With Dawn of War 4, the dark universe of Warhammer 40,000 receives a new entry in the popular strategy game series. The German development studio King Art, based in Bremen, gave an interview to a local television station. During this, one of the franchise’s most popular characters was possibly leaked.
What was leaked in the developer interview? The television station “buten un binnen” is part of Radio Bremen. In an interview, the developer of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 discussed some details of the strategy game. The video has since been removed by buten un binnen.
According to the website pcgamesn.com, there was discussion about a vehicle named Repulsor Executioner belonging to the Dark Angels, and some assets from the development were shown. Three of these files were labeled with the nickname of one of the most popular characters within the universe: “TheLion”
Who has this nickname and is the popular character? “The Lion” is a nickname of the Primarch of the Dark Angels: Lion El’Jonson. This Primarch is one of the best fighters in the galaxy and ranks second in our ranking of the strongest loyal leaders of the Imperium of Mankind.
In a poll (40k.gallery), he even managed to secure the first place among the most popular Primarchs.
YouTube viewers provide some clarity about the files
What did a YouTube viewer say about it? The YouTuber Chapter Master Valrak uploaded a video on his channel regarding the leaked files. In the comments, an animator chimed in and clarified the program (Maya) that was used in the interview.
derpherp7432 comments that it is likely a 3D geometry related to the Repulsor Executioner, referring to “The Lion”. The user also writes that it seems very unlikely that the developers accidentally selected an entire Primarch in the editor.
Another animator agrees with the user: Under the comment from derpherp7432, another animator shared his opinion on the topic. TauEnjoyer merely referred to the file as a controller. A controller in the program Maya is an element used to move a 3D model, similar to the Repulsor Executioner tank.
Nevertheless, the question remains why the interview was taken offline shortly after airing.
For MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus, the first entry in the Dawn of War series is among the best strategy games ever. He was therefore very enthusiastic about the demo of the fourth installment at gamescom 2025, which he was able to play for 30 minutes: I played Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 for just 30 minutes but I’m already more excited than I have been in years.
