Total War developer Creative Assembly apologizes for "missteps" with Pharaoh and Warhammer, offers partial refund
Creative Assembly, the developer behind the Total War franchise and its most recent entry, Pharaoh, has apologized to fans for the game's lack of content and high price tag and is now offering a partial refund to all buyers.
The details:
On behalf of the Total War team, studio vice president Roger Collum posted the message on the studio's website yesterday, addressing feedback and upcoming changes to both Warhammer III and Pharaoh. "We again apologize for the missteps we've made," Collum wrote. "The mistakes of Total War are a shared responsibility by all the leaders of the franchise, and while it may not seem like it at times, we are listening."
Pharaoh was released in October to mixed reviews, with the majority of criticism focusing on the game's lack of content for the $59.99 price tag. The standard version of the game is now $39.99, with all owners receiving a partial refund automatically through Steam, and the Deluxe and Dynasty editions have been discontinued. A free update is also planned for early 2024, which was previously planned as paid DLC.
Due to similar reasons as Pharaoh, Warhammer III's Shadows of Change DLC received a "mostly negative" rating on Steam upon its release in August. CA is now planning to release an expansion to its expansion in the form of a major update with more content in February 2024. Thrones of Decay, the game's next full-size DLC, has also been pushed back to April 2024 to ensure the studio does not repeat its "past mistakes."
CA has had a difficult year, with its multiplayer FPS title, Hyenas, being canceled in September following a public demo and closed testing due to potential quality issues. The project's cancellation also resulted in significant layoffs at the studio. Following the announcement, parent company Sega confirmed that the developer would continue to focus on strategy games as its "specialty" genre in the future.
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