Total War Pharaoh sees permanent price drop and partial refunds two months after launch

[Daniel Sims]

A hot potato: Creative Assembly is now acknowledging that it has had a rough past several months, pledging to spend the next few months regaining the trust of Total War players. If you purchased Total War: Pharaoh at full price, check the company's updated FAQ to see if you're eligible for a partial refund due to the game's permanent price drop.

In a lengthy written apology to fans, Creative Assembly announced that it is lowering the MSRP of Total War: Pharaoh from $59.99 to $39.99 only two months after release. The developer will refund customers the difference and significantly alter its DLC roadmaps for Pharaoh and Total War: Warhammer III, which also recently disappointed players.

Users who purchased Pharaoh on Steam should see the partial refund in their Steam wallets. Other digital retailers will send customers email notifications, and eligible physical retailers can issue refunds to customers who bring receipts. The policy applies to all editions, and Creative Assembly delisted all packages other than the standard edition.

The primary concern regarding the latest Total War entry is its relative lack of content, hence the price drop. Pharaoh currently holds a "Mixed" review rating on Steam, and a top-ranked user review asserts that the game's late bronze age setting doesn't provide the variety expected from a Total War game.

Creative Assembly will also make it up to players by repackaging a paid DLC pack as a free update coming next year. The company will reveal further details in 2024, but the patch will add new factions and enlarge the campaign map.

The studio plans to work harder to satisfy Total War: Warhammer III players. The game's latest expansion, Shadows of Change, which shipped in August, is currently rated "Mostly Negative" on Steam, with reviewers claiming its contents don't justify its $24.99 asking price.

In response to the criticism, an extensive free update for the DLC will launch in February. Creative Assembly has also delayed the next expansion – Thrones of Decay – from its original Winter 2023 release date to next April. The company promised to give customers a clear picture of the DLC's contents before they pay for it, beginning with information dumps following the Shadows of Change patch.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/101229-total-war-pharaoh-sees-permanent-price-drop-partial.html

 

[RudyBob]

What else can they do? They can't be thinking this is good on release. They are thinking release it and to heck with every bodies name associated with it. There is no respect among thieves or for the victims

 

[amghwk]

Another reason never to buy new games on Day 1 of release, or even worse...gulp...pre-order.

The gaming scene is not like those days. Previously boxed games were released when they are actually ready to be released.

In the age of internet nowadays, developers take the customers for granted and make games for making money and have a chill attitude that if customers begin to complain too much they then release "patches". And worse, the game is not complete and they complete the games by selling "DLCs".

And previously, developers always released Demos so that people can decide for themselves if the games are worthy of purchase, or not.

But now, not only there are lack of demos, but developers even have the audacity to take pre-orders.

But then again, you need both hands to clap. And the blame also goes to the mindless customers who "pre-order" games either based on a remake of their favorite franchise or falling for the cutscene-intensive videos put up online.

As I have been saying before, true spirit of gaming is dead. Long live the classic gaming era.

 

[andyc123]

Make Medieval 3 you cowards!

 

[OortCloud]

Creative Assembly has been being pulled in so many different directions by Sega. Sounds like they finally realised that CA are a single player offline RTS developer not an online FPS developer and so have cancelled Hyenas and will leave CA to get on with their fantastic niche products.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Another reason never to buy new games on Day 1 of release, or even worse...gulp...pre-order.

The gaming scene is not like those days. Previously boxed games were released when they are actually ready to be released.

In the age of internet nowadays, developers take the customers for granted and make games for making money and have a chill attitude that if customers begin to complain too much they then release "patches". And worse, the game is not complete and they complete the games by selling "DLCs".

And previously, developers always released Demos so that people can decide for themselves if the games are worthy of purchase, or not.

But now, not only there are lack of demos, but developers even have the audacity to take pre-orders.

But then again, you need both hands to clap. And the blame also goes to the mindless customers who "pre-order" games either based on a remake of their favorite franchise or falling for the cutscene-intensive videos put up online.

As I have been saying before, true spirit of gaming is dead. Long live the classic gaming era.

There were still games rushed and pushed out the door as "complete" back in the physical disc days for PC gaming. It wasn't as common, but it did happen. You also have to remember that games back then were not generally as complex and/or complicated as they are today so finding and fixing bugs was a bit easier to do then.

One game that comes to mind that was riddled with issues was Gothic 3. Even after the couple of official patches the game still had some game breaking bugs and issues that plagued people. Thankfully the modding community took the time to fix most (if not all) of them. If you have a physical copy of Gothic 3, you'll also have to find the unofficial patches (after installing the official patches) to correct a lot of other bugs.

Another physical game I know of that is trash and will forever be trash, despite the developer releasing a couple of updates to fix issues, is Mistmare. The gameplay and controls are atrocious, there is nothing saving the game.

Most games, even physical ones, have needed patching/updates to fix glaring issues or game breaking bugs. I've got a lot of physical PC games still and every single one of them has patches/updates that I have to install with them. I can play most of them from start to finish without a patch, but sometimes bugs/problems without the patches can create issues you have to try and avoid.

I've got half a dozen DVDs burned with game patches/updates for my physical games. As you can see, it's not just a modern day gaming issue. It's just gotten a lot worse.

I do find it surprising that to this day people are dumb enough to pre-order games and then get upset when they release earlier than they should and do need patching to fix bugs. You figure people would eventually learn, but most of them are just stupid and continue to support the bad behaviour of these developers releasing broken or incomplete games early.

 

[loki1944]

Total War series is dead; it's just turned into one big assembly line cashgrab with none of the passion or innovation of the past. The decline started after Empire; which was the last truly innovative title and the nail in the coffin was after the first Warhammer game in the series which propped up the anemic and increasingly bland gameplay with a fascinating new setting Everytging after that has been increasingly boring drivel.

 

[loki1944]

There were still games rushed and pushed out the door as "complete" back in the physical disc days for PC gaming. It wasn't as common, but it did happen. You also have to remember that games back then were not generally as complex and/or complicated as they are today so finding and fixing bugs was a bit easier to do then.

On game that comes to mind that was riddled with issues was Gothic 3. Even after the couple of official patches the game still had some game breaking bugs and issues that plagued people. Thankfully the modding community took the time to fix most (if not all) of them. If you have a physical copy of Gothic 3, you'll also have to find the unofficial patches (after installing the official patches) to correct a lot of other bugs.

Another physical game I know of that is trash and will forever be trash, despite the developer releasing a couple of updates to fix issues, is Mistmare. The gameplay and controls are atrocious, there is nothing saving the game.

Most games, even physical ones, have needed patching/updates to fix glaring issues or game breaking bugs. I've got a lot of physical PC games still and every single one of them has patches/updates that I have to install with them. I can play most of them from start to finish without a patch, but sometimes bugs/problems without the patches can create issues you have to try and avoid.

I've got half a dozen DVDs burned with game patches/updates for my physical games. As you can see, it's not just a modern day gaming issue. It's just gotten a lot worse.

I do find it surprising that to this day people are dumb enough to pre-order games and then get upset when they release earlier than they should and do need patching to fix bugs. You figure people would eventually learn, but most of them are just stupid and continue to support the bad behaviour of these developers releasing broken or incomplete games early.

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall; but I will say that utterly gamebreaking bugs were incredibly rare up through the mid 00s when steam came iut; the internet simply wasn't capable enough and the average person was not going to bother if a game was broke; they were going to refund.

Steam and the increase in internet coverage and bandwidth encouraged devs to pump out broken games that could be patched afterwards.

 

[MarcusNumb]

Another good reason not to buy new games nowadays.

 

[toooooot]

Total War series is dead; it's just turned into one big assembly line cashgrab with none of the passion or innovation of the past. The decline started after Empire; which was the last truly innovative title and the nail in the coffin was after the first Warhammer game in the series which propped up the anemic and increasingly bland gameplay with a fascinating new setting everything after that has been increasingly boring drivel.

Empire + darth mod. The sounds, the smoke slowly covering the battlefield. And sea battles!
I have not replayed another total war game so much as this one.
As for the rest, it is not just Creative Assembly, it is entire industry.

 

[Subset6]

To hell with Total War games, CA needs to get back into Aliens, Alien Isolation is still amazing today, wish the studio would make a follow up.

 

[loki1944]

Empire + darth mod. The sounds, the smoke slowly covering the battlefield. And sea battles!
I have not replayed another total war game so much as this one.
As for the rest, it is not just Creative Assembly, it is entire industry.

Like Idiocrracy applied to the AAA industry

 

[amghwk]

There were still games rushed and pushed out the door as "complete" back in the physical disc days for PC gaming. It wasn't as common, but it did happen. You also have to remember that games back then were not generally as complex and/or complicated as they are today so finding and fixing bugs was a bit easier to do then.

One game that comes to mind that was riddled with issues was Gothic 3. Even after the couple of official patches the game still had some game breaking bugs and issues that plagued people. Thankfully the modding community took the time to fix most (if not all) of them. If you have a physical copy of Gothic 3, you'll also have to find the unofficial patches (after installing the official patches) to correct a lot of other bugs.

Another physical game I know of that is trash and will forever be trash, despite the developer releasing a couple of updates to fix issues, is Mistmare. The gameplay and controls are atrocious, there is nothing saving the game.

Most games, even physical ones, have needed patching/updates to fix glaring issues or game breaking bugs. I've got a lot of physical PC games still and every single one of them has patches/updates that I have to install with them. I can play most of them from start to finish without a patch, but sometimes bugs/problems without the patches can create issues you have to try and avoid.

I've got half a dozen DVDs burned with game patches/updates for my physical games. As you can see, it's not just a modern day gaming issue. It's just gotten a lot worse.

I do find it surprising that to this day people are dumb enough to pre-order games and then get upset when they release earlier than they should and do need patching to fix bugs. You figure people would eventually learn, but most of them are just stupid and continue to support the bad behaviour of these developers releasing broken or incomplete games early.

Actually the "boxed" games I was referring to, were from the glorious DOS era. I agree that I was not clear in my post. Unfortunately, "old games" for this gen means from the 2000's or the late 90's. I guess I am too old for current gen games.

Edit:
Daggerfall, admittedly, was the most notorious of all DOS games that were released in big box, that had game breaking bugs. But by then, the internet age had started, and many companies started to make use of it to release the patches, and, publishers didn't wait too long to push the games out by the deadline, finished or not, with the relaxed attitude that there is internet to release any required patches, anytime. And now, this is the norm. They even release patches the size in hundreds of Gigs.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Creative Assembly has been being pulled in so many different directions by Sega. Sounds like they finally realised that CA are a single player offline RTS developer not an online FPS developer and so have cancelled Hyenas and will leave CA to get on with their fantastic niche products.

The CA that gave us the likes of total war II is long gone. The creatives who led the studio and the techies that built the engine have either retired or quit during CA's political arc, replaced by those who fit the ideological mold better but didnt have the skills or vision of their predecessors.

It isnt SEGAs fault that pharaoh turned out like this. CA lost their way years ago, much like bioware.

 

[OortCloud]

The CA that gave us the likes of total war II is long gone. The creatives who led the studio and the techies that built the engine have either retired or quit during CA's political arc, replaced by those who fit the ideological mold better but didnt have the skills or vision of their predecessors.

It isn't SEGAs fault that pharaoh turned out like this. CA lost their way years ago, much like bioware.

I hear what you are saying but I do disagree. Total War: 3 Kingdoms - released in 2019 was a fantastic game. It was about this time that CA were asked by Sega to go all in creating an online FPS - basically trying to jump on the Fortnite/ApexLegends bandwagon. This is about as far outside CA's wheelhouse as you can get. That game (called Hyenas) just got cancelled by Sega so CA could get back to what they do best. Sega have basically acknowledged that moving CA away from RTS's was a bad idea and are trying to fix it. Just looking online I'm not alone in thinking 3 Kingdoms was a high point.

It also has a very healthy 85% on Metacritic.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I hear what you are saying but I do disagree. Total War: 3 Kingdoms - released in 2019 was a fantastic game. It was about this time that CA were asked by Sega to go all in creating an online FPS - basically trying to jump on the Fortnite/ApexLegends bandwagon. This is about as far outside CA's wheelhouse as you can get. That game (called Hyenas) just got cancelled by Sega so CA could get back to what they do best. Sega have basically acknowledged that moving CA away from RTS's was a bad idea and are trying to fix it. Just looking online I'm not alone in thinking 3 Kingdoms was a high point.

It also has a very healthy 85% on Metacritic.

3 kingdoms is a fluke, and still far from the glory days of Medieval II and Empire.

Between those sets of games, they had a number of major flops and controversies. CA has lost most of its old audience, and the new audience isn't buying every release like the old ones did. SEGA pushed Hyenas on CA because their bread and butter wasnt selling well and the studio needed a shot in the arm, something to keep them relevant.

 

[OortCloud]

3 kingdoms is a fluke, and still far from the glory days of Medieval II and Empire.

I'd say 3 kingdoms is their best game and like I said many people agree - fantastic campaign all really works well - just writing it off as 'a fluke' is nonsense.

 

[toooooot]

I'd say 3 kingdoms is their best game and like I said many people agree - fantastic campaign all really works well - just writing it off as 'a fluke' is nonsense.

People loved Atilla too. There is a mod that makes it more medieval like. I believe it is the most voted mod too on steam.

 

[Bamda]

Just another reason why it is never a good idea to buy games on launch. I just don't anymore. Plus, I have more games in my backlog so if every person on these forums helped me, we couldn't clear it in a year. No joke.