Total War is on fire, now Creative Assembly wants to contain the fire.
That’s probably one of the biggest apologies the gaming industry has ever seen. In one very long message to the communitythe vice president of Creative Assembly, the studio behind Total War, apologizes to the fans of the series on behalf of the entire management team.
This is intended to send a signal that the studio is very unhappy with the current situation and hopes to be able to restore trust and resolve any confusion. In detail it says:
We see the confusion, frustration and distrust in the community and it frankly breaks our hearts. We make games to bring you joy, to inspire a love of history, fantasy and strategy games. Total War is everything to us, the series is as important to us as it is to you. It has recently become clear that we have failed to demonstrate this to you through our actions.
We’re sorry.
– Roger Collum, Vice President at Creative Assembly
It’s not the studio’s first apology, only this time they seem to really mean it. At least they don’t just talk about why price increases are necessary and no indirect threats are made. Instead, the studio wants to rethink what the DLCs will look like in the future and even announces to give everyone who buys Total War: Pharaoh a significant amount of money back.
Money back for Pharaoh buyers
Total War: Pharaoh is the latest offshoot of the series, but the title was hardly played at all on Steam. No one wanted to buy this spin-off anymore after it felt like an overpriced add-on for Total War: Troy and after the fans were already dissatisfied with the studio due to the price increase for the Warhammer 3 DLCs. A complete summary of the situation can be seen here:
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Things are currently worse for Total War than ever before
Now Creative Assembly is taking drastic measures. On the one hand, to get back on good terms with the community, but on the other hand, to boost Pharaoh’s sales a bit. The studio is reducing the price for Total War: Pharaoh from 60 dollars to 40 dollars.
But that’s not all. With the price reduction comes an automatic refund of the difference. So if you bought Pharaoh for 60 dollars, you will get a full 20 dollars credit on Steam. This also applies if you have chosen Deluxe or Dynasty Edition. It is possible that up to 50 dollars will be added to your Steam credit
DLCs will be canceled or free
In the future there will no longer be a Deluxe or Dynasty Edition for Pharaoh, as all paid DLC will be canceled for the time being. Instead, some of the content is published for free. The first free update is High Tide and will bring two Sea Peoples leaders into the game as new playable factions in January 2024.
In addition, there are plans to expand the game’s world map for free in the future and to introduce even more playable races. New features are also planned, including mortality and succession for faction leaders, as well as new cultures, better battles and more unit variety.
The Warhammer 3 DLCs should deliver more
The studio also wants to change a few things with Warhammer 3. After the last DLC disappointed the community’s expectations despite its high price, the studio wants to deliver more. The prices for the DLCs probably won’t go down, but the content should now better reflect these prices. The consequence of this are two things:
- A free update for owners of the Shadow of Change DLC will be released in February 2024. The content is still unclear, but it will probably be a big addition that will make the price of the DLC better suited to the content.
- The next big DLC called Thrones of Decay is postponed. Instead of December 2023, the team is now targeting April 2024. Also to add the extension according to the price and to optimize the content. In addition, what is in the DLC should be communicated transparently before you can pre-order it.
Since the 4.0 update, the team has also been releasing hotfixes for Warhammer 3 very regularly and wants to maintain this frequency.
What’s your opinion? Do you think Creative Assembly has taken the right first step, or do you think the apology comes too late? Would you have liked the prices for the DLCs to come down or are you satisfied with the fact that Pharaoh is cheaper? Write us your thoughts in the comments!
