The Future of Creative Assembly and Total War
By Tim Hunter
Earlier this year Creative Assembly announced one of the
largest, and most impressive mergers in the history of popular culture. The
idea was simple enough, and feels like something that should have been done
years ago. Take Warhammer Fantasy Battles, still the most popular miniatures
game played in the world, and merge it with Total War (TW), a video game series
that has mastered the art of depicting gigantic battles on sweeping landscapes.
The idea is almost as old as the Total War series, itself. Warhammer has given
its players the ability to open their minds to vast battles, sieges, and other
worlds entirely, all simulated through their imaginations. Total War simulates
great battles in all their cinematic glory, allowing the player a birds-eye
strategic view, but also the ability to zoom down and witness the full bloody
minutiae. Game modders have made many Warhammer modifications for Total
War games over the years, inserting the colourful Warhammer world into the
Total War game engine. With an official meeting of the two brands, it would
seem like the match made in heaven has finally come to earth. However, all is
not well, and gamers are already outraged by the invasion of potentially
anti-consumer business practices from the companies handling the title.
I’ll begin by saying that I’m a huge fan of both franchises,
and have been since childhood. While the miniatures game has lost its appeal to
me, I’ve remained a staunch lover of the literature and video gaming adaptations
of the franchise. The Warhammer world is grim and gritty, inventive and iconic.
It has remained a unique series, while inspiring many authors of fantasy
fiction with its characterful world. Its stories range from bulk fantasy
schlock to some of the best-written work of the genre, especially in the hands
of industry legends like Dan Abnett. Total War has also held a close place to
my heart, allowing me to spend days of my time building empires, seeing history
through an entertaining lens, and fighting battles in startling detail. Some of
my fondest gaming memories arose from the Total War games, and even my mother
encouraged me to enjoy my time with them as a teenager, since they engaged me
with history and stirred my creativity.
It is for these reasons that I, like so many fans of both
series, have been shocked by the recent announcement from Total War’s
publisher, Creative Assembly (CA), to launch Total War: Warhammer with a pre-order downloadable content pack
(DLC) that specifically removes one of the most famous and iconic factions from
the game for those who do not pre-order or pay for them post-launch, The
Warriors of Chaos. People not familiar with the series might not appreciate the
magnitude of this, but it might help to imagine a Star Wars game without The Empire, or Lord of the Rings without the orcs of Mordor. Putting aside the
questionable practices of DLC in general, especially pre-order or day-one DLC,
Warhammer fans have exploded with righteous indignation that a faction that is
so iconic, so very central to the conflict of the Warhammer fictional world
would be removed from the standard retail game.
Aside from this sheer knee-jerk reaction, the problem with
this announcement is that it throws into sharp contrast the questionable
direction that CA and their publisher, Sega, are taking both franchises. The
problem is threefold, firstly that the practice of pre-order DLC encourages
consumers to purchase before the game is released, and therefore bypassing the
process of reviews and consumer research. This alone should put customers on
their guard. Total War: Rome 2 launched
in 2013 with its own questionable pre-order bonus, and the game was plagued
with bugs to the point that it was unplayable for months, leaving those who
pre-ordered with a distinctly shoddy experience. Whether or not this pre-order
pushing was done to bypass the unfavourable reviews, or simply to impress
shareholders is unknown.
Secondly, this content has been announced five months in
advance of the game’s launch. This means that the content is clearly already
built into the game, and there is no reason other than profit not to release
the content along with the rest of the game. Among the greatest fears of the
gaming public is that publishing companies will take a packaged product and
then dice it up into smaller pieces, so as to charge a much greater fee in the
long run. DLC has become a staple of the gaming industry, and can add longevity
to a game purchase by updating and reinvigorating it, however, the idea of
breaking up the content for DLC sales before the game is even available seems
to defeat the original purpose. A world where game developers can simply remove
parts of a game before release is kind of like one where an author can simply
remove chapters of a book, and sell them later, claiming that they aren’t part
of the core reading experience, but he’ll sell them to you if you want an
expanded experience.
The final problem with this practice is that it defies
everything that CA had previously said about their release. When Total War: Warhammer was first
announced, CA clearly stated that there would be four playable races, each with
their own campaigns, and story lines. Given that there are about fifteen
playable races in the Warhammer world, putting only four playable factions in
the game seemed a little light. The Warriors of Chaos were perhaps the most
conspicuously absent, since they play such a large role in the Warhammer
franchise. CA’s response was that Total War:
Warhammer was planned to be released as a trilogy of games, with each game expanding
on the playable factions and world map. This alone seemed a little on the
unusual side, and verging on profiteering, since the game would likely have to
be purchased at standard retail pricing in three stages, though it was not an
unheard of business practice (the Starcraft series also uses this model). For
CA to announce this model, and then suddenly announce that one of the most
popular Warhammer factions would be released as DLC seemed like a sudden
backflip. How will the player be able to experience the full game? Will they
have to buy three iterations of the same game to access all the content, or
will this be DLC-based, with factions being released individually over time? It
seems as though CA is trying to have it both ways, and the only loser here will
probably be the consumer, stuck with a product delivered in expensive pieces
rather than as a whole.
Currently, fan outrage has been overflowing on forums and
gaming websites, with community celebrities, such as Joe Vargas, expressing
heartfelt outrage. The sheer disgust has even resulted in a Change.org petition to appeal to CA and Sega to deliver the game as a whole on release, and end this kind of practice that has already garnered over 10,000 signatures, which you can find here: https://www.change.org/p/creative-assembly-sega-make-total-warhammer-complete-on-release
CA’s business practices are likely the result of pressure
from their publisher, Sega, who likely needs the TW franchise to perform
financially, and to justify the rights to the Warhammer license that they’ve
paid for. However, I hope that the outrage has been heard, and that CA passes
on the negative feedback and indignation of the community to Sega. With the
game’s release date still months away, it will come down to community
pressure and unity against the combined might of CA and Sega. If Sega does not
relent, and the game is still financially successful, this could be the proving
ground that Sega needs to make such practices standard for future game
releases. Should the community outrage become a strong enough movement, and the
community vote with their wallets by refusing to pre-order or buy the DLC
(perhaps boycotting the game entirely), then this could be an unpleasant lesson
for CA and Sega about how best to monetize their games without invoking
community ire. Five months remain, a long time for this conflict to come to a
head.
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