Warhammer 40k MMO at E3

If you ever needed yet another reason to make it out to E3 this year here it is. THQ announced that there will be a “full unveil” of their upcoming MMO based on the Warhammer 40k universe. Up until now we have only seen a few concept art shots, but at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in LA everyone will get to see a lot more.

Here’s what we know about Warhammer 40k so far. It is being developed by Vigil Games who gave us Darksiders and development is being led by former NCsoft director David Adams. From THQ team member Joe Madureira we are promised large scale combat, tons of customization, and great-looking characters. Besides that and a few shots of concept art THQ has remained pretty silent.

The announcement of the E3 reveal came during the THQ earning report where president and CEO Brian Farrell said:

“The highest ranking revenue opportunity for us clearly is the Warhammer 40K MMO,” Farrell told analysts and investors. “But we think we will have a very competitive MMO, and as you know, one of the big wins there is when you’re successful with those properties, you have a long life on both revenues and cash flows. It’s not just one or two years. It could go five, six, seven years. That is probably the biggest opportunity.”

We will see how many years a 40k MMO can give them. Many gamers out there believe a 40k MMO should have been launched first. The question is after the lower than expected performance of Warhammer Online will fans be willing to take a chance on 40k. Perhaps a better question is will 40k be the kind of game everyone will want to play. Hopefully June 15-17 at the L.A. convention center will give us answers.