Listen to this note:
Today I'm going to talk to you about a video game series called Total War and the decisions that led its creative company, Creative Assembly, to make partial refunds for one of its games, in addition to offering free content to those who had purchased expansions for the famous Total War: Warhammer 3.
Late last year, Creative Assembly came into conflict with fans of the Total War series because players had noticed that the new expansions for Total War: Warhammer 3 had substantially less content despite costing the same as previous versions. This was combined with the release of Total War Pharaoh, which cost $60 even though similar games in the series were priced lower.
It was then that on Reddit, YouTube and Steam forums, they began to protest against these decisions, escalating to a confrontation between the Creative Assembly moderators and users of different platforms. Company employees and moderators entered into a scorched earth and censorship strategy against complaints of any kind.
For those who don't know, Total War is a series of large-scale real-time strategy video games in historical contexts and with the inclusion of Warhammer, also fantasy. As you can imagine, a game about Roman armies in Europe or naval battles in 16th century Japan is not exactly attractive to young people, which is why calculating that the consumer base is not going to grow, the company chose to monetize more aggressively to loyal players.
The outcome of this confrontation was unexpected, Roger Collum, vice president of Creative Assembly, wrote an apology letter to all fans for the company's behavior in receiving criticism from consumers and for not delivering the content that players expected.
He announced, among other things, something unprecedented; the permanent price reduction of the recently released Total War: Pharaoh, going from $60 to $40. Those who purchased the game at its original price would receive a partial refund. Additionally, the first DLC scheduled for this game would be free for all fans of the series.
In the case of Total War: Warhammer 3, they announced a series of free additional content for all those who purchased the expansion called Shadows of Change, and a commitment to review the next expansion to not repeat the same mistakes and make special efforts to improve their communication and transparency.
This story is extremely important because it shows the power that consumers have when they make their voice heard and most importantly, vote with their wallet.
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