Sega pulls Total War: Shogun 2 - Complete Edition from sale amid AI accusations, admitting it has "fallen short" - Eurogamer.net

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

In a statement shared on Twitter/X, the companies said they are aware the game "has fallen short of both your expectations and our own standards".

"We've seen your feedback, comments, and reviews. We agree that the current experience is not where it needs to be," the statement continued.

The companies are working "with platform holders to temporarily remove the game from sale and to 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 problems, deliver improvements", with the aim that the Complete Edition meets "the quality standards players expect from Total War".

The Complete Edition launched on 13th October. The statement does not detail the issues or say when the game will return to sale.

The statement does not use the term AI at all, but many fans believe it's at the root of the "issues", pointing out "hokey upscaling" and what they believe to be evidence of AI in the Complete Edition.

Within days of release, Shogun 2 - Complete Edition's Steam score plummeted to "overwhelmingly negative" with just 15 percent of the game's more than 4,000 reviews leaving something positive. If you head to the game's Steam page now, you're warned that the game "is no longer available on the Steam store".

Last month, we reported that the CEO of Professor Layton developer Level-5 apologised after confirming that generative AI was used in the studio's recent showcase. Level-5 is not alone, of course - many other game companies, including Krafton, Square Enix, EA, and more, have invested heavily in AI tech.