Big franchises moving fast
This week’s gaming roundup notes Space Marine 2 has reached 12 million players and Metro 2039 is now announced for a 2026 release, highlighting active momentum in major franchise releases (x.com). The same summary also flags Bloober Team revealing a Leadership expansion plus seven games in development (x.com).
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has reached 12 million players, while Metro 2039 is set for a winter 2026 launch. (ign.com) Focus Entertainment confirmed the 12 million figure on April 16, 2026, and the number refers to players, not disclosed unit sales. Space Marine 2 launched in September 2024 and is still getting updates from Saber Interactive. (ign.com) That audience grew after the game joined Xbox Game Pass on January 20, 2026, and PlayStation Plus Game Catalog in March 2026. Microsoft listed it for Game Pass on January 29, and Sony added it to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium on March 18. (news.xbox.com) Metro 2039 was formally revealed on April 16 by 4A Games and Deep Silver as the fourth mainline Metro game. It is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC in winter 2026. (blog.playstation.com) 4A Games said Metro 2039 is written with series author Dmitry Glukhovsky and set six years after the original Metro game. Xbox’s recap said players control a new voiced protagonist called “The Stranger” in a return to Moscow’s metro tunnels. (blog.playstation.com) Bloober Team is moving in parallel. The studio behind the Silent Hill 2 remake said this week it has expanded leadership and now has seven horror games in active development. (gamesindustry.biz) GamesIndustry.biz reported the hires include Thaine Lyman as head of studio, Katya Baukova as director of business development, and Michał Gembicki as head of publishing. The studio said two projects are internal single-player horror games and five are co-developed titles. (gamesindustry.biz) The numbers point to two different ways big series are being pushed in 2026: older hits are widening through subscription libraries, and publishers are locking in the next tentpole before the holiday window. Space Marine 2’s player count rose from 7 million in June 2025 to 12 million by mid-April 2026 as Metro returned with its first mainline announcement since Metro Exodus. (worthplaying.com) For players, that means one franchise is stretching a live audience across 2026 while another has moved from rumor to release window. For studios, it means the sequel machine is already running on both ends. (focus-entmt.com)
