Creative Assembly today announced its decision to permanently lower the price of Total War: Pharaoh in the coming days and remove the title’s more expensive Deluxe and Dynasty editions from sale.
Intended as the next big historical entry in Creative Assembly’s long-running grand strategy series, Pharaoh failed to make a splash worthy of its declared ambitions. In spite of generally favorable reviews, it launched to little fanfare and modest concurrent player numbers.
Total War: Pharaoh Price Permanently Lowered
In a blog post published on the series’ official website, Creative Assembly Vice President Roger Collum explained the reasoning behind this decision while also providing updates on Pharaoh’s future.
“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,” he wrote. “This is happening because we have lowered the price of the game to a new RRP of $39.99/€39.99/£29.99
“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.”
What was intended to be Total War: Pharaoh’s first paid DLC will instead be released in early 2024 as a free update for all owners of the game. The developer has also “begun the process of reassessing what comes next” for its struggling title.
As much as this sounds like future DLC might not see the light of day in its originally intended form, the studio is “not closing the door on other, more ambitious updates to the game in the future,” claiming that it still has “big plans.”
In the meantime, Pharaoh will continue to receive patches that introduce fixes and changes to its core experience.
“One plan that we’ve always had since the early stages of development on Pharaoh is to expand the size of our campaign map as a free update, and to introduce even more factions and cultures to the game. We’ll have more to say, and to show, what that looks like in the new year after our next update for Pharaoh releases.”
The developer also apologized for its recent missteps, acknowledging the turmoil its decisions have caused among fans of both its historical and fantasy titles.
“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.”
Developed by Creative Assembly Sofia, Total War: Pharaoh was the second title in the series that was set during the Bronze Age, after A Total War Saga: Troy.
Although it explored the Egyptian New Kingdom period, some fans described it as feeling closer to an expansion for Troy rather than the fully-fledged historical release it was marketed as.
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