Dawn Of War 3 : What Went Wrong?

In the future, there is only war. 

If you know anything about Warhammer 40K you know this sentence all too well. And you also maybe know about Relic Entertainment and their Dawn Of War series. 

We are going to take a look at what they did with this license and especially with Dawn Of War 3. 

After two successful entries changing the formula between the first and second they did change again for the third time. But this was not as successful as they and I would have hoped. 

Relic & Warhammer : 20 years of history

It all  began more than 20 years ago in 2004.

The first game was a classic RTS (Real Time Strategy). You managed a full building chain, directly inspired by genre pillars like Starcraft and Warcraft.

For those unfamiliar with RTS, the gameplay loop revolves around building your base to unlock specific units that fit your strategy. The challenge is to optimize your resources to get those units as fast as possible. It was an immediate success, and the game including the expansions sold more than 5M units. 

In 2009 came Dawn of War 2, which shifted the formula toward what you could call a Tactical RTS. The base-building chain was removed. Instead, you controlled a handful of units with unique abilities, focusing on positioning and tactical skill to defeat the usual Warhammer baddies. There was even a mini skill tree and equipment upgrades for extra depth.

It might sound like a strange mix, but it was essentially Relic reusing the successful formula from their very own : Company of Heroes. Loved by both players and critics alike. It even got two standalone DLC expansions. This one sold a bit less at 4M units estimated (including the two standalone expansions). 

And then, after 8 long years, Dawn Of War 3 arrived. One of my most anticipated sequels. And… boy was I in for a treat!

The Dawn Of War 3 Case

Interestingly enough, DoW3 wasn’t slaughtered by critics. Sure, it scored slightly lower than its predecessors, but still sat around 80% where the other ones were closer to the 85 grade. .

Player feedback, however, was far more divisive. Many couldn’t quite grasp the game’s direction from early previews, and the art style didn’t win unanimous approval.

With estimated sales at around 500K (five times less than the previous game) and with Relic halting all planned support and DLC soon after release, we can safely call it a failure.

But why? Why did it fail to win over players? It was a new entry in a once-popular franchise. It looked good. Reviews were decent. So…

What went wrong?

When you think of this license, the keyword is strategy.

The first game’s strategy was about army building,  what to build, when, and how to strike.

The second game’s strategy was about tactical positioning, you managed only your units, no base-building. Put ranged units behind, tanky ones in front, sneak with cloaked units to destroy the enemy buildings, you get the idea.

Both games had a clear intent and audience. Players knew what they were getting into.

The third game? It tried to be a hybrid. And failed.

DoW3 combined base-building with “Elite Units” that had special abilities, like a MOBA.

Let’s pause here for context: it’s 2017, and the highest-grossing games in the world are Arena of Valor and League of Legends. I’m not saying that’s the reason for the MOBA influence… but you can draw your own conclusions.

Yup, that's a RTS

Back to the game, we even see MOBA terms in the Elite description such as True Damage, Crowd Control and even types like Nuker, Tank.

And here lies the first big complaint: this genre mashup was… confusing.

The first two games had clear identities. This one didn’t. It’s the old saying: try to please everyone, and you please no one. MOBA players don’t want to micromanage base production. They want flashy abilities and instant gratification. RTS players don’t want cooldown juggling. They want to plan their economy, build their army, and wage war.

To make such a hybrid work, both halves need to be crystal clear and tightly integrated. This wasn’t the case. Players were left wondering what the game was even meant to be.

All of this will be explained in the campaign, again...

Even the tutorial felt like an afterthought, tucked away in a separate menu, with no connection to the campaign. Even worse, when you play the campaign it feels like a tutorial all over again.

The players take 

If we put our observation aside and look at what the players have to say about it, we see Steam reviews that point to one recurring complaint: lack of content. Only three factions at launch.

Maybe (actually definitely) more were planned as DLC, but that depended on the game’s success and player retention.

And here’s the problem: if you base your game’s survival on retention, launch with minimal content, offer no extras, and players don’t even know if it’s a single-player or multiplayer game… why would they stick around?

In order to keep your player base you need to entertain them, offer a short and medium term vision and roadmap, or even… anything?  But here, there were no competitive tools, no tournaments, no community events. So the ones interested in that part lost interest pretty quickly. And with a lackluster campaign those ones were long gone after two or three months. 

Once you miss your launch window, it’s rare to bounce back. CRPR and Hello Games did it,  but it took years and huge investments.

Relic gave up fast : 

'When a game under performs, plans need to change. With Dawn of War 3, we simply don't have the foundation we need to produce major content. We're working in close partnership with Sega and Games Workshop to determine the best course of action, while shifting focus to other projects within our portfolio.'

The player experience

So to sum up:

You get a game with little content, that’s neither a faithful sequel to DoW2 nor a return to DoW1, but an awkward mix of both with some MOBA seasoning to chase trends. And all of it was made without involving the fans in any way.

Even Relic admitted this:

“From where we’re sitting, bringing that early and ongoing player validation into our process is a big priority so well-intentioned decisions don’t go long without feedback.”

Some may even say there was pressure from the publisher, after all there was a change in the meantime. They went from THQ to Sega. Was it the reason? We will most likely never know but you can draw your own conclusions. 

What can we learn from it?

If there’s one lesson DoW3 leaves us with, it’s this: always listen to your fanbase. You don’t need to follow every request, but never forget who you’re making the game for.

Losing your game DNA to chase some random trends is rarely a good idea. 

Waaaagh?

But, we will soon enough see if the publisher pressure, the trends were the reasons. Dawn Of War 4 was just announced, and by the look of it it will be a return to the franchise roots from Dawn Of War 1, which just received a definitive edition to make it compatible with modern computers. 

Rendez-vous in 2026!