Overview
Dawn of War III is a real-time strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment, taking place in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe created by Games Workshop. It is the third core game in the Dawn of War franchise.
Development
Early on, the game was speculated to be a free-to-play release in the vein of Company of Heroes Online. This sprung from a statement by THQ core games boss Danny Bilson that, depending on CoHO's performance, Dawn of War III might follow suit. However, CoHO was later cancelled, making the move to a free-to-play model seem doubtful.
None the less, Danny Bilson again stated that the game is borrowing ideas from the original, its sequel, CoHO and the "Last Stand" mode, which was later incorporated into Dawn of War II via a patch, while also revealing that the game is going for a much larger scale. In his statement, he explained that the sequel will be "MMO-like" in that it will feature a persistent world, though the tactical squad-based action at the series' core will remain unchanged. Much like CoHO, the game will feature permanent upgrades for squads and heroes.
In 2013, THQ filed for bankruptcy and all of its properties were sold at auction. Sega picked up Warhammer 40,000 for $26.6 USD. Any news about Dawn of War III disappeared until May 3, 2016 when Sega and Relic released an "announcement" CG trailer for the game.