With Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 now over a week old, players have completed its campaign and started to get to grips with the co-op Operations mode and the PvP mode, Eternal War. But already fans are speculating about which enemy faction they’ll go up against in the seemingly inevitable Space Marine 3 — and based on hints in the game, there can be only one pick.

Warning! Spoilers for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 follow.

Space Marine 2 sees Titus of the Ultramarines go up against the Tyranids and the Thousand Suns Traitor Legion in a campaign that ends up with a massive battle against a demon army and even a trip to the warp. With the aid of Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, Titus successfully fends off both enemy factions before he’s sent on a mysterious mission that teases the continuation of the story in another sequel.

This sequel — let’s go with Space Marine 3 given Space Marine 2’s breakout success suggests developer Saber Interactive will indeed make more games in the series — looks certain to feature the Necrons, Warhammer 40,000’s deathless skeletal robot xenos. Why do fans believe the Necrons are next, after Space Marine 1’s Orks and Space Marine 2’s Tyranids and Thousand Sons? There are clear hints that the Necrons are coming buried within Space Marine 2 itself.

To set the stage, one mission that takes Titus and co deep within the bowels of an alien planet shows ancient and mysterious wall markings that are a clear nod to the Necrons.

There’s even a dataslate (Space Marine 2’s audio logs) that reveals Necron constructs have been killing Techpriests. You can see these constructs lying about the place (the one below looks like a Canoptek Tomb Stalker to me).

This hint is part of the third act of the campaign, which sees Titus head to a Necron Tomb World packed with Necron buildings and technology. Some players even suspected the xenos would make a surprise appearance as a third enemy faction in the campaign, given the nature of the mission.

Indeed, it turns out that the Space Marine 2 story sort of revolves around the Necrons. The Techpriest who goes off the rails is trying to use an ancient Necron artifact to nullify the influence of Chaos by closing off the warp, the hell dimension from which Chaos spews forth. At least that’s what the Techpriest thinks the artifact does (it doesn’t, then it does).

Assuming the Necrons do turn up at some point, they’ll probably be very angry indeed. As a faction they have a collective ‘got up on the wrong side of the bed’ attitude, given they’re waking up from a 60 million year-long slumber beneath the Imperium’s feet. They’ll probably have something to say about the Adeptus Mechanicus banging on their door during the Space Marine 2 campaign, that’s for sure.

As for Ttitus, he’ll no doubt be drafted in to save the day once again, fighting Necrons as well as the forces of Chaos with the sort of enthusiasm we’ve come to know and love, but with Chaplain Leandros keeping a close eye on proceedings just in case there’s a whiff of corruption. Honestly, give poor Titus a break, won’t you? Perhaps we’ll get Ultramarines Primarch Robute Guilliman himself to have a word.

For Warhammer 40,000 fans, it’s all very exciting, but alas we’ll have to wait for a story expansion or Space Marine 3 to find out what happens next. Space Marine 2 has enjoyed over two million players, and according to its developers, has sold faster than any Doom game. It’s already the most-played Warhammer 40,000 game of all time by Steam concurrents, and could grow further when DLC finally kicks in.

We’ve got plenty more Space Marine 2 coverage, including details on its post-launch roadmap, the upcoming addition of class matching for co-op after players found themselves locked in a class standoff ahead of Operations mode missions, and a report on those creepy flying babies you keep seeing on the Battle Barge.

IGN’s Space Marine 2 review returned an 8/10. We said: “Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 may not break the third-person shooter mold, but it looks amazing, makes good use of its Warhammer lore, and has brutal combat that just feels great.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The Communication Workers of America (CWA) has heavily criticized Microsoft’s announcement of a further 650 layoffs from its gaming business, with one union formed to represent Activision Blizzard’s World of Warcraft team calling the cuts “heartless.”

Yesterday, September 12, Xbox chief Phil Spencer sent a memo to staff, obtained by IGN, outlining plans to let 650 staff go, mostly from Activision Blizzard’s corporate and supporting functions, while confirming no games or devices were canceled and no studios were being closed.

However, two Activision Blizzard development teams were also hit: Activision’s Call of Duty Warzone Mobile team, and Blizzard’s Warcraft Rumble team.

These latest layoffs mean Microsoft has cut an eye-watering 2,550 staff from its gaming business since acquiring Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in 2023. In his memo, Spencer made it clear that the cuts were related to the acquisition.

In response, the CWA issued a statement hitting out at Microsoft’s plans. “Microsoft’s decision to lay off 650 video game workers is an extremely disappointing move from one of the world’s largest and most profitable corporations,” the CWA said. “This news comes just after Sony Interactive Entertainment subsidiary Bungie announced 220 layoffs in late July. While none of those who are losing their jobs are represented by CWA, we understand how devastating layoffs are to the workers and their families.”

The CWA also included a statement from Samuel Cooper, senior producer at World of Warcraft and member of the World of Warcraft Game Makers Guild. WoWGG was formed as part of the CWA in July after the developers behind World of Warcraft, one of the world’s biggest and longest-running MMORPGs, officially unionized. It is Blizzard’s first ever “wall-to-wall” union, encompassing the entirety of a game development team instead of just one division, like QA. WoWGG is officially recognized under Microsoft’s labor neutrality agreement and certified by an independent arbitrator.

“Every worker deserves a voice on the job and a say over the impact of job cuts,” Cooper said. “While we would hope that a company like Microsoft with $88 billion in profits last year could achieve ‘long term success’ without destroying the livelihoods of 650 of our colleagues, heartless layoffs like these have become all too common. We stand in solidarity with everyone who lost their job today and encourage all video game workers to join with us and form unions so we can protect each other.”

Cardy, Matt, and Emma are here to discuss Sony’s unveiling of the PS5 Pro and whether it’s worth the high price that’s been set. Then they chat about their time with the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 multiplayer beta, as well as thoughts on new movies Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Rebel Ridge. There’s also plenty (probably too much) chat about biscuits and the best way to consume them.

Remember to send us your thoughts about all the new games, TV shows, and films you’re enjoying or looking forward to: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.

IGN UK Podcast 765: PS5 Pros and Biscuit Pockets

• IGN UK Podcast 764: Bots, Bolters, and Blood
• IGN UK Podcast 763: Star Wars Outlaws, MGS Delta, and Alien: Romulus
• IGN UK Podcast 762: The Best of gamescom 2024
• IGN UK Podcast 761: Space Marine 2 Might Be the Warhammer Game We’ve Always Wanted
• IGN UK Podcast 760: Is Thank Goodness You’re Here the Funniest Game Ever?

4A Games, the developer of the Metro series, is set to remain within Embracer Group after Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive declined to exercise its option to buy the studio.

When Saber spun out of Embracer via Beacon Interactive, a company controlled by Saber co-founder Matthew Karch, it had the option of bringing 4A Games along with it. That is no longer happening, Embracer announced. Now 4A Games, as well as Zen Studios, the Hungarian studio responsible for Pinball FX and Zen Pinball, will remain at Embracer.

In a statement, Embracer’s controversial co-founder and CEO Lars Wingefors said: “We are satisfied with the conclusion of this transaction and very glad to see the great teams and assets of 4A Games and Zen Studios remain within Embracer. They will be important building blocks in our continued journey.”

So, what’s 4A Games working on these days? It has VR spin-off Metro Awakening due out later this year on PSVR2, PC VR, and Meta Quest, as well as the next mainline Metro game, confirmed to be in the works but yet to be revealed. There’s another unannounced triple-A game in development at 4A Games, too, Wingefors teased.

As for Embracer, it’s coming out of a period of devastating cuts and studio closures that has seen thousands of staff lose their jobs. It also sold various parts of its business in a bid to improve its cash flow, with Borderlands maker Gearbox joining Take-Two, and the aforementioned Saber Interactive going it alone.

Despite this, Embracer retains control of over 900 franchises, and owns the likes of THQ Nordic, Plaion, Coffee Stain, and Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics. Embracer, which also owns the rights to The Lord of the rings, has an incredible 103 internal game development studios, with more than 10,000 employees in more than 40 countries.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The developer of Palworld has revealed a conundrum it faces as it looks to the future: take the game free-to-play and live service, or stick with its current pay-to-play model.

Palworld is the phenomenally successful multiplayer survival crafting game that’s been dubbed ‘Pokemon with guns’ for its inclusion of creatures called Pals. It launched on Steam priced $30 and straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC earlier this year, breaking sales and concurrent player number records in the process. Japanese developer Pocketpair has said the game was so popular, it couldn’t handle the massive profits the game generated.

While player numbers have declined somewhat since Palworld’s explosive launch, it remains one of the most-played games on Steam (Microsoft does not make Windows PC and Xbox player numbers public), sitting comfortably in the top 100. But for Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe, thoughts are now turning to the future, and whether to make Palworld free-to-play and embrace the live service model so many other games have adopted.

In an interview with ASCII Japan, translated by Automaton, Mizobe said Pocketpair needs to make a decision between the two business models.

“When you think about it from a business perspective, making (Palworld) a live-service game would extend its lifespan and make it more stable in terms of profitability,” Mizobe said. “However, the game was not initially designed with that approach in mind, so there would be many challenges involved in taking it down the live-service path.”

One of those challenges would be turning Palworld from a pay-to-play game into a free-to-play game, which would in turn crank up the monetization. “It is common for live-service games to be F2P with paid elements such as skins and battle passes, but Palworld is a B2P game, so it’s difficult to turn it into a live-service game from the ground up,” Mizobe explained.

While there are examples of games that have successfully made the switch from premium to free (Fall Guys and PUBG are two), doing so requires a great deal of effort and much risk. “Both (games) took several years to make the shift,” Mizobe added. “While I understand that the live-service model is good for business, it’s not that easy.”

It sounds like a decision has yet to be made, and Pocketpair is keenly aware of a potential backlash from players who have already paid $30 to play Palworld. But it’s worth keeping in mind that Palworld launched in early access form just over half a year ago, so it’s early days yet.

Still, Pocketpair acted swiftly to capitalize on Palworld’s breakout success, signing a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment that’s tasked with expanding the IP.

This is not a publishing deal for Palworld the video game, or an acquisition by Sony, rather an attempt to make the most of the game’s huge popularity with non-video game products, such as merchandise and music. The newly formed business, headed up by Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe, is responsible for global licensing and merchandising activities associated with Palworld.

Speaking of Sony, Palworld is heavily rumored to be set for a PlayStation launch announcement at this month’s Tokyo Game Show, after the game popped up on a schedule. Pocketpair had teased a PlayStation release back in June, so this would come as little surprise. TGS runs from September 26 to 29.

While Palworld is one of the biggest game launches ever, it’s also one of the most controversial. Pocketpair has said its staff has received death threats amid Pokémon “rip-off” claims, which it has denied. Soon after launch, Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.” IGN asked lawyers whether Nintendo could successfully sue.

If you’re playing, be sure to check out IGN’s interactive Palworld map, or how you can create a dedicated Palworld server with your friends.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.