THE CRUNCH
The Total War: Shogun 2 remaster launched so poorly that Sega pulled it from sale within days, and now a Creative Assembly executive has explained what went wrong, while stopping short of taking full blame. Roger Collum, vice president of Total War, wrote in the Total War subreddit that the studio is "angry and disappointed" with the state of the game, but stressed that "this was not a Creative Assembly developed game" and wasn't subject to the studio's internal reviews and quality assurance. He said CA's teams were focused on its next big projects and took their eyes off the external development. Still, he conceded the studio must own the outcome: "Total War is our franchise and our name is on it."
Collum also addressed complaints about apparent generative AI in the remaster, saying Creative Assembly uses AI tools only for tasks like analysis, debugging and speedy prototyping, not for creating in-game assets, and demands the same of external partners. He said the situation is being investigated.
The Steam page lists Warsaw-based Mataboo as the second studio on the project, though Collum didn't name the external developer. Mataboo describes itself as offering end-to-end game development support, with past credits including Silent Hill 2 and The Blood of Dawnwalker.
The statement hasn't gone down smoothly with fans. Many argue Creative Assembly is ultimately responsible for what ships, and note the remaster's problems weren't subtle enough to miss. Others point to a pre-launch livestream in which employees enthused about the game, apparently without having played it meaningfully. Collum asked fans not to direct anger at individual developers, saying criticism should be aimed at him.