Sega pulls Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition from sale amid AI accusations, admitting it ‘failed’

Sega and Creative Assembly are temporarily removing Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition from sale just days after its release.

In a statement shared on Twitter/X, the companies said they were aware the game “did not meet both your expectations and our own standards.”

“We have noted your feedback, comments and criticisms. We agree that the current experience is not where it should be,” the statement continued.

The companies are working “with platform holders to temporarily remove the game from sale and reinstate the original game while we investigate the issues.”

“Existing owners will still be able to access and play the game,” the statement added.

Sega and Creative Assembly say they are also “working closely with our development partner to identify the causes of these issues and make improvements,” with the goal that the Complete Edition meets “the quality standards players have come to expect from Total War.”

The complete edition was launched on October 13. The statement does not detail the issues or say when the game will be put back on sale.

The statement doesn’t use the term AI at all, but many fans believe that’s the root of the “issues”, pointing to “hokey scaling” and what they believe to be evidence of AI in the full edition.

Within days of release, Shogun 2 – Complete Edition’s Steam score plummeted to “extremely negative”, with only 15% of the game’s 4,000+ reviews leaving anything positive. If you go to the game’s Steam page now, you’re notified that the game “is no longer available on the Steam store.”

Last month, we reported that the CEO of Professor Layton’s developer Level-5 apologized after confirming that generative AI was used in the studio’s recent showcase. Of course, Level-5 isn’t alone: ​​many other gaming companies, including Krafton, Square Enix, EA and more, have invested heavily in AI technology.