Total War: PHARAOH price lowered after apology from Creative Assembly

The price of Total War: PHARAOH has been universally lowered by Creative Assembly, after they issued an apology for the state of recent developments within their flagship RTS series.

The release of Total War: PHARAOH has been relatively poor by the developer’s standards. Games in the series have generally been received positively by the Real Time Strategy community, but this latest entry currently sits on mixed feedback overall on Steam.

Additionally, the concurrent player numbers regularly sit in the low hundreds, and it is a decidedly less popular entry than any of the fantasy Warhammer series, even at this early stage. Creative Assembly’s problems were further deepened by a lackluster paid Warhammer III DLC in Shadows of Change.

Now, the developer has issued a statement attempting to acknowledge its shortcomings and declaring its immediate plans for the games moving forward.

The future of Total War: PHARAOH is unclear but it’s not dead… yet

Creative Assembly

In a lengthy message posted to the official Total War blog, Vice President of Creative Assembly Roger Collum announced the developer’s most pressing intentions, including free updates for the beleaguered Total War: PHARAOH and a delay to the upcoming Warhammer III DLC.

Initially, he was keen to stress that the developer is aware of their recent failures, saying: “It has been a difficult few months, and we recognize that we have made mistakes when it comes to our relationship with you all. It’s been a constant conversation internally on how we can get back to solid ground. What’s clear is that it won’t be easy and that it will take time and effort.”

On PHARAOH, he confirmed that plans for paid DLC have been put on hold in favor of free updates, while the game itself will be available for a reduced price.

“In the next few days, all current owners of Total War: PHARAOH will see that Steam has processed a partial refund to you, and that some funds have been added to your Steam Wallet. This is happening because we have lowered the price of the game to a new RRP of $39.99/€39.99/£29.99.”

“Our next update, and what was originally our first paid DLC will release early in 2024 as a free update for everyone who owns the game. We’ll have plenty to show you about this now free addition to PHARAOH in the new year.”

Additionally, the planned upcoming DLC for Warhammer III has been delayed, in favor of working on and improving Shadows of Change for the foreseeable future.

“We’re targeting a major update to Shadows of Change which will arrive free for everyone who owns it. We have the goal of releasing this update in February 2024, at which point it will become part of the package for everyone who buys it in the future.”

“Making this right is important to us, and to do this properly, Thrones of Decay will move out of its intended release window of Winter 2023. We’re looking to launch this DLC in April 2024.”

While most will agree this all sounds good on paper, delivering on admittedly vague promises still presents a significant challenge. Equally, it does not elaborate on the future of the series in a more general sense, so the future for Total War as a whole remains uncertain.