Developer Creative Assembly today addressed its recent decisions behind Total War: Warhammer III’s DLC pricing and content, the turmoil they caused among fans, as well as how it plans to change its approach going forward. The controversial Shadows of Change DLC is set to receive a free update in the future but its follow-up, Thrones of Decay, has been officially delayed.
In a lengthy blog post published on the series’ official website, Creative Assembly Vice President Roger Collum described the last couple of months as “difficult,” while acknowledging that the Total War leadership sees “the confusion, the frustration, and the distrust of us across the community and honestly, it breaks our hearts.”
Total War: Warhammer 3 Shadows of Change Update
“We have listened to your feedback on Shadows of Change and we know that we failed to meet your expectations of what a DLC should be,” the blog post reads. “To address that, we are enhancing our offer for everyone who purchased Shadows of Change with more content and a commitment to ensuring that we better meet your expectations going forward.”
A free update for the controversial DLC is currently planned to release in February 2024 and will be available for existing and future owners. The date is, however, described as the developer’s “ambition” and may change.
The studio aims to share more details on how exactly Shadows of Change will grow after the winter holidays.
This predictably sees Warhammer III’s <a href=”https://www.gamewatcher.com/news/total-war-warhammer-3-roadma”p>roadmap</a> suffering some changes, as its Thrones of Decay DLC, originally set to launch before 2023 ended, has been delayed and is currently aiming to release at some point during April 2024.
“We also have more work to do on Thrones of Decay to make sure that we don’t repeat our past mistakes, and to give you the amount of content that you rightly expect from us at these price points,” the developer wrote.
“Once we’ve launched our free update to Shadows of Change, we’ll talk more about what this next DLC will offer and how it will add to your experiences of WARHAMMER III. We’ll make sure that you know exactly what’s coming in Thrones of Decay before pre-orders are available, and make sure that you have full transparency around the content before you see ‘Buy Now’ buttons.”
Total War: Warhammer III will receive more content after Thrones of Decay, but it will only be detailed after the Nurgle-themed DLC goes live next year.
The blog post also noted that following patch 4.0’s release, the studio has increased its hotfix and patch cadence, addressing issues more swiftly than it has done in the past.
The team working on Warhammer III “wants to keep this cadence of releases going forward,” but “can’t commit to a fixed number of updates each month, as we’ll ultimately release these based on the content that we’re building, and the issues we see you raising that need our attention.”
The developer also admits that “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.”
Total War: Warhammer III’s Shadow of Change DLC was met with severe backlash after it was priced the same as the Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs campaign pack while delivering significantly less content when compared to both it and prior smaller DLCs.
The blog post also addresses Creative Assembly’s future plans for Total War: Pharaoh, a game toted as the studio’s next big historical title but which ultimately failed to attract enough attention to earn a place next to the likes of Shogun II, Medieval II, or Rome II.
“Where we make mistakes in this next part of our journey, we’ll work hard to act faster to address them, to iterate whilst we learn from those moments, and to always be taking steps in the right directions. We hope that you can find patience for us as we find our footing again, and we hope in the coming months we can prove to you with actions along with words.”
Keep updated on the latest Gaming News by following GameWatcher on X, checking out our videos on YouTube, or by giving us a like on Facebook.
