The strategy game Total War: Warhammer 3 received great ratings on Metacritic upon release in February 2022: It was at 85%. But now there is trouble on Steam: Only 19% of reviews from the last 30 days are positive. The reason is a DLC for a proud 25€. According to fans’ calculations, the DLC should cost a maximum of 15€. Alarm bells are ringing.
This is why the game is such a special case: Total War: Warhammer 3 is a strange game in many ways with its own unique rules:
- The “Total War” series actually recreates historical battles and campaigns, in ancient Rome, the Japan of the samurai, or in feudal medieval times. However, Warhammer is a fantasy scenario.
- There are now 3 parts of this game, all more or less the same. They have become increasingly elaborate, with more factions. Part 2, in particular, ended up being a fantastic and complete game. However, the games are released relatively raw and are continually developed with new paid DLCs. Steam lists 22 DLCs for Part 2: Of these, 10 are paid.
- The special thing is a “big mode”, Immortal Empires, where you unlock more factions the more DLCs you can showcase in your Steam account. If you want to play the “complete program” in Total War Warhammer 3, you also need the first two parts with all their DLCs. This gets quite expensive.
Not as many features as Part 2 and the DLC is getting more expensive
Why is there so much trouble now? The base game, Total War: Warhammer 3, still costs 60 euros. In addition, the developers have now raised the prices for the DLCs.
- For the 1st DLC “Ogre Kingdom” they wanted 12 €.
- The second “Champions of Chaos” already cost 16 €.
- The “Chaos Dwarfs” DLC then hit at 25 €.
- The latest DLC, which is set to arrive on August 31, will again cost 25 €.
These 25 € for a DLC are simply too expensive for the fans of the series who have been playing it for years.
Part 2 has 93% positive reviews on Steam – Part 3 has 19%
A review bombing has started on Steam. Reviews have now been catastrophic in the last 30 days:
- The game is now “only” balanced with 65% positive reviews.
- In the last 30 days, only a terrible 19% were positive: This is a dark red “Extremely Negative”.
- By comparison: Total War: Warhammer 2 from 2017, which still costs 60 €, has 93% positive reviews.
In the reviews, it is repeatedly mentioned:
- Part 3 lacks features compared to Part 2.
- The developers are said to be too greedy and only want money.
- One has to wait too long for the development of the game and then it is still so expensive.
Established price system is being broken – players are frustrated
Why is the mood particularly tense? Players feel like “they used to get more for their money”. A user explains in a Steam review:
- There are 2 types of DLCs: Race packs with a new race and associated lords (i.e. leaders). Lord packs with new lords for classes already in the new game.
- The new DLC is such a lord pack with 3 new lords: “Shadows of Change” will cost 25 €.
- Previously, such lord packs only brought 2 new lords but cost only 10 €.
- According to the logic, 3 lords of an existing race should thus cost 15 €, not 25 €. Because 25 € would be the price intended for race packs that then make an entire faction playable.
Moreover, players criticize that they buy things at full price that they would have acquired in earlier titles: The new factions clearly utilize mechanics that one already knows.
Some players are even calling for a boycott of the game: “Remember, they need us more than we need them.” (via pcgamer)
What’s behind this: These are two problems: First, that higher prices are being called after an old system has already been established.
And the same problem as with Destiny or The Division:
- An “old game” is developed until it is polished and great
- then development is stopped
- and you receive a very similar game without many of the beloved improvements: They must be bought again gradually
This is a concept that has caused much trouble already. The “blind purchase” of Total War: Warhammer 3, after Creative Assembly did such a good job with Part 2, seems to be backfiring for some now.
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