Creative Assembly is taking a radical step in response to the massive criticism of the Shogun 2 Complete Edition.
The embarrassment is complete. After the highly anticipated remaster of Shogun 2—the Complete Edition—was released on October 13, the reviews on Steam made it very clear very quickly: Fans are anything but satisfied with it.
Even the content creators, who were able to preview the remaster via Early Access before its release, warned almost unanimously against this mess. It was a shitstorm the likes of which Creative Assembly hasn’t experienced in a long time. And apparently, the studio wanted to respond quickly and decisively.
That’s why the Definitive Edition was pulled as early as the afternoon of October 15. The game was completely removed from Steam, and only the original version is now available again. The Complete Edition has also disappeared from other platforms, such as the Epic Games Store. The product page still exists on GOG, but you can’t purchase it there either.
On (X), publisher Sega released a statement on the matter:
We are aware that Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition has failed to meet either your expectations or our standards. We have read your feedback, comments, and reviews. We agree that the current experience is not what it should be.
As a result, we are working with the platform operators to temporarily remove the game from sale and reinstate the original version while we investigate the issues. Owners will still be able to launch and play the game.
We are working closely with our development partner to identify the causes of the issues, implement improvements, and ensure that Shogun 2 – Complete Edition meets the quality standards players expect from Total War.
A Harsh Response
It seems quite unusual for Sega and Creative Assembly to pull the game completely from sale so quickly. It wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened. However, such a radical step tends to apply to games that are actually nearly unplayable. Take, for example, the extremely bug-ridden last-gen version of Cyberpunk 2077 in 2019. In that case, it took about a week—and, incidentally, the decision wasn’t made by the developers themselves.
Even the disastrous release *The Day Before* lasted a full four days on Steam. And those were games that had significantly bigger problems than the Shogun 2 remaster. With Shogun 2, the criticism was that performance seemed surprisingly unstable, there was clearly AI-generated content visible, and there were both old and new bugs. The version was playable, though; it simply failed to live up to fans’ expectations. Other studios would likely respond to this situation with quick patches.
Here’s what our Total War expert has to say
In my view, there are good reasons why CA and Sega are taking such a drastic approach. The Total War studio has been working for several years now to restore its tarnished reputation. Recently, it even seemed as though they were succeeding. Things were gradually settling down. Communication was transparent, fans liked the information about new games, and even the major Apocalypse DLC for Warhammer 3 was well-received by many.
The Shogun 2 debacle now threatens to massively derail CA’s course correction and drag the ship back into dangerous waters. All the old accusations against the studio are resurfacing, even though CA wasn’t even solely responsible for the remaster. But it’s their game and their reputation that are at stake here. Therefore, they have almost no choice but to take high-profile action and draw a very firm line.
Now it will be interesting to see how long the Complete Edition stays off the shelves and what changes Creative Assembly makes to it. Currently, people are still angry and are even venting their frustration in the reviews of the original game, which is now available again on Steam. It will most likely take a few weeks before the Complete Edition returns. Until then, CA must continue to try to cool down the anger of its own fans a little.
