Epic exclusivity means The Creative Assembly can share their latest spin-off with everyone for 24-hours.
If you’ve ever wanted to slap the ever-loving life out of the coward Paris from The Illiad for yourself then have I got news for you – Total War: Troy will not only launch in a couple of months on PC, but will be free for the first 24-hours. There is one rather large caveat to that offer, however: it’s an Epic Games Store exclusive.
Total War: Troy launches August 13th for the Epic Games Store on PC.
PC gamers who despise the Epic Game Store are likely sharpening their spears as we speak, but it’s worth noting Troy: A Total War Sage (as it’s officially titled) will come to Steam after the year-long exclusivity deal ends. Not ideal for those who prefer Gabe over Tim, but The Creative Assembly shared in a lengthy blog post over on the Total War website that the decision was largely made for two reasons. The first being that free promotion I mentioned above: Epic is covering the bill here, meaning Creative Assembly and SEGA can try and bring new players into the fold on day one without worrying over lost sales.
Speaking of new players, the second reason had to do with expanding their audience and diversifying their business. Let’s not play coy here – the Epic Games Store and Steam share some overlap, sure, but there are plenty of burgeoning PC gamers who started out on Epic’s storefront thanks in large part to Fortnite. Throw in all the people who’ve been lured in by the free games and other exclusives, and it’s a tempting market to try and capture.
Creative Assembly assured fans in the post that future Total War titles will not be Epic Game Store exclusives, and that part of this decision was to lay the groundwork and infrastructure needed to launch future games on multiple storefronts. That, and they felt comfortable using Troy: A Total War Saga as their guinea pig due to its spin-off nature. Per the blog: “We’ve always said that Saga titles allow us to experiment, and this is an experiment on a grand scale. TROY seemed like a good game to try this out with, especially as pre-orders aren’t live on Steam yet, so no one’s already put money into a store they’ll have to wait 12 extra months for it to appear on.”
Of course, this being the internet, Creative Assembly asked enraged fans to not take their ire out on the individual developers at CA, but to instead direct all criticisms at the studio as a whole. It’s an olive branch in the middle of a forest fire, but sometimes you have to beg people to not be dicks. Regardless of how you feel about this remember these decisions are usually made by executives and leadership, so taking it out on Jan in Animation isn’t the most productive way to voice your disappointment.
That said, those who don’t care that the game is on the Epic Games Store can grab it for free within 24-hours after launch on August 13th, and Creative Assembly did confirm on Twitter that they have plans in place should the servers buckle under strain, much as they did when Grand Theft Auto V was released for free a few weeks ago. You can sign up for the Troy: A Total War Saga newsletter if you’d like to be reminded when the game goes live. In the meantime, here is a trailer showing off the campaign map for Total War: Troy. Be ready to form alliances, appease gods, and rally legendary heroes like Achilles and Odysseus to the cause.
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