Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Fans Outraged Over $6 Twitch Sub Paywall for Coveted Shield

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 players are furious that a highly desired shield is now locked behind a Twitch paywall.

The game's 15.0 update went live today, bringing with it a fresh batch of Twitch drops. That's nothing unusual, except for one catch: you need to purchase a new recurring or gift subscription ($6) to claim the Victrix Guard Shield.

Since Space Marine 2 launched two years ago, fans have been pleading with developer Saber to add this shield. It makes a brief appearance in the campaign, where an Ultramarine holds it in the background of the Battle Barge, but it has never been available for players to equip.

As expected, the idea of paying $6 to Twitch for a single shield has sparked outrage in the Space Marine 2 community. "I'm not gonna pay for a sub I'm not gonna use," one person complained. "I just paid 39€ for the year 3 pass, which should be more than enough." Another added: "I don't know about you all but my ass isn't paying 6 bucks for a shield."

"Incredible levels of greed," another person said. "I don't even use Twitch except to get these rewards and you're telling me that after throwing 40 dollars on a season pass I need to give even more money to some random goober on Twitch to get the shield????" another complained. "lmao this shield has been on the campaign since day 1 and the only way you can get it 2 years later is via twitch stream," another added. "Hilarious honestly."

Representatives for the game have confirmed that the shield will eventually be available through the Accolades shop in a future update, but no date has been given. So for now, the Space Marine 2 shield remains locked behind a $6 Twitch paywall.

The Space Marine 2 Discord and subreddit are flooded with similar complaints. Generally, Space Marine 2 has a good reputation for its live service monetization, with only occasional missteps (voice packs!) from publisher Focus and developer Saber. This shield situation is an outlier.

"Sometimes they astonish me with the decision they take," one fan commented. "They'll be cooking and then do absolute doodoo feces like this. What the f**k?"