I sat down yesterday to play a little Attila, and noticed that TW news flashed up a new trailer for TW: Warhammer. I clicked the video link, watched the content, and then proceeded to stand up and walk out of the room. I wanted to write this article yesterday. I wanted to flay the keyboard with my fists, and strangle the life out of my mouse as I made violent sweeping gestures. I wanted to scream.
Instead of ranting like a child in a tantrum, I chose to simply go back to my PC and boot up Attila. I played for a solid two and a half hours, and reminded myself just how good the game is. I reminded myself that CA can still pump out fantastic games, which deliver strategic gameplay and iconic battle imagery that no other game company does. I remembered why I love CA, and why the TW games will always be special to me.
I'm telling you this a day later so you know that I'm not simply flushing out my butthurt feels into this post. I'm not writing from the perspective of a pissing and moaning fanboy that hates on anything new or different, and begrudges any attempt by a company to profit from their product. I am putting on my journalist glasses for this one, and telling it to you the consumer, the TW gamer, and the Warhammer fan, exactly how it is.
Yesterday CA announced the Chaos faction would be added to TW: Warhammer. The faction will only be accessable to those that pre-order the game, or purchase the content DLC after the game is launched. This fits in with CA's standard business model for the last few TW releases, Rome 2, and Attila. Both previous games had factions available as pre-order/post-launch purchasable DLC, and while the TW fans begrudged it, they accepted it. As mentioned in my previous blog on the Empires of Sand DLC for TW: Attila, the practice of producing factional DLC got severely out of hand, with content being clearly cut from the core game in order to sell at a later stage. This drove fans into a fury, and led to a near community-wide boycott of some of the DLC. Fans have been speculating for months now as to how Warhammer would monetize itself, and how factions would be accessed.
In the case of Warhammer, the game will ship with 4 factions included in the standard game. The game will likely be priced as a full retail product, probably $80-100AUD or regional equivalent, and DLC was to be expected post launch. The game's native factions would be The Empire, Orcs, Dwarves, and Undead, all of whom are iconic races in Warhammer Fantasy Battles. The Warriors of Chaos is a faction that literally any fan of Warhammer would tell you is one of the core races, and most famous icons of the Warhammer world. Virtually every Warhammer game, or book will include them in some form or another. They are a staple of the series, and the fact that they were absent from the initially announced lineup of factions for TW: Warhammer got many people nervous. Now it would seem that CA, likely under instruction from their publisher, Sega, has announced that Chaos will be available, but not as part of the core game, and will only be available to those that pre-order the game, or purchase the content at additional cost after launch.
Why does this infuriate me? Why does this infuriate so many of the TW and Warhammer community? It shows a reckless, and uncaring disrespect for us as consumers. This content pack is being announced 6 months in advance of the game's release. It is displayed in full high-definition glory in the announcement trailer, showing that the content is already under construction, and will be ready for the game's launch. This content will be in the game whether you have bought it or not, and be locked behind the scenes until you pay. This is a piece of the game, a piece of the product, and most importantly, a piece of the Warhammer franchise that is iconic and much beloved by its public, and the company selling the game is extracting it from the product you have bought specifically to make you purchase it at additional cost.
I don't play Warhammer anymore, but there was a time when I was a youth with cupboards full of unpainted miniatures. When I was sick I would sit in my room and paint them. I would read their literature at night, and my mind would fill with images of great heroes, and horrible monsters. It fed my imagination, and inspired me, much like Warhammer has inspired a whole generation of pop culture. Look at things like Master Chief, Starcraft, and Warcraft. Look at half of the modern fantasy and sci-fi genre, and you'll see the effect that Warhammer has had on the pop culture landscape. This is a series that people will rightly defend when it is mistreated, and yesterday it was mistreated. A key part of the franchise has been mishandled, and ripped off to be sold for profit (a bit like your rights as a consumer). Warhammer is being sold on the street corner, and I am not pleased.
Long angry rants are not my thing, but when something dear to me is hurt, I can't help but fight back. I want so badly for the melding of Total War and Warhammer to go well that it pains me to write something so damning about it, but if this announcement sets the standard for TW: Warhammer, then I have little hope for the future of this partnership. Already the internet is abuzz with furious reactions that make mine look positively sane. Angry Joe's reaction during one of his live streams summarizes my own reaction. First he screamed and said no, no, no. He denied his own eyes what he was seeing. He then settled into a cold chill and stared down the camera, shaking his head. Finally he posted a clearer video where he explained his feelings. We are alike in our reaction. I am hurt, and very pissed off with CA and Sega for this announcement. I wanted to scream, and then I wanted to hurt them back, and now I simply look at the keyboard and appeal with this article, for CA to change this. Do not break what could be a perfect union of talents. Do not take Warhammer, and introduce it to Total War in such a shoddy and shameless way. Do not fall to greed and temptation. If Sega has demanded this, then tell them of the public's reaction. Tell them of the ire that has been stirred throughout the community. Do not believe for a moment that we will allow apathy to prevail, and that we "idiot consumers" will simply buy it anyway. I want to love this product. CA, don't destroy this before it can live.
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