Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine will have co-op play… eventually

THQ’s upcoming third-person action game will feature co-op play, but it may not be included in the launch of the game.

Throw your minds in the way-back machine, and head to June’s E3. Amongst all the giant titles with prefixes like “Call of” or featuring sequel numbers tacked onto the end (there were an awful lot of 3s this year), one of our favorite games was THQ’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. At the convention, Space Marine was very visible as roving space marines wandered around the THQ booth, stopping to take the occasional picture with attendees before returning to their roles as living displays. But outside of E3, the game hasn’t received much attention–at least not comparatively.

Still, we liked it a lot when we had a chance to go hands-on and play through a bit of the campaign in all its Ork killing glory, but the focus was on the single player experience. A multiplayer component was mentioned, but the details were being kept under wraps. THQ has since confirmed that along with a competitive multiplayer (which came as no surprise), there will be a co-op mode–although what that entails isn’t clear. It may be a co-op campaign, special co-op missions or something entirely different. But regardless, whatever the co-op is, it won’t be ready when the game launches next month.

The website Shacknews reported that the co-op would not ship with the game, and might not be ready to download for as long as a month after the game’s release. The news came from a series of comments posted by a THQ community manager which have since been removed. The comments also claimed that the delay was to add polish to the co-op game.

Typically when a game needs polish it is simply delayed, but that won’t be the case with Space Marine, which is still on target for its September release.  There could be several reasons for shipping the game now without the co-op included. Part of the reason may have to do with the competition. October, November and December are ridiculously stacked with monster games this year. That makes it a good time to be a gamer, but not a great time to be a game without a massive following. The Warhammer 40,000 brand still carries weight, but it is nothing compared to the fanbase of games like The Elder Scrolls or the Uncharted series. The second reason could be that THQ is fine with letting the co-op be a downloadable feature because it encourages people to buy the game new instead of used. 

The community manager’s posts also mentioned the THQ Online Passes, which anyone that has recently purchased a THQ game that has an online side are familiar with. THQ is one of the most ardent proponents of charging people to play online if the game has been purchased used. Those that buy the game new, or at least sealed, will receive a code to grant them online access—or in this case grant gamers the downloadable content—at no additional cost. Those that buy the game used and do not have that code, will have to fork over some cash if they wish to play online.

THQ has since contacted Shacknews and said that more details on the co-op will be released this month, including, presumably, an availability date. As for the game itself, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine will be available for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on September 6.