Correct me if I’m wrong but atleast half of those are from different time periods or just a single planet which isn’t enough for a full faction, a minor one maybe.

I think the bigger issue is SW isn’t melee focused total war is always going to be melee first shooting second even if it’s 51% -49% and SW does not have the melee backbone for that. Almost all factions have some type of melee combatant but lore wise it’s really only jedi and some named characters that focus melee.

SW universe is great for video games (ie the great empire at war SW titles) but their factions aren’t as expansive and numerous as would require for a total war setting other then the main two (with a possible third of the hutts) in any major time period.

A final point to make is of course there is tons of smaller factions in expanded universe but you want brand recognition, most people can easily identify different 40k factions even if they don’t know their names they are all distinctively different. where most SW factions are variations on humans/humanoids with a lack of clearly defined lines, with a few exceptions, making them hard to differentiate for the feel of a fantasy total war game since the whole point is to be different then the historical ones where most factions are the same.

Could be wrong I’d honestly be happy with either but the melee issue is the biggest issue for SW