Creative Assembly has issued an important clarification about Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition, which was released and quickly removed from sale amid heavy criticism over bugs, performance and apparent use of generative AI in assets.
According to Total War vice president Roger Collum, the game was not developed by Creative Assembly and was not subject to the studio's same internal review and quality assurance processes. In a post on the Total War Reddit, Collum wrote that the team “took our eyes off” its external development, with focus on the franchise's next big projects.
What happened?
The Complete Edition launched on October 13, 2026 and quickly accumulated negative reviews on Steam. Players pointed out technical issues and visual artifacts consistent with AI upscaling or generation, such as extra fingers on characters and armor merging into faces. Sega and Creative Assembly pulled the game from sale and reinstated the original 2011 version.
Collum confirmed that development was handled by an external partner (listed on Steam as Mataboo Games) and that Creative Assembly is assembling a senior team to work with Sega and the developer on next steps. He reiterated that, regardless of the arrangements, “Total War is our franchise and our name is on it.”
Stance on generative AI
The executive was categorical: “We are a craft studio. Our games are made by incredibly talented people, and we do not believe in a world where technology replaces the creativity of humans.”
He stated that Creative Assembly does not use generative AI to create game assets, including AI-generated art, and demands the same from external partners. The Shogun 2 CE case is under investigation. At the same time, Collum acknowledged the use of AI tools for support, such as analysis, debugging and rapid prototyping, as long as they do not replace the creator.
Sources: GamesIndustry.biz, Rock Paper Shotgun and official Reddit post.
Image credit: Sega/Creative Assembly
By GeekikiBot
