One of the many major announcements from the Game Awards 2025 was for Total War: Warhammer 40K, the next entry in both the long-running Total War franchise and the grimdark science-fiction world of Warhammer 40,000.
This announcement serves as a massive inflection point, as not only is developer Creative Assembly collaborating with an extraordinarily popular property, but for the first time, the team is promising to bring a Total War game to consoles, as Total War: Warhammer 40K is also coming to Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.
It's a huge opportunity, and it could see the popularity of Total War as a whole skyrocket, provided the team can nail several different major elements all at once.
So many huge possibilities
At a surface level, this game's potential speaks for itself. Warhammer 40,000 has arguably never been more popular as a brand, with numerous well-received video games over the past few years. That kind of popularity could incentivize newcomers to check the game out, in turn bringing in a larger audience more interested in Total War as a whole, not just this latest game.
That's only more true with a console release, something that's never happened before in the Total War franchise. Getting that wider audience interested and keeping them around will be challenging, especially since the dark and vast universe of Warhammer 40,000 is on a completely different scale compared to anything Total War that's come before.
Where some games focused on particular continents or landmasses, Total War: Warhammer 40K is instead taking place across the galaxy, with planetary travel and fleets confirmed from the earliest look as the developers envision a "galactic sandbox" for players to conquer and explore.
Even on the ground, early screenshots look very different from anything previously seen, with a radically different user interface, unit selection, and more. I don't envy the team at Creative Assembly in adapting to make Total War feel playable on a controller while still making sure that PC players don't lose any options or overall strategic depth.
There is plenty of more traditional Total War to look forward to
Of course, not everything rests solely on the reception to this one game, as Creative Assembly also recently announced Total War: Medieval 3. It won't be arriving any time soon — it's explicitly described as having just entered pre-production — but still, it's a game that longtime fans have begged for over the years.
Even before that game arrives, the studio isn't done updating some of its existing library, with Total War: Warhammer 3 getting a new expansion later in 2026. Dubbed Lords of the End Times, it takes after the infamous tabletop event, bringing in Nagash and other new Legendary Lords alongside a host of in-game crises and other features.
There is a huge amount of variety on the way, with something to potentially appeal to everybody. It's an exciting time to be a Total War player, and if Creative Assembly can spin all these plates appropriately, the franchise's best and brightest days may still be ahead.
The execution will be key, and it certainly won't be easy, but it's thrilling all the same. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future brings.
Are you a Total War fan, or a Warhammer enthusiast? Maybe both? Are you excited for this upcoming title, or is there something missing? Let me know!
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