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Developer Creative Assembly has released a statement pertaining to Total War: Shogun 2 Complete Edition, which was released on October 13 but then pulled from sale following an overwhelmingly negative response from critics and fans.
In the statement, the British studio points fingers at an "external partner" for the remaster's disastrous launch, which was plagued with bugs (including holdovers from the original game) and roundly lambasted for its implementation of gen-AI artwork and unappealing image upscaling. The latter aspect reportedly disappointing original Total War: Shogun 2 artist Roland McDonald.
In response to this torrent of negative feedback, publisher Sega made the decision to pull the remaster from Steam and relist the 2011 original, which itself had been the subject of controversy following its removal in the run-up to the Complete Edition's release.
From the statement, posted to Steam by VP of the Total War franchise, Roger Collum.
"I get many of you are angry and disappointed about the state of the Shogun 2: Complete Edition release. We are too – especially the team members who have put everything into Total War games for years, some even decades.
This was not a Creative Assembly developed game. It wasn’t subject to our same internal reviews and quality assurance. We took our eyes off its external development, with all our teams focused on our next big projects. However, whatever the development arrangements, Total War is our franchise and our name is on it."
Collum then clarifies that a team is currently working on the maligned release, and is looking to bring it up to code so it can be returned to the Steam Store with a level of quality that will meet the Total War community's expectations. No date or timeframe is given for this.
Additionally, Collum speaks of Creative Assembly's pride in being a studio that does "not believe in a world where technology replaces the creativity of humans.", explaining this stance further by stating that the team does not use gen-A.I. for its artwork, but does use A.I. tools in its coding and other developmental aspects.
"We use AI tools where they help our craftspeople do their best work, as part of a continual evolution of how we use tools and technology in an evolving and competitive space. For me, the principle is pretty simple: AI can support the creator. It shouldn’t replace the creator."
"I don’t believe that AI can replace the human experience, judgement and creativity that awesome experiences come from. Can AI tools help with analysis, debugging, or speedy prototyping so our experts can focus on making incredible games? Absolutely."
The statement ends with Collum requesting that players not direct their ire at Creative Assembly's individual team members, specifically noting the pressure that has been put upon its community managers, designers, and QA leads in the aftermath of the game's launch.
"I’ve said it before: when the team does well, it’s all about them. When we get it wrong, it’s on me. You absolutely have the right to be mad, and to criticise us, but direct it at me."
"We know we must earn your trust by making good games, and crucially, by how we respond when we get things wrong. We’re human, we will get things wrong, and I promise as long as I’m here, when that happens, we’ll hold our hands up and try to make it right."
"We’ll talk to you again when we have something meaningful to tell you."