Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2’s Dreaded ‘Joining Server’ Bug Makes Co-Op Play Much Harder Than It Should Be

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is the most-played Warhammer 40,000 game ever on Steam and has seen over two million players since launch, but there’s one issue that gives players the fear: the dreaded ‘joining server’ bug.

Space Marine 2 inexplicably launched without private PvE lobbies, which forces players who are engaged with the endgame co-op Operations mode to brave its frustrating matchmaking.

It is possible to join a group of two other randoms as a solo player in this three-player co-op mode, and doing so seems to work well enough. Similarly, if you can get together with two friends to create a full three-player group, you’re fine… mostly.

Things break down, though, when you’re trying to play with one other friend, and need another random to fill in the group. My experience doing this has been littered with wasted time and matchmaking woes, with Space Marine 2 stubbornly refusing to add another human player to our group. Instead, we get a random class bot to fill in the role.

Playing Operations mode on the harder difficulties, which you need to do to obtain the rewards that unlock the higher-tier weapons and perks, is almost impossible without three human players of the appropriate level all tearing through the mission. Space Marine 2 can be a brutally difficult game that throws loads of rock hard enemies at you. There’s no room for poor AI here.

Me when joining my friend’s server on Space Marines 2: pic.twitter.com/s2ObHkBOv1

— Jacky (Comms Closed) (@jackpesaurus) September 16, 2024

My friend and I came up with an awkward solution to this problem this week: have one of us matchmake into a group of randoms and then vote to kick one of the other players. Once that player was kicked, it was a race to join the group and fill the spot before another random was brought in, brute forcing my friend and I into a three-person group. Not ideal, really, but it worked.

Even with this method in hand, there remains a constant fear that the ‘joining server’ bug will ruin all your hard work as victorious Space Marines load back into the Battle Barge hub area. We’ve had occasions where the game has essentially crashed doing this, casting out rewards to the warp in the process. When an Operation can run around 45 minutes, it is soul-destroying to suffer this bug.

Last week, publisher Focus Entertainment said Space Marine 2’s first update would make server improvements and crash fixes. Hopefully it sorts out these matchmaking problems, too.

IGN has reported on the upcoming addition of class matching for co-op, after players found themselves locked in a class standoff ahead of Operations mode missions. Meanwhile, we also have details on what fans can expect from Space Marine 2’s seasonal post-launch content model. Season 2 runs from October until the end of 2024, and includes a new Operations map, a new enemy, a harder difficulty level, a new weapon, and various other improvements. We also have a story on the probable enemy faction for the inevitable Space Marine 3.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.