Total War boss blames an outside partner for the Shogun 2 remaster mess

Creative Assembly's Total War vice president has written a personal apology for the Shogun 2 Complete Edition, the remaster that was pulled from Steam last week. Roger Collum says the studio did not develop it, and he has also spelled out how Creative Assembly uses generative AI. If you own the original game or were tempted by the remaster, here is what has been said so far.

Why the remaster was pulled

Last week, Creative Assembly and Sega removed the remastered Complete Edition of Total War: Shogun 2 from Steam, according to Rock Paper Shotgun. The outlet says the move followed an avalanche of complaints about technical problems and some AI-generated art.

The original Total War: Shogun 2 came out on Steam on March 15, 2011. Its Steam listing credits Creative Assembly as developer and Sega as publisher, and it describes the game as a mix of real-time and turn-based strategy.

Collum points to an external developer

In his apology, Collum says the remaster was not made by Creative Assembly. PC Gamer quotes him as saying: "This was not a Creative Assembly developed game."

He also says the studio was "focused on our next big projects" and did not pay enough attention to the work being done by an "external developer," according to PC Gamer. Rock Paper Shotgun describes that partner as unnamed, so it is not clear from this reporting who built the Complete Edition.

PC Gamer's headline frames Collum's comments as pinning the blame on someone else. That is a fair reading of the apology: the responsibility he describes for Creative Assembly is a lack of attention to a partner's work, not the work itself.

Where Creative Assembly stands on generative AI

Because AI-generated art was one of the complaints, Collum also clarified the studio's position. Rock Paper Shotgun reports that he conceded Creative Assembly does use generative AI to help with "analysis, debugging, or speedy prototyping."

The studio is against using it to generate game assets and art, according to the same report. So the line he draws is between using the technology as a behind-the-scenes aid and using it to produce the assets and art that go into a game.

What we don't know yet

Neither report says whether the Complete Edition will return to Steam, whether the problems will be fixed, or what will happen for people who already bought it. The name of the external developer has also not been made public in the coverage we have seen.

For now, the facts are limited to what Collum has said: the remaster was pulled after complaints about technical problems and AI-generated art, Creative Assembly says it did not develop the game, and the studio says it opposes using generative AI for game assets and art.