Game of Thrones: War for Westeros confirms ice spiders for 2027 launch
Game of Thrones: War for Westeros will feature controllable giant ice spiders within the White Walker army when the strategy game launches on PC in early 2027. Game director Ryan McMahon confirmed the unit design on Saturday, October 3, 2026, bringing a creature previously limited to spoken lore in the first season of the television series directly into real-time battles.
The real-time strategy project from PlaySide Studios introduces asymmetric factions where the army of the dead counters a smaller roster of heroes with monstrous siege creatures. Speaking about the unit selection, McMahon revealed that the arachnid forces were visible in the background of recent gameplay footage and will function as a fully active weapon on virtual battlefields.
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Game of Thrones: War for Westeros adapts creatures omitted from television battles
McMahon explained that the inclusion of the beasts draws directly from George R. R. Martin’s books, where Old Nan frightened Bran Stark with tales of the Others hunting through frozen forests with giant ice spiders. While the HBO television production chose not to showcase the creatures during its live-action battles, the development team integrated them as active heavy combatants alongside undead giants and war mammoths.
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“If you study it closely, which I don’t expect everyone to do, you’ll notice that the White Walker faction has spiders in the background as part of their army,” McMahon stated. “That’s something which has only ever been spoken about in tales by Old Nan in season 1, and that’s an actual unit in the game.”
PlaySide Studios builds sandbox territorial conquest on Unreal Engine 5
Built on the Unreal Engine 5 graphics engine, the title expands on the Australian studio’s strategic systems following the 2021 release of its dark survival strategy game, Age of Darkness: Final Stand. The production maintains the physical likenesses of television cast members Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, Kit Harington as Jon Snow, and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen for its hero units, while strictly following HBO canon whenever the show diverged from the literary source material.
The campaign structure abandons linear historical progression in favor of a sandbox format across the continental map. Players must manage regional economies, capture contested mills and border towns from minor lords, and negotiate political pacts before committing heavy resources to military expansion across the Seven Kingdoms.
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“It’s a sandbox, player-led campaign where you start with a territory that you are in on a map of Westeros that you have to go out and conquer, as well as some other objectives on the political side of things with high-stakes alliances and betrayals that determine which factions and which hero from that faction sits on the Iron Throne in the end,” McMahon said.
McMahon added that regional borders establish the pacing of the game: “Borders play such a big part in Game of Thrones. Minor lords are squabbling throughout the show about what mills belong to them, and where does their land start and end? Territory acts as a great progression pathway, so rather than being able to just rush out on the map, build whatever you want, and overwhelm your opponent, you have to pace yourself, get your economy going, get your production going, and then expand out.”
Asymmetric factions balance White Walker monsters against Westerosi heroes
The development team deliberately avoided rigid competitive RTS conventions, prioritizing battlefield disruption and faction asymmetry over traditional balance. While human houses deploy diverse hero archetypes divided into warriors, commanders, and assassins—such as Tywin Lannister leading armies, The Mountain dominating front lines, and Arya Stark eliminating targets—the White Walkers rely on numbers, the ability to raise fallen enemies as wights, and devastating beasts.
“They don’t focus on competitive balance purity, they focus a lot more on a fun-first philosophy,” McMahon said. “We have dragons that are going to be really strong. We have White Walkers that can raise the dead. We have wildfire, which is obviously super explosive and dangerous, and we have giants and mammoths that are swinging their clubs around and knocking everyone everywhere. That’s fun and exciting to watch, and we want to make sure that we put that first.”
To offset the brute power of ice spiders and mammoths, House Stark gains specialized military assistance on the battlefield. Both Jon Snow and Robb Stark can summon their direwolves into combat, offering protective support against encroaching undead forces.
Game of Thrones: War for Westeros production details and launch timeline
- Official game announcement: Friday, June 6, 2025, at Summer Game Fest
- Gameplay trailer premiere: Tuesday, August 25, 2026, during Gamescom Opening Night Live
- Interview confirming ice spiders: Saturday, October 3, 2026, at 07:00
- Target release window: early 2027 on PC via Steam
- Previous studio release: Age of Darkness: Final Stand in 2021
- Development engine: Unreal Engine 5
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Pending release specifications for Game of Thrones: War for Westeros
PlaySide Studios initially planned to launch the title in 2026 before shifting the target window to early 2027. The developers have not yet confirmed the exact calendar day or month for the Steam launch, and the final hardware system requirements needed to run the title on personal computers remain unannounced.
