The developers and publishers of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 have firmly stated that they are not aiming to transform the game into a full-fledged live service model, despite backlash from the community regarding recent events designed to promote "FOMO" (Fear of Missing Out).

FOMO is a common strategy employed by live service game developers to drive quick player engagement and spending on time-limited virtual items, suggesting that missing out on these items now means losing the chance forever. This approach has faced criticism for fostering an unhealthy dynamic between games and their communities. In 2021, research commissioned by the UK's GambleAware charity pointed out that many games leverage psychological tactics, such as the fear of missing out on limited-time offers, to encourage purchases of loot boxes.

While Space Marine 2 does not feature loot boxes, it does include community events aimed at unlocking exclusive cosmetics, which have sparked a backlash among players, leading some to label the game as adopting live service characteristics.

In response to the community's concerns, Space Marine 2's publisher, Focus Entertainment, and developer, Saber Interactive, acknowledged the negative feedback on the community events and recognized the FOMO issues they created. They assured players that the items available during these events would be reintroduced later for everyone to access. Their statement emphasized that they do not intend to turn Space Marine 2 into a full live service game. Instead, the community events are meant to allow dedicated players to unlock items early, without causing frustration or stress.

We have noted that the Community Events have received cold feedback since we introduced them as an additional way to unlock cosmetic items. We saw that many of you mentioned FOMO generated by the events. Rest assured, we are not looking to transform Space Marine 2 into a full live service game. The items available through events WILL be available later, for everyone. We want Community Events to be a way to unlock the items in advance, for the most dedicated players, and not to be a source of frustration and stress for everyone.

However, that means we must provide a smooth experience in unlocking said items, which has not been the case so far. We deeply apologize for the trouble, and are currently working on a simplified process to unlock the items, to make the experience less constraining.

As a gesture of goodwill, Focus Entertainment is offering the emblem-less Mk VIII Errant Helmet for free to all players who link their PROS account to Space Marine 2. This item was part of the Imperial Vigil community event, which concludes on March 3 and was previously only obtainable by achieving a victory with each of the six classes in Operations Mode by the event's end date.

Space Marine 2 players are eagerly anticipating the upcoming 7.0 update, which will introduce a new weapon, a new Operations map, and PvE Prestige Ranks. Last month, Focus and Saber addressed the community's concerns about content updates and outlined their plans for the game's future development.

The game enjoyed a record-breaking launch last year, selling 5 million copies and becoming the fastest-selling Warhammer video game to date.