Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has already received its first of many free content updates to come, but it might not be enough to keep players coming back. A few months have ed since the release of Space Marine 2, with more recent games like Black Ops 6 STALKER 2 starting to take the spotlight. While Space Marine's gameplay and wide range of classes make it enjoyable to play for hours on end, there's still only so much content for fans to experience.

The Termination Operation and challenging lethal difficulty added fresh experiences to Space Marine 2's gameplay but left players craving more after completing everything they had to offer. While there are countless hours worth of cosmetics to unlock for each class, the similarities between classes and lack of mission variety don't provide much of an incentive to keep playing over time. Despite the promises of new game modes, enemies, and weapons to destroy them with, Focus Entertainment's live service model might not be enough to entice players to keep coming back to Space Marine 2 in the long run.

A Low Player count Could Spell Doom For Space Marine 2

A Concerning Trend For Space Marine 2 Fans

Currently, Space Marine 2 averages around 12,000 players on Steam according to SteamDB, which is merely 5% of its all-time peak of 225,000 players following its initial launch. Space Marine 2's player base issues aren't a recent problem either, as s on Reddit like Personal_Active_8360 noticed that the action-packed Space Marine 2 started its downward player base trend mere weeks after release.

Fortunately for players, Space Marine 2 offers full crossplay compatibility with Xbox and PlayStation, resulting in a real player count that's likely much higher than what's currently reported on Steam-based websites.

With Space Marine 2 breaking the Warhammer franchise records as the most-sold game to date, it's surprising to see how fast the player base has diminished, but there are a few likely culprits. Space Marine 2's gripping story and high fidelity likely resulted in many players purchasing it solely for the campaign mode, treating the game's optional multiplayer as a nice distraction rather than a purchasing incentive.

On top of players putting Space Marine 2 down after completing the story, there have been reports of fans having difficulty connecting to Space Marine 2's servers alongside PvP balancing, having difficulty ing games, and suffering from incredibly high ping or one-sided battles if they can even make it in. While many of these mechanical issues are likely to be fixed in future updates, it has put off players who are waiting to come back after Space Marine 2 is in a more polished state with a wider variety of content to offer.

Space Marine 2 Still Has Plenty Of Free Content To Come

Bringing Back Players With A Wider Variety Of Gameplay Options

Despite concerns over Space Marine 2's declined player base, it's not all doom and gloom for dedicated fans continuing to fight for the Imperium. Given that Space Marine 2 sold over 4.5 million total copies as of last month, the PC player base only makes up a fraction of players battling the endless hordes of Xenos. With Space Marine 2's initial sales numbers and profitable DLC, Focus Entertainment likely has more than enough funds to keep the latest entry in the Warhammer franchise alive and well for some time.

While it remains to be seen how long Space Marine 2's lifespan will be with its turbulent player base numbers, there's already a plethora of free DLC planned for 2025. PC players who are willing to re the fight in the next year will have plenty of new content to experience, with the most exciting being brand-new PvE missions, new PvP game modes, and an entirely new Horde mode for even more replayability options.

Source: Reddit, SteamDB