Pharaoh is the latest installment in the popular “Total War” series. After the great success of Total War: Warhammer 3, fans wanted a historical part again. It just wasn’t well received at all – so bad in fact that the developers are now lowering the price. Retroactively: anyone who bought the game will receive a partial refund.
What kind of game is this?
This is how Total War: Pharaoh arrived: The problem with Pharaoh, according to GameStar and reviews on Steam, was that the game had a tiny map by Total War standards, some mechanics didn’t work and the selection of units was extremely limited.
This, together with the AAA price of €60 at release, quickly led to mixed reviews. On Steam, Total War: Pharaoh is currently “even” with 55% positive reviews. The setting is great, but the mechanics just don’t work.
The criticism has now apparently been received by the developers. In a statement they promise a price reduction, which even works retroactively.
Total War Pharaoh: Trailer shows epic battles in ancient Egypt – “That made my day”
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“We have made mistakes in our relationship with you”
In an open letter from the developers on December 14th, Creative Assembly is now addressing the players directly. There it says:
It has been a difficult few months and we recognize that we have made mistakes in our relationship with all of you. We had ongoing discussions about how we could get back on solid ground. What is clear: this will not be easy and it will take time and effort.
The statement refers to both the mixed reviews of Pharaoh and the great anger surrounding Warhammer 3’s DLC being “too expensive”. Fans have been saying for some time that the studio is taking too much money for too little performance.
Creative Assembly is now reacting and reducing the price of Total War: Pharaoh by €20, i.e. to €39.99. And that retroactively. This means: everyone who bought the game will receive a “partial refund” directly to their Steam account. This should work automatically.
Even buyers of the DLC “Shadows of Change” for Warhammer 3 get something: a large, free update is expected to follow in February 2024, which will in principle provide the “missing content” that fans were expecting. Anyone who buys the DLC afterwards will have everything together straight away.
In the future, they want to invest more in communication with the players and let individual members of their own team come forward to explain decisions.
Big Warhammer game on Steam was considered a milestone – but a dispute between developers and fans is currently escalating