“This was not a Creative Assembly developed game”: Total War boss points the finger at external partner for Shogun 2 Complete Edition disaster

Creative Assembly and Sega removed Total War: Shogun 2: Complete Edition from sale on Steam after players reported technical problems and found art that appeared to be AI-generated. Total War vice president Roger Collum apologised, saying the game was developed externally and did not receive the studio’s usual reviews and quality checks, while acknowledging that Creative Assembly had not kept close enough oversight.

Collum said the studio forbids generative AI for game assets, including art, and expects external partners to follow the same rule; the disputed artwork is under investigation. He said AI tools are used internally for support tasks such as analysis, debugging and prototyping, and that Sega and senior developers are working with the external team on next steps. The partner was not named, though Mataboo Games is listed as a co-developer on Steam; the original game’s page has been restored, while the Complete Edition remains unavailable and has overwhelmingly negative reviews.