"Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2": Complete game leaked ahead of release

An early developer build of the upcoming action game "Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2" is circulating online. Publisher Focus Entertainment has now confirmed corresponding media reports in an X-Post. In it, the developers are contrite about the leak: "It's disheartening that many of the surprises we wanted to keep secret have been revealed."

According to Insider Gaming magazine, the full download of the upcoming action game is 75 GByte in size and, apart from a few missing assets, is completely playable. It should even be possible to play with friends. According to Insider Gaming, the build dates back to February. Publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Saber Interactive refer to it as an "old build" in their X-Post.

The official version of "Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2" is scheduled for release on September 9. This means that there is over half a year between this final version and the February build. During this time before the release, improvements are usually prioritized while the game is being polished. New content is usually not developed this late in the development cycle.

"Please avoid the unfinished build"

Gaming leaks on this scale are rare. Sometimes it happens that some game scenes from demos or hands-on builds end up online – at the end of 2022, for example, scenes from a development version of "GTA 6" were leaked. Complete games being online before release is an absolute exception.

"We ask everyone to avoid the unfinished build and not to spoil the game", writes the "Space Marine" development team in the X-Post. The impact of the leak is difficult to estimate. The number of actual downloads and the unfinished nature of the leaked version make it unlikely to have too great an economic impact. However, the leaked gameplay material could reveal the story and thus put some fans off buying the game.

It is also extremely annoying for developers to suddenly see a version of their work online that was not intended for publication. Now the studio will have to face the unpleasant question of how the complete game was able to reach the internet before release.

"The best way to support our hard work is to play the game the way we always envisioned it", reads the statement from the developers at X.

(dahe)