer 40,000 combines turn-based strategy with real-time tactics, a format that often sparks debate among fans about its genre classification.
Theysen believes that Dawn of War IV will stand out by offering a balanced scale of combat. It won’t be as intimate as Space Marine 2, nor as vast as battles with hundreds or thousands of units. Instead, it offers a middle ground that provides a sense of large-scale conflict while remaining manageable.
“It has this very special, unique size to it,” Theysen said of Dawn of War IV. “It’s not like a Space Marine 2 where you’re one, two or three guys. But it’s also not hundreds and thousands of units in these super massive battles. It’s in the middle.
“To me that feels very, very good because it gives you the feel of, okay, there’s a lot of stuff going on and it’s big battles, but at the same time, you can still manage what is going on, and it’s not like you’re losing the overview right away. So to me, I think that makes it interesting.”
Dawn of War IV will also feature a robust campaign mode. The game launches with campaigns for each of the four playable factions: Space Marines, Orks, Necrons, and Adeptus Mechanicus. Each faction will have its own story to tell.
“I think it might be a good entry point for players who are maybe not super familiar with Warhammer 40K, because we try to tell stories that even without too much 40K deep knowledge still make sense and can still be enjoyed by players who are not that deep into it,” Theysen insisted.
“It’s ridiculous how many people tell us that they came to 40K because of Dawn of War 1,” Theysen continued. “Basically every second person we talk to says, ‘Yeah, because of Dawn of War I’m a 40K fan.’ It would be awesome if we can do it again, be a nice entry point for players because it’s maybe a little bit less intimidating than some of the other games out there.”
For more insights, check out the full interview with Dawn of War IV developer King Art Games.
https://www.ign.com/videos/2023/08/22/dawn-of-war-iv-interview-with-king-art-games
