We could be seeing Total War: Warhammer 3’s redemption after months of backlash
Yesterday, coinciding with the release of the Thrones of Decay DLC, Total War: Warhammer 3 jumped 90 places in the Steam charts, trailed closely by the three lord packs that make up the strategy game's latest expansion. Those lord packs are now the three top rated expansions in the series’ history, and the base game itself saw a huge uptick in positive reviews. The last day also saw a peak player count of around 66,000, putting it ahead of giants like Palworld, Rimworld, and Fallout 76. None of this would be especially notable, however, if this wasn’t a complete turnaround from how things have been for the best part of a year now.
On the Twarhammer side, the deterioration of Creative Assembly’s relationship with their fans started with the announcement of Shadows of Change. Specifically, its price.
DLC prices had been rising before then. The Forge Of The Chaos Dwarfs, for example, was around 25% higher than comparable releases, although the quality and size of this expansion meant that a few rumblings never transformed into the full blown revolt that occurred when it was announced that Shadows of Change would cost the same amount. Particularly irksome to the community here was the explanation that the increase from the standard two updated factions to three precipitated the mark up, but that the customary accompanying free lord wouldn’t be happening.
Fuel to this fire was a follow-up statement from CPO Rob Bartholomew. “This is the business reality of supporting WARHAMMER III and ensuring we’re able to offer the years of extra content that are currently planned,” wrote Bartholomew, which was taken by many as veiled ‘buy it or we’ll kill it’ threat, warranted or not.
SOC released in August to a mixed Steam reception, veering on the negative. October saw the release of Total War: Pharaoh, which many fans saw as middling and overpriced (personally, I reckoned it was more an issue of budget and time constraints). Following all this, a moderator on the Steam forums
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