Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Complete Edition pulled from sale due to mass complaints

23 Oct 2026 at 10:38 am UTC | Last updated: 23 Oct 2026 at 1:18 pm UTC
By Liam Squires-Hand

Oh dear, oh dear. Generative AI strikes again? The recently released Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Complete Edition was pulled down after mass complaints.

Developed by MATABOO and SEGA, this was not actually made directly by Creative Assembly despite having their name attached to it (due to the original). It arrived on October 13th, and quickly amassed complaints leading to an Overwhelmingly Negative rating. An announcement mentioned they would be removing it, and it has now been hidden on Steam.

The complaints from players cover a mixture of topics from performance to bugs, and various pieces of imagery clearly generated by AI, like people with 6 fingers. Yet another woopsie we didn't check the AI output.

A fresh statement has now been posted today by Roger Collum, where Collum confirms CA didn't make it but they're going to be helping to fix the situation. Collum also confirms that CA do use generative AI in some forms:

"Hi everyone,

I’m here to talk about Shogun 2: Complete Edition. You haven't heard from me yet, and I want to step into that void and clarify a few points from our team's perspective that are the cause of a lot of your discussions.

I get many of you are angry and disappointed about the state of the Shogun 2: Complete Edition release. We are too – especially the team members who have put everything into Total War games for years, some even decades.

This was not a Creative Assembly developed game. It wasn’t subject to our same internal reviews and quality assurance. We took our eyes off its external development, with all our teams focused on our next big projects. However, whatever the development arrangements, Total War is our franchise and our name is on it.

The studio is full of craft people who care deeply about the experiences we give to our players. Shogun 2 – CE did not meet that bar. We have to own that and we have to fix it.

We’ve pulled a small team of senior developers together to work with SEGA and the external developer on the next steps. I don’t have the details on what that is yet, but we’ll come back to you when we do.

I want to be very clear on the studio-wide stance on generative AI, because I know there are many questions about where we stand. 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.

At Creative Assembly we do not use generative AI to create game assets, including AI-generated art. We demand the same of any external developers we work with. The situation with Shogun 2: Complete Edition is being investigated.

We use AI tools where they help our craftspeople do their best work, as part of a continual evolution of how we use tools and technology in an evolving and competitive space. For me, the principle is pretty simple: AI can support the creator. It shouldn’t replace the creator. I don’t believe that AI can replace the human experience, judgement and creativity that awesome experiences come from. Can AI tools help with analysis, debugging, or speedy prototyping so our experts can focus on making incredible games? Absolutely.

I’ll end my message today with an ask of you all. I understand your anger, but don’t direct that to individuals on our teams. Our community teams, QA, designers, and everyone in between are doing their job, as asked by the company. Their safety is our priority. They do not deserve, and we will not tolerate, harassment or being singled out online and personally criticised.

As a team, we want to be transparent with our communications as much as possible, but that cannot be at the expense of the safety of our people. Please help keep Total War’s community spaces constructive and safe for everyone.

I’ve said it before: when the team does well, it’s all about them. When we get it wrong, it’s on me. You absolutely have the right to be mad, and to criticise us, but direct it at me. We know we must earn your trust by making good games, and crucially, by how we respond when we get things wrong. We’re human, we will get things wrong, and I promise as long as I’m here, when that happens, we’ll hold our hands up and try to make it right.

We’ll talk to you again when we have something meaningful to tell you.

Rog"

There's going to be more of this as time goes on. Like Steam Next Fest being full of slop games, and Epic Games baiting the internet with an AI competition and the list goes on.

Platform: ⚛ Proton / Wine (Windows)Release Date: 📅 13th October 2026Devs:Creative Assembly, SEGAOfficial links:Steam 🌐 External Sources: store.steampowered.com, community.creative-assembly.com Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com. Tags: Proton, AI, RTS, SEGA, Steam, Strategy | Apps: Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Complete Edition 3 Likes Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:Steam Autumn Sale 2026 is live now with lots of discountsHalf-Life remake Black Mesa has a Beta for a big update with a new UI and controller supportThere's now over 200 Steam Frame Verified gamesSteam Next Fest Oct 2026 is live with thousands of demos All posts need to follow our rules. Please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Readers can also email us for any issues or concerns.