It's never been a better time to get into Warhammer games
Hello everyone, and welcome to another Campaign Mode. This week, I'm pretty happy to go over why it's never been a better time to dive into the scarily-massive world of Warhammer video games. I also want to touch on some unfortunate news that deserves more than a passing mention.
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Something for everyone, in dark fantasy and the grim future
This past Thursday brought the latest annual Warhammer Skulls showcase, a presentation where Warhammer creator Games Workshop provides updates on all things gaming.
While not quite as exciting as last year — it's hard to top a reveal for a new Owlcat Games role-playing game — this was still quite good, with new looks at the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2, a release date for Dawn of War 4 (it's coming on September 17!), the long hoped-for addition of the Skitarii to Darktide, and more.
It also made me come to a fun realization: There has never been a better time to get started diving into the world of Warhammer. It's a setting I obviously enjoy, and I played strategy games for years before finally succumbing to the hobby side itself painting figurines, but for a long time it's been difficult to figure out where to induct my friends who were curious about it.
Because here's the thing: Warhammer is deeply, deeply silly and serious in equal strides, and there is simply so much of it. Forget trying to go into detail about the Horus Heresy, it's hard enough explaining the difference in the 40K and fantasy setting to some of my friends who just want a cool game or three to play.
Yet watching Warhammer Skulls, it's clear that Games Workshop's approach of throwing the kitchen sink at its IP is working. There's something for everyone here, with myriad strategy titles and shooters, yes, but even a distinctly Ork-flavored racing game.
Throw in a crossover with Helldivers 2, and yet more expansions coming for Rogue Trader, and it's easy to find something now to point and say "start here," no matter what someone is interested in.
That's just a cool place for something to be in, and it's an approach I'd love to see applied to more video game settings as a whole.
Bungie is finally ending Destiny 2, and layoffs are reportedly inbound
This was almost part of the assorted news, but some unfortunate updates necessitated a dedicated section.
On May 21, Bungie announced that at long last, Destiny 2's live service approach will be coming to an end, with one last major update launching on June 9. That alone would be a lot to process, but it was followed shortly by a grim report from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, who writes that not only is Destiny 3 not in development, but that Bungie is now planning major layoffs.
I poured hundreds of hours into Destiny and Destiny 2, and that pales in comparison to what many others I know poured in. It's heartbreaking to see developers who put that kind of effort in be treated this way. I recently wrote that I was happy to see Bungie committed to Marathon, and I stand by that, but it's hard not to have a bitter taste in my mouth seeing it followed by this.
Whatever else happens, these were special games. I encourage you to read two pieces from two of my friends, Cj and Matty, who shared some thoughts about the sun finally setting on their Guardians.
Cj Salcedo
Quest Log
Assorted news
Some big sales and player updates this week, plus, another showcase is confirmed for June.
- Circana senior director Mat Piscatella shared the best-selling games of April 2026 in the U.S. Coming in first place is Nintendo's Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. In second place is Capcom's Pragmata, which we know has sold over two million copies so far.
- Forza Horizon 6 has passed six million players as of May 21, 2026, outpacing the already-impressive numbers set by Forza Horizon 5. While the game is included in Xbox Game Pass, over one and a half million players took part in the advanced access which required purchasing the $120 version of the game (or, for Game Pass subscribers, a $60 expansion).
- PlayStation announced a State of Play presentation, set for June 2, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET. This will be a beefy one, running over an hour with gameplay footage for Marvel's Wolverine from Insomniac Games. Personally, I'd love to finally see what Cory Barlog has been up to at Santa Monica Studio. Maybe we'll also see the next remaster PlayStation has on deck.
- Ubisoft reported record losses of €1.3 billion (or about $1.4 billion) for the 2025-26 fiscal year. While a remake of Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag is coming in July, the company is promising that the next mainline entry, Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe, will be coming alongside a new Far Cry and a new Ghost Recon...at some point before March 2029.
Housekeeping
I'm currently having a bit of decision paralysis in figuring out what to play, as I really want to get to both Saros and the upcoming 007 First Light (as I've mentioned before) but I'm resigned to the fact I'll get to those and give them their due when I'm back from Summer Game Fest.
In the meantime, I'll be checking out Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector's new Ultramarines DLC (disclaimer, I received a review code) while continuing to play Marathon over the weekend.
