Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 to Leverage Tech from John Carpenter's Toxic Commando

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando may have underperformed for publisher Focus Entertainment, but for developer Saber Interactive, it was a commercial success. According to Saber's development chief Tim Willits, the technology created for Toxic Commando will directly benefit the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3.

Toxic Commando utilizes Saber's proprietary tech to render massive zombie swarms for co-op action. This same technology was used in Saber's World War Z, for the Tyranids in Space Marine 2, and will be further refined for Space Marine 3.

In its recent financial report, Focus owner Pullup gave a somewhat negative assessment of Toxic Commando, which launched in March. However, in an interview with IGN at gamescom, Willits was more upbeat, confirming the game was profitable for Saber.

"We're really happy with it," Willits said. "Focus' opinion—they're a publicly traded company, so they have to say what they have to say. We'll leave that to them. But for us, we're really excited. We have some new stuff coming out. We actually have a good playerbase.

"It brought more people into the Saber universe. When I say Saber universe, it's people that fall in love with one game who now start to look at us, like Space Marine 2 with our 14 million players. It's f***ing ridiculous. Just a few! And then World War Z, remember that's 30 million people that played that game. It's nuts. More people played that game than saw the movie or read the book."

Willits continued, saying that the tech improvements made for Toxic Commando will be further advanced for Space Marine 3. Indeed, you can trace a line from World War Z through Space Marine 2 and Toxic Commando right to Space Marine 3.

"[Toxic] was a well-made game that was fun to play, and it shows people what we do really well," Willits said. "It shows people that Saber games are enjoyable to experience with your friends. It's over-the-top. It built on our technology. You'll see more of that in Space Marine 3. You can see the progression with our technology moves. I feel that it was a good brick in that Saber wall.

"We're growing the company, we're growing the project, we're growing the technology. It was profitable for us. We don't lose money. We don't lose money on anything."

When asked how Toxic Commando's tech will be improved for Space Marine 3, Willits remained tight-lipped about specific features but hinted at an expanded scope.

"It's the maturity of the technology," he said. "You can see the bigger swarms, you can see the bigger areas, you can see the better AI. There's cars—you didn't have cars in Space Marine 2. I'm not saying we're going to have cars in Space Marine 3. I'm just saying the technology is growing and developing and that's our technology. So we can focus on technology pillars that will support our future games like Space Marine 3 and Jurassic Park—that uses the same technology."

One of the big questions for Space Marine fans is how Saber will expand upon the gameplay. Space Marine 2 limits squads to three characters (modders increased this), and while some play spaces are large, there's nothing resembling an open world. Willits has previously explained that three is the magic number for Space Marine 2 due to the maximum number of enemies it can throw at squads—adding a fourth Space Marine would make the game too easy, and "scaling enemy assaults to justify bringing a fourth player was too great of a challenge."

But could Space Marine 3 increase the player count by upping enemy numbers and play space? Could it expand the scope of battles, which in Space Marine 2 are limited in area and units? Willits says he's not saying Space Marine 3 will have cars, but it does raise the question: will Space Marine 3 have vehicles? A Land Raider, perhaps? Maybe some flying missions in a Gunship?

As for Saber's swarm tech, repeating the Tyranid trick might not be enough for Space Marine 3 after fans spent so much time with them in Space Marine 2. Most believe Space Marine 3 will feature the Necrons, based on hints throughout Space Marine 2. But what other factions could fit? A return to the Orks from Space Marine 1? (Orks are the primary antagonist of the 11th edition of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game.) How about a focus on the relentless Death Guard and swarms of shuffling Plaguebearers? Saber has experience with zombies, after all.

As for how Space Marine 3 development is going, Willits was enthusiastic but again didn't reveal much. Speaking of Space Marine 2's success (he previously told IGN it had changed everything for Saber), Willits said the team is now working to top it.

"The Emperor loves us. We are The Emperor's favorite," Willits joked. "All I can say is 3's going great. 2's been really successful. Our DLC's been super successful. People love the mods. It helps the team with experience, knowing what fans actually want, making sure that we adhere to the true Warhammer 40K universe franchise.

"The success of Space Marine 2 has really made the team passionate about making sure that Space Marine 3 is even better. They feel that there's this confidence and passion and vigor, and you can see it. When you talk to the team, they're just in it. So I'm really excited about that."

Willits recently told IGN that no generative AI was being used in the development of Space Marine 3, after online backlash over its use in Saber's Rideshare Stimulator. Space Marine 3 currently does not have a release window.