Sega Pulls Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition From Sale Over Bugs and AI Art Backlash

Sega and developer Creative Assembly have pulled Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition from sale just two days after its October 13 launch on Steam and the Epic Games Store. The publisher confirmed on October 15 that it is reinstating the original 2011 release while it investigates widespread player complaints about bugs and AI-generated artwork in the remaster.

What Went Wrong

Players quickly flagged persistent performance issues and bugs, including several problems carried over from the original 2011 release that the remaster was supposed to fix. Alongside the technical complaints, fans compared the Complete Edition’s unit cards and encyclopedia art to the originals and accused Creative Assembly of running them through an AI upscaler, pointing to visual errors such as hands with the wrong number of fingers. Sega’s statement did not directly address the AI accusations.

Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition launched on Steam on October 13 before being pulled from sale two days later.

Steam Backlash and Sega’s Response

The Complete Edition’s Steam rating fell to Overwhelmingly Negative, with roughly one in five of more than 2,000 reviewers recommending it. In a statement posted to X, Sega said the release had “fallen short of both your expectations and our own standards,” adding that it is working with its platform partners and Creative Assembly to identify the cause of the problems before bringing the remaster back.

The Complete Edition had sold for $39.99 and replaced Steam Workshop support with Mod.io, meaning older community mods for the original did not carry over. With the remaster pulled, the 2011 original is back on sale at $29.99 with its existing Workshop mods intact, and players who already bought the Complete Edition keep their access to it. Sega has not given a timeline for its return, and on the Epic Games Store the listing now shows as “Coming Soon.”

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Picture Source: Sega