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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV releases on PC on December 3, 2026, but Deep Silver has not yet announced the exact unlock time. This page shows what is confirmed, what isn’t, and how the launch converts across six time zones once the hour is official.
The short version
The date is set. The hour is not.
Dawn of War IV is developed by King Art Games, the studio behind Iron Harvest, and published by Deep Silver. The game’s official listing gives December 3, 2026 as the release date for Windows PC. Deep Silver hasn’t published a specific unlock hour, a preload window or a launch countdown yet.
That’s normal at this stage. Publishers usually confirm unlock times in the final weeks before launch, often through a social post, a Steam announcement or an FAQ update on the official site. This page will be updated when that information appears.
Release time by region
There is no confirmed unlock time to put in the table yet, so every cell shows that. The table also lists the UTC offset each region will use on December 3, 2026. You’ll need those offsets to work out your local time once Deep Silver posts the official hour.
| Time zone | Region examples | UTC offset on Dec 3, 2026 | Confirmed unlock time |
|---|---|---|---|
| PT (Pacific Standard Time) | Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver | UTC−8 | Not announced |
| ET (Eastern Standard Time) | New York, Toronto, Miami | UTC−5 | Not announced |
| UK (GMT) | London, Edinburgh, Dublin | UTC+0 | Not announced |
| CET (Central European Time) | Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Copenhagen, Budapest | UTC+1 | Not announced |
| JST (Japan Standard Time) | Tokyo, Osaka | UTC+9 | Not announced |
| AEST / AEDT (Australian Eastern) | Brisbane (AEST), Sydney and Melbourne (AEDT) | UTC+10 / UTC+11 | Not announced |
A few details about this table matter more than they look.
Daylight saving is over in the northern hemisphere. By early December, the US, Canada, the UK and the EU have all switched back to standard time. The gaps are simple: ET is 3 hours ahead of PT, the UK is 8 hours ahead of PT, and CET is 9 hours ahead of PT.
Australia is split. December is summer in Australia. New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT run on AEDT (UTC+11), which puts Sydney and Melbourne one hour ahead of Brisbane. Queensland stays on AEST (UTC+10) all year. If you live in Sydney, use the AEDT column once the time is announced.
Portugal is on UK time, not CET. Mainland Portugal uses UTC+0 in winter, the same as London. Denmark, Hungary and most of continental Europe use CET.
Mexico no longer changes its clocks. Mexico dropped daylight saving in 2022 for most of the country. Mexico City stays on UTC−6 all year, which in December sits one hour behind ET and two hours ahead of PT.
How to convert the launch time once it’s announced
When Deep Silver posts the official hour, it will most likely be in PT, CET or UTC. These are the most common reference zones for PC launches aimed at North America and Europe.
The table below is a conversion helper, not a prediction. It shows what three commonly used launch slots would mean in each region on December 3. Use it to check the maths once the real time is out.
| If the announced time is… | PT | ET | UK | CET | JST | AEDT (Sydney) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00 PT | 09:00 Dec 3 | 12:00 Dec 3 | 17:00 Dec 3 | 18:00 Dec 3 | 02:00 Dec 4 | 04:00 Dec 4 |
| 16:00 CET | 07:00 Dec 3 | 10:00 Dec 3 | 15:00 Dec 3 | 16:00 Dec 3 | 00:00 Dec 4 | 02:00 Dec 4 |
| 00:00 UTC Dec 3 | 16:00 Dec 2 | 19:00 Dec 2 | 00:00 Dec 3 | 01:00 Dec 3 | 09:00 Dec 3 | 11:00 Dec 3 |
Notice the last row. A launch pinned to midnight UTC on December 3 would actually go live in the US on the evening of December 2. Players in Japan and Australia regularly get a calendar-day head start on PC launches for this reason.
Will it be a simultaneous global unlock?
Most likely, yes, but Deep Silver hasn’t confirmed it.
Steam releases almost always unlock at one moment worldwide. Your location doesn’t change when the button turns from “Pre-purchase” to “Play”. The other model is a “rolling midnight” release that unlocks at 00:00 in each local time zone. That model shows up mostly on console storefronts, and Dawn of War IV is a PC-only release.
Until Deep Silver says otherwise, plan for a single global unlock moment. Don’t plan for midnight in your own time zone.
If you’ve followed other big launches this year, you’ve seen both models in action. Our Battlefield 6 release date and unlock time page and the GTA 6 release time article explain how console-first games handle regional unlocks differently.
Preload: what we know
Preloading has not been announced. Deep Silver hasn’t confirmed whether pre-purchasers can download the game before December 3, when a preload would open, or how big the download will be.
On Steam, preloads usually open a few days before launch for games that support them. When a preload goes live, the game’s library entry changes from greyed out to showing a download option, even though you can’t launch it yet.
How to check for a preload on Steam
- Pre-purchase Dawn of War IV on Steam.
- Open your Steam Library.
- Select Dawn of War IV in the list.
- Look for an active “Preload” or “Install” button.
- If it’s greyed out, preload hasn’t opened yet.
The final file size and system requirements haven’t been locked in either. A large RTS with big battlefields and destructible environments can be a hefty download. Check that you have plenty of free space on a fast drive before launch week.
Good to know
Turn on Steam’s wishlist and pre-purchase notifications. Steam emails you when a preload opens and when the game becomes playable, so you won’t miss the unlock if it lands while you’re asleep.
Early access, betas and premium editions
Here’s where things stand on the extras that often change when you can actually play:
| Item | Status as of last check |
|---|---|
| Early access period for premium editions | Confirmed for Commander Edition: from November 30, 2026 |
| Closed beta | Not announced |
| Open beta or demo | Not announced |
| Pre-order bonus | Pre-order discount shown on Steam; other bonuses not confirmed here |
| Console versions | Not announced |
The early access row matters a lot for launch timing. Many recent releases give deluxe-edition buyers a few days of early play. Dawn of War IV does this too: Commander Edition buyers get early access from November 30, 2026, three days before the December 3 general release. For everyone else, treat December 3 as the first day you can play.
A closed beta hasn’t been confirmed either. Large RTS games often run multiplayer stress tests before launch, but don’t sign up for anything that isn’t on the official site or the Steam page. Fake beta-signup pages are a common way people lose accounts.
Where you can buy it
Dawn of War IV has a Steam store page with pre-purchase available. At the time of the last check, the Steam listing showed a 10% pre-order discount. The base price depends on your region, because Steam sets local pricing in markets like Mexico, Denmark, Portugal, Hungary, the United Kingdom and Australia. Check the store page in your own currency rather than converting a US price.
Other PC storefronts are not confirmed at the time of writing. If GOG, the Epic Games Store or the publisher’s own shop list the game, this page will say so.
On first launch, you’ll probably be asked to accept an end-user licence agreement (EULA) and a privacy or data consent screen. That’s standard for modern PC releases. Read the conditions if you care about how your play data is used, but expect the prompt either way.
At last, back to war: the delay and the December 3 date
Dawn of War IV was announced in 2025 as the first new mainline entry since Dawn of War III in 2017. For a lot of long-time fans, it ended an eight-year wait for the series to return.
The current December 3, 2026 date is the result of a schedule change. Players on the Dawn of War subreddit flagged the move as a delay when the new date appeared. That’s a community source, so take any reasons they suggest for the change as speculation. The official listing, which is the authoritative source, now shows December 3.
Here’s what this means for you right now:
- The year is confirmed. Dawn of War IV is set for 2026, not 2027.
- The date could still move. Any date can slip until launch. No further delay has been announced.
- The time is the last piece. Expect it closer to launch, usually alongside preload details.
What’s in the game at launch
King Art Games and Deep Silver have shown Dawn of War IV as a return to the base-building, squad-focused real-time strategy of the earlier games.
The announced factions include the Space Marines, the Orks, the Necrons and the Adeptus Mechanicus. Each faction has its own units, commanders and play style, as the series has always done. Marines players get the familiar mix of power-armoured squads and heroic commanders. Necrons and the Adeptus Mechanicus bring very different ways of fighting to the same maps.
Deep Silver’s announcement material also describes story campaigns, skirmish play and multiplayer. The exact mode list, map count and multiplayer player counts at launch haven’t been confirmed in full. Metadata Games will add those details to a fact sheet once they’re published.
Post-launch plans: free and paid DLC
The official Dawn of War IV website has a section on post-launch support covering both free updates and paid DLC. That fits the series’ history: earlier Dawn of War games grew through expansions that added new factions and campaigns.
What isn’t confirmed yet:
- Which factions, if any, will come as paid DLC
- Whether new maps and balance updates will be free
- A dated content roadmap
- Whether a season pass or bundled edition will include future DLC
If you’re deciding between a standard and a premium edition, wait until Deep Silver spells out exactly which products each edition includes. That way you won’t pay for content that later arrives free.
How Dawn of War IV fits into a busy launch window
December 3 lands in a crowded part of the release calendar. PC gamers watching several launches at once can use our time-zone pages to plan around them, including the Crimson Desert release time and Ghost of Yotei release time breakdowns.
Our MW4 release time page shows how a large multiplayer shooter handles staggered unlocks across platforms. That’s a useful contrast to a PC-only RTS that will most likely go live everywhere at once.
Checklist for launch day
Use this list in the week before December 3:
- Confirm the unlock time on the official site, Steam announcements or Deep Silver’s social channels.
- Convert it using the UTC offsets above. Remember that Sydney is on AEDT and Brisbane is on AEST.
- Check for a preload in your Steam Library.
- Free up storage space on an SSD if you can.
- Update your GPU drivers a day or two early, not five minutes before unlock.
- Expect a EULA and consent screen on first launch, and give yourself an extra minute for it.
- Skip unofficial “early unlock” tricks. Changing your PC clock or VPN location does not unlock Steam games early, and it can put your account at risk.
FAQ
What time does Dawn of War 4 come out?
Deep Silver hasn’t announced the exact unlock time yet. The game releases on PC on December 3, 2026. Once the hour is confirmed, it will most likely be a single global unlock on Steam. Depending on the time, that could put players in Japan and Australia on December 4, or players in the Americas on the evening of December 2.
Is Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV out?
No. Dawn of War IV is not out yet. It’s scheduled for December 3, 2026 on Windows PC, and you can pre-purchase it on Steam now.
Is Dawn of War 4 coming out in 2026?
Yes. The official release date is December 3, 2026. The date has already moved once, and any date can change until launch, but no further delay has been announced as of the last check.
Is StarCraft a rip off of 40k?
StarCraft clearly borrows from Warhammer 40,000, but it isn’t a copy. Terran Marines in heavy armour, the swarming Zerg and the psychic, high-tech Protoss closely mirror 40k’s Space Marines, Tyranids and Eldar. Former Blizzard developers have described how Games Workshop’s settings influenced the studio’s early work. StarCraft built its own lore, tone and competitive design on top of those inspirations, and it has grown into a separate franchise rather than a knock-off.
Will Dawn of War IV come to PS5 or Xbox?
Console versions have not been announced. The confirmed platform is Windows PC.
Can I play Dawn of War IV early with a premium edition?
Yes. Commander Edition buyers get early access from November 30, 2026, three days before the December 3 general release.
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