Strange things indeed have been happening surrounding one of THQ’s final glorious gaming gems. Released back in 2011, Space Marine was one of the most lauded and highly promoted Warhammer 40,000 titles of the past decade, surpassed only by the Dawn of War franchise. Despite critical success, the game sadly failed to hit the targets its publisher needed and as a result, despite future plans, it never saw a sequel. Now however, after three years of inactivity, the game seems to be receiving a great deal of attention.

The first sign of real change was on April 27th, where the game abruptly received a large number of promotional items. Along with Steam trading cards, badges and other details it had long lacked, Space Marine soon received further promotions with a massive 75% off sale which is still ongoing at the moment.  The sale alone would be enough to draw in more money, yet the addition of such items has frequently been used more to retain customers within a community than draw in new ones. Often by just offering a few more items or collectable additions for completionists, such small additions have often been enough to grant any title a new lease on life.

Such a move could even then still perhaps just be put down to a generous addition by the game’s new owners, Sega, but then Space Marine’s entire website was taken down. Days later it was promptly brought back online, with a far more expensive looking and lavishly detailed front page, promotional pages and concept art. For a franchise which was last thought to be dead and buried, this is a surprising move indeed and not the sort of one which would usually be expected of a big budget company such as Sega. Building interest for an old game would make no sense, but building up for a sequel by revitalising an old product and attracting new fans? It’s just about possible.

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