Deep Silver and King Art Games have delayed Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 from September 17 to December 3, a slip of two and a half months. Buyers of the Commander Edition get in three days early, on November 30.
As we approached the final stages of development, we saw an opportunity to further enhance Dawn of War 4 and deliver the quality of experience we've always envisioned. The additional time will allow us to continue optimising performance, resolving bugs, and applying further polish to ensure players have the best possible experience from day one.
In a video accompanying the announcement, Theysen said the studio wanted the extra weeks to get more player feedback into the game, fix bugs, improve performance and polish the experience, and that response from community playtests had been positive so far. A press release framed the same work as performance optimisation, bug fixing, gameplay polish and incorporating feedback from recent community playtesting.
Out of the September crush
The new date moves the RTS out of one of the most crowded Septembers in years. Control Resonant, Marvel's Wolverine, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Blood of the Dawnwalker and Silent Hill: Townfall were all due that month, a pile-up caused in part by publishers trying to land ahead of Grand Theft Auto 6 on November 19. December 3 puts Dawn of War 4 two weeks the other side of Rockstar's game instead.
The roadmap moves with it
The delay has forced a revised year-one roadmap, with the free post-launch content now starting in 2027. Crusade Mode and the first map pack arrive early in the year, followed by a second map pack and the Lord Ahmnok Last Stand Crusade in early spring. A third map pack lands with the mission editor, and a fourth in early summer alongside the Guzcutta Last Stand Crusade.
Two paid additions sit on the same timeline: the Blood Ravens story prologue in spring, and the Aftermath campaign expansion, which adds a new faction, in summer 2027. At launch the game fields four factions - Space Marines, Adeptus Mechanicus, Necrons and Orks.
The first Dawn of War without Relic
Dawn of War 4 is the first game in the series made without Relic Entertainment, which released the 2004 original and sequels in 2009 and 2017. Deep Silver handed the series to King Art after the studio's work on Iron Harvest. Preorders for both editions are open with a ten percent discount, which PCGamesN puts at $53.99 in the US and £44.99 in the UK, and the studio has promised more battle reports and sneak peeks during the extra months.
