Dawn of War 3 Unofficially Announced, 'May Be' Free-to-Play

The third full instalment of Relic's Warhammer 40,000 real-time strategy series Dawn of War should apparently be broadly expected 18-24 months...

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The third full instalment of Relic's Warhammer 40,000 real-time strategy series Dawn of War should apparently be broadly expected 18-24 months after the launch of DoW 2's second standalone expansion Retribution in February 2011. The revelation came from publisher THQ's core games VP Danny Bilson in an interview with Eurogamer.

"Retribution's going to ship in February, and then we start laying out Dawn of War III," Bilson said. "You can probably expect it between 18 months and two years after that."

"It may be a more digital free-to-play experience with all the depth and quality of a Relic RTS," he revealed, similar to Relic's Company of Heroes Online. Currently in beta and launching this fall, CoH Online is free to play but supported by microtransactions.

"It all depends on how COHO does, and how it works and how people respond to it," Bilson said. "If they do that would definitely drive us to... Now Dawn of War III, either way, is going to have a much larger strategic component to it, more of a global battle going on with little tactical things, sort of MMO-like."

Of course, all this may change as it's clearly early days for DoW 3. Bilson himself offers the disclaimer that "We haven't announced anything about it, and it's still in its early formative stage, but I'm just talking to you about the brainstorming going on around it."

From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 19, 2010 9:43 AM

    Please just make it a dedicated game by itself, not some retarded Online pay-for-microtransactions game. Ugh. No thanks.

    • reply
      August 19, 2010 9:46 AM

      A thousand times this

    • reply
      August 19, 2010 9:47 AM

      This.

    • reply
      August 19, 2010 9:51 AM

      This..... or at least call it something other than DOW 3.

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      August 19, 2010 9:52 AM

      Please do not do this!!!!!!! Please just make DOWIII and make it like the other games! DOWII was amazing. The original DOW was amazing!!! Can't you meet in the middle to make a truly great game with more races then ever before?

      MD

    • reply
      August 19, 2010 9:53 AM

      I'm going to guess that this list of those in agreement with my post will only grow and grow. Pay attention, please, Relic.

    • reply
      August 19, 2010 9:57 AM

      Don't worry we're gonna get some cartoon graphic, and persistent world, and that stuff

    • reply
      August 19, 2010 10:28 AM

      :( if they do this RIP Dawn of War 3, at least we get the expansion on the positive side.

      I mean it could be good but generally I hate free to play.

      DO NOT change DOW2 format in DOW3, please.

    • reply
      August 19, 2010 10:29 AM

      Agreed -- I detest microtransactions.

      CoH was probably my absolute favorite game this decade, but the way CoHO is executed, I won't even come near it.

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      August 19, 2010 10:33 AM

      So this is the future of games then? F2P MP with micro-transactions. Are they really that much more profitable than a standalone game I'd buy with a couple DLCs after? Not according to my wallet, but what do I know.

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      August 19, 2010 10:41 AM

      Seriously. Make it £50 if you must, but please don't cater to the latest fad and assume that online games are the only way to make money. Did DoW2 not do well enough?

      P.S. WTB Homeworld 3!

    • reply
      August 19, 2010 1:01 PM

      SC2 bitterness?

      I agree.

    • reply
      August 19, 2010 3:35 PM

      signed

    • reply
      August 19, 2010 4:34 PM

      Nope. Sorry guys. Industry isn't going that way. Casual gaming is on the rise and parts of the hard core market that are still left and growing are doing so by going online with microtransactions being a big part. Keep in mind that the endgame for online play is going to be a platform/system like OnLive. The server/cloud side of gaming is where the infrastructure (and the hardware you use to play your game) is going. I could see them going with a microtansaction model for your multiplayer army. Think of it like collecting digital versions of the table top miniatures. You buy virtual items/units/miniatures/gear online at the Gameworkshop Relic store to fill out your army before starting the matchmaking service and heading off to battle. I know your heads are spinning at this because it's so different but I don't think it's a bad idea. You'll still get a single player mode but that won't be the meat of the game. Too many of you are used to the cartridge/disc based, canned/vaccum sealed form of gaming. The Nintendo cartridge, PS2 DVD, offline era is on the way out.

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