‘Total War: Warhammer III’ Developers Apologize To Community, Issue Partial Refunds
Total War: Warhammer III developers Creative Assembly apologized to their community today, with a public statement and immediate actions.
Creative Assembly has been having a rough few months. Not only have they been hit hard with layoffs, as have many in the industry, they’ve also had to deal with the cancellation of a major project, Hyenas. And alongside all of that, they’ve also been grappling with a community that expects better of them.
With the release of the controversial Shadows of Change DLC for Total War: Warhammer III, which seemed to increase the cost of a DLC pack while also reducing the content, especially when compared to the Chaos Dwarf DLC released mere months earlier, the community soured. The lackluster release of Total War: Pharaoh did little to help relations.
But, the Total War team have been listening to the community, it seems. And today, issued an official apology along with immediate action taken for those who are most directly affected, while outlining a path forward.
A Message From Total War’s Leadership Team
In the message, Roger Collum, Vice President at Creative Assembly, writes on behalf of the Total War leadership team. He acknowledges the difficulty of the last several months, and rather than dismissing it, promises to make amends:
We see the confusion, the frustration, and the distrust of us across the community and honestly, it breaks our hearts. We make games to bring you joy, to inspire a love of history, of fantasy, and strategy games. Total War is our everything, we care about it as deeply as you. Recently, it’s clear that we have failed to demonstrate that in our actions.
We are sorry.
We cannot fix our issues overnight, but we will work towards a more transparent, and consistent relationship with you all.
In the apology, Collum outlines next steps, taken to make amends, starting with Total War: Warhammer III. Collum says that Creative Aseembly knows they “failed to meet your expectations of what a DLC should be” and have promised to revisit Shadows of Change with a major update slated for February 2024.
And for those who were feeling doubtful about any future DLC, Collum addresses the upcoming Thrones of Decay, saying that it will be delayed, now aimed at April 2024, with the goal of doing more work to make sure the DLC delivers “the amount of content that you rightly expect from us at these price points.”
Collum then spoke about some of the more immediate actions taken by the Total War team, especially with regards to Total War: Pharaoh:
“In the next few days, all current owners of Total War: PHARAOH will see that Steam has processed a partial refund to you, and that some funds have been added to your Steam Wallet. This is happening because we have lowered the price of the game to a new RRP of $39.99/€39.99/£29.99. (Find out more about this process here)
We don’t think it’s fair that our fans, who put their trust in us on PHARAOH, should in any way feel disadvantaged for buying the game at the previous price. We’ve also removed the higher priced editions of the game, the Deluxe Edition, and Dynasty Edition. There’s now only one edition of the game available for purchase.”
Alongside this price change, the planned first paid DLC pack will now be a free update to the game. Pharaoh’s future is uncertain, but, the door hasn’t been shut on it yet.
Read The Total War Statement
More on Total War: Warhammer III’s new developments as they come out!
