Total War: Warhammer 3 is off to a rocky start on Steam, where Chinese players are review bombing the latest entry in the trilogy over its pre-launch marketing strategy.
Total War: Warhammer 3 is currently sitting at a Mixed rating, with only 43% of its reviews positive. A good chunk of the negative reviews are left by Chinese players upset with how Creative Assembly approached giving early code to streamers in their region.
As industry analyst Daniel Ahmad points out, early code for Warhammer 3 was “given to too many random streamers, both big and small,” many of which were unfamiliar with the series and “generally disinterested” while playing the latest entry.
In addition, parts of the game were spoiled well ahead of launch, while dedicated fans who pre-ordered the game’s international version – Total War: Warhammer 3 did not benefit from an official launch in China – had to wait.
Ahmad also notes that the marketing campaigns for previous games in the series were more targeted. Creative Assembly China released a statement, admitting that it tried to reach a broader audience this time around, its approach clearly having issues.
Total War: Warhammer III is out on Steam today and is being received well by most players.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) February 17, 2022
But when you look at Chinese language reviews, 72% of them are negative. This also extends to Warhammer II, which saw negative reviews in the last few days.
Let's explore why 🧵 pic.twitter.com/hqiT7lXSjr
This disappointment also saw Total War: Warhammer 2 receiving its share of negative reviews in the past week, as dedicated fans voiced their frustration at having to wait to play the game and having parts of it spoiled.
At the same time, players from other regions are reporting performance issues with Total War: Warhammer 3’s launch version.
The game’s frame rate became less stable during the later portions of the campaign when I played it for review, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it a whole lot.
Total War: Warhammer 3 is out now on PC, and you can grab a Steam code from Fanatical at the discounted rate of £39.49.
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