Sega Pulls Total War: Shogun 2 Complete Edition After a Disastrous Launch

Less than two weeks after launch, Sega has pulled Total War: Shogun 2 Complete Edition from sale. It was supposed to be the definitive version of one of the best Total War games ever made. Instead it ran worse than the 15-year-old original, broke basic unit control, angered modders, faced accusations of AI-made art, and became one of the worst-rated strategy games on Steam. This was a disaster, and fans had every right to be furious.

Last updated October 25, 2026. This is a developing story.

What happened

• October 13: Total War: Shogun 2 Complete Edition launched on PC, a remaster of one of the most loved Total War games.
• Within days, its Steam reviews fell to "Overwhelmingly Negative," with only about 17 to 18% positive out of roughly 1,600 to 1,700 English reviews. Some sites called it one of the worst-rated strategy games in Steam's history.
• Now: Sega is removing the Complete Edition from Steam, the Microsoft Store, GOG and the Epic Games Store, and says it will bring the original Shogun 2 back on sale.

Why players were angry

• Bugs and performance: players reported units ignoring orders and the game running worse than the 15-year-old original, especially on the campaign map.
• AI art accusations: players accused the remaster of using AI-generated or AI-upscaled art, including on unit cards. Sega hasn't confirmed this.
• Mods: mod support moved from Steam Workshop to mod.io, which upset players who rely on the original's huge mod scene.
• No way back: the original Shogun 2 had stopped being sold on its own on Steam on September 28, so new players were pushed toward the version people were complaining about.

What Sega and Creative Assembly said

Sega's statement said the current experience "is not where it needs to be." That's an understatement. It promised to keep working on improvements and said buyers keep access, but it said nothing at all about the AI accusations and gave no date for a fixed version. Players paid for a remaster and got a broken product and a vague promise.

Creative Assembly, the studio behind Total War, went further. Vice president Roger Collum said the Complete Edition wasn't developed in-house, so it didn't go through the studio's usual quality checks. In other words: one of the most beloved games in the series was handed to an outside team and shipped without the studio's own quality control. On AI, he said: "At Creative Assembly we do not use generative AI to create game assets, including AI-generated art," and added that the studio demands the same of outside developers it works with.

What happens now

• The Complete Edition is being removed from all digital stores. It may take a little while to disappear everywhere.
• Owners keep it. If you bought it, it stays in your library.
• The original Shogun 2 is coming back on sale. Sega hasn't said exactly when, or whether the remaster will return in a fixed form.

Why it matters for Total War: Warhammer 40,000

The timing couldn't be worse. Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is one of the most awaited strategy games of 2027, and Sega needs fans to trust it. After this, a lot of them won't until they see it with their own eyes. Creative Assembly's "no generative AI" promise is good to hear, but promises are cheap. The Shogun 2 launch is exactly what fans are afraid will happen again.

My take

This should never have happened. Sega took one of the best Total War games ever made, removed the original from sale, and replaced it with a buggy, worse-running version that players had to fight with. Pulling it was the only option left, and it only happened because thousands of angry reviews forced their hand. Bringing back the original is the bare minimum, not a favour. If Sega wants fans to trust it with Total War: Warhammer 40,000, it has to show that this was a one-time mistake and not the new standard.