Recently we announced that Dawn of War II will be a Games for Windows - LIVE title. We are especially excited about this because Dawn of War II’s multiplayer features will be offered for free, which is significant news for anyone already familiar with the LIVE service.

Online play will be a huge part of Dawn of War II. In addition to competitive multiplayer we are also supporting co-operative play in the campaign. It’s more important to us than ever before that we have a service that lets players connect with each other easily and reliably.

From our end the decision to go with LIVE came from a desire to increase our connection success rates, have better scalability, and offer better service to our customers. We appreciate the loyalty our community has shown us on our previous titles, and we want to ensure that we’ve done everything we possibly can to keep our customers playing together. Relic is committed to improving all aspects of our games with each release, and we strive to provide a seamless experience that meets all of our customers’ expectations.

We look forward to seeing you all online early next year. Thank you!

Q & A
What is being announced at E3?
Dawn of War II will offer free multiplayer and will be using Games for Windows – LIVE.

But Microsoft charges for a gold subscription for GFW-LIVE. How is that not the case with Dawn of War II?
There will be no subscription fee for any multiplayer gaming features using the Games for Windows – LIVE service in Dawn of War II.

Does this include full matchmaking, multiplayer achievements, etc?
Yes. This includes achievements, TrueSkill® multiplayer matchmaking, voice and text chat, a friends list that is consistent across both Windows and XBOX 360, and all other features of the Games for Windows – LIVE service.

Will you have a marketplace or other in-game content?
We will be distributing additional content for Dawn of War II through Games for Windows - LIVE. We’re keeping the details under wraps for now, but stay tuned!